After 30 years in education as a parent and later working for 13,000 parent teacher associations over England and Wales I am frightened by the changes successive governments have made to the testing of our children. I make no apologies for the quote attributed to me some time ago “we will be testing children as they leave the labour ward very soon”. Parents do need teachers to test children’s knowledge and use that to plan their future learning, this has always been so and will continue to be. What we have never needed is tests to provide political headline and meet government targets it is ruining our children’s education, we have stressed children of 7 and equally stressed parents who fear for children’s places in future schools. I also worked for 13 years as an OFSTED Lay Inspector and never once did I interview a parent who felt happy with the testing pressure. Today’s report on starting our children into formal education to early has been totally dismissed by Government, as expected they will provide a Primary Review which tells us they are getting it right, well perhaps it is time to listen to parents and teachers we may just know best what is right for our children, why save the planet if children are not in a mental state to enjoy it and their childhood