Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the education benefits for children and their families of the introduction of tests for children aged four.

The reception baseline assessment (RBA) will enable us to create school-level progress measures for primary schools which show the progress pupils make from reception until the end of key stage 2. Progress is an important measure - it will give schools credit for the important work they do with their pupils between reception and year 2 and will give parents better information about which schools may help their children to make the most progress. The RBA is not a test - it is a short, teacher-led assessment and it will provide practitioners with valuable one-to-one time with their pupils within the first few weeks of reception.

We have worked closely with early years practitioners, schools and other education experts to develop the RBA, and continue to do so. All aspects of the assessment’s development have been informed by an extensive evidence base of early years research.