TESTING the abilities of children as soon as they start school has been widely criticised by teaching professionals.

The idea was contained within new proposals that were released by the Department of Education which they say will raise standards in primary schools.

It was one of a number of plans which also included ranking pupils against their peers across the country.

The move would see youngsters put into 10 per cent bands, based on their achievements. Parents would then be told which band their child fell into.

xhead The plans which are now out for consultation also set out targets for higher numbers of pupils to reach in English and maths tests while 11-year-olds will be expected to gain higher results in their national curriculum tests in an effort to get them better prepared for secondary education.

The current system requires that children reach Level 4 in English and maths at the end of primary school, with primaries expected to ensure that 65 per cent of their pupils achieve this standard. They are also measured on the progress they make between ages seven and 11.

But ministers are proposing that from 2016, schools will need to have at least 85% of their students reaching the new higher standard.

The Government is also consulting on bringing in a new ''baseline assessment'' to ensure children are making progress, which could be ''a simple check of a child's ability'' in their first weeks of compulsory schooling, or maintaining existing teacher-marked tests at age seven.

But Secretary of Southampton National Union of Teachers Pete Sopowski, said any move to test youngsters earlier than seven would be pointless.

He said: “My personal view is that reception year is far too early to do any meaningful assessment. They come in at all sorts of different levels of emotional and physical development. They need at least a year if not two in order to get used to the school environment and what is expected of them in the school experience.”

He said there was nothing wrong with having more ambitious targets for attainment but the government had to ensure they were not unrealistic.

Mr Sopowski added that the idea of putting children in ability bands was actually already being done in primary schools and that information was readily available to parents.