CASE STUDY: Lucy Bland, 10, a Seven Fields School pupil. Lucy had been working hard on preparing for her SATs, which ended last week.

Despite being just ten-years-old, she revised every night, doing English one evening, maths the next and science the night after that.

A confident pupil, she says that maths and science were okay but English was harder.

"A lot of people in my year don't mind the SATs but some people got quite upset," she said.

"I would say about a quarter of us were worried about them. People were frightened they couldn't do them.

"One of the teachers went and got a drink for one of the boys to calm him down and then helped his revision in her own time."

Lucy thinks that getting used to doing homework, albeit just 15 or 20 minutes, is good preparation for secondary school. She says she does not mind the exams, believing they are good practice for the future.

She said: "The exam was quite formal, you had to sit down and focus on the paper you were writing.

"The exams were okay though, they reflected what we had been learning. I don't think younger children should be taking them though.

"I am quite confident with my school work but if I wasn't then I think I would be a lot more nervous about the exams."