Why are the kids out on strike and how is everybody reacting?

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Thousands of school students were planning not to show up to class today in protest at the new Standard Assessment Tests (Sats) in a move dubbed the "kids strike".

The protest is officially against the Year Two Sats, taken by six and seven year olds, though infant and primary school children up to the age of 11 were expected to be held off school by their parents.

Several parents said that the Sats taken in Year Six – by 10 and 11 year olds – were putting undue stress onto children which was making them anxious and harming their learning.

Read more: In defence of school reforms

The campaign group, Let Our Kids be Kids want headteachers to boycott the exams this year and a change in the curriculum next year to "revert to teacher led assessments".

The group says that there are 400 events being held around the country today and they will confirm exactly how many children missed school at the end of the day.

The protest has, of course, divided not only parents and schools but also campaigners.

Madeleine Holt, one of the co-founders of the Rescue our Schools movement said she had sympathy with the group but would not be taking her children out of school.

"They like school and I've told them that the Sats are largely meaningless," she told City PM

Parents have been encouraged to make sure they take-up other educational activities with their children instead of spending time in the classroom. Plenty took to Twitter to show off the packed timetables for the day.

https://twitter.com/Rachel_henderso/status/726887018748366848

For others, they were only there in spirit – as work commitments meant they could not take their children out of school.

The fact that the strike was being launched against a Conservative government didn't escape many people's attention.

https://twitter.com/yorkshireprobs/status/727401982592487424

Some were slightly more cynical ….

https://twitter.com/theskink/status/727412532160401408

And some weren't even pretending to be striking in solidarity with their classmates or using the day for educational purposes …