Council chiefs should do away with primary one tests or risk damaging kids’ confidence, it has been claimed.

Tory councillor Gordon Wallace claimed the assessments are inappropriate and ineffective.

He was speaking at a meeting of the full council, where education convener Paul O’Kane admitted the use of P1 tests would be reviewed.

Local authority leaders will feed into an independent report on the assessments which was ordered by Deputy First Minister John Swinney last week.

However, Councillor Wallace said: “We’re talking about kids in early years transitioning to school only to find that in P1, when they first set foot in the door, we are just assaulting them with what I would say is a completely inappropriate and unwanted measurement.

“It’s quite unnecessary and has absolutely no impact or value for these children, other than to significantly affect their confidence.”

Standardised assessments were introduced in 2017 in a bid to gather data about children’s learning stages, with literacy and numeracy tests carried out at P1, P4, P7 and S3 levels.

Opponents claim the P1 assessments don’t provide teachers with valuable data, with claims that some kids have been left in tears by the experience.

The tests have not been used in East Renfrewshire since the schools started back in August.

In September, MSPs voted by 63 to 61 to pass a Conservative motion calling for a “halt” to assessments for the youngest pupils, with opposition parties uniting to defeat the Scottish Government.

Since then, an independent review into the assessments has begun, with local authorities set to have their say through umbrella organisation COSLA.

Councillor O’Kane said he will listen to feedback about the tests in the coming months from all those who use them.

He added: “I can assure the council that we will review the impact the standardised assessments have had locally through professional dialogue and analysis of what information we are getting.

“The council’s director of education has already started this work, for example, discussing the assessments at a recent forum of primary teachers.

“As with other education reforms recently, it is important that local authorities are always empowered to make the right decisions for the communities they serve.

“We will be making our voice heard. We’ll be listening to teachers, staff and parents.”