Nick Clegg defends tougher tests for young children Testing at aged seven could be moved to first year of school Pupils aged 11 to be ranked against their peers across the country Primaries must ensure 85 per cent of pupils are ready for senior school Nick Clegg insists plan is 'not to try and either humiliate or celebrate' Pupil premium to rise from £900 to £1,300 per child from next year Sausage factory: Nick Clegg defended schools reforms plans against claims pupils were being over-tested Nick Clegg has defended plans for tougher tests for young pupils, insisting he did not want primary schools to become 'exam sausage factories'. The Deputy Prime Minister insisted it was right for children's academic ability to be tested as soon as they start primary school aged four or five. Under the shake-up 11-year-olds face being ranked against their peers across the country to better prepare children for secondary school. Unions warned of a 'bureaucratic nightmare' for teachers who would spend their time 'drilling' pupils to pass exams. But Mr Clegg insisted: 'I don't want my children to become part of some exam sausage factory - far from it.' He said too many primary schools see pupils leave having already fallen behind their peers. He added: 'All we're saying is it can't surely be right that under the current standards a school is deemed to be doing okay if four out of ten of the children who leave primary school are judged not to be ready to have a good start at secondary school. 'This is not to try and either humiliate or celebrate, it's to give teachers and parents an idea of how that child measures up to other children in the school system. That's all it is. 'I saw some comments from teaching unions this morning that somehow this was a lurch back to a name-and-shame approach, it's not at all. 'So it's higher standards, more money, and the aspiration, the hope is simply to make sure everybody gets the best possible start in life.' The changes would see primaries having to ensure 85 per cent of pupils are ready for senior school or risk triggering an Ofsted inspection. But teaching unions were critical of the plan, warning over-testing could be counter-productive. Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said: 'The Government has a fondness for testing young children in the belief that the tests create reliable measures of performance. They don't. And, by relying only on what can be measured, they risk missing what matters. There is far more to being 'secondary ready' than a score on an hour's test. A teacher's judgment, built up over four years, has much to contribute.' Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) said: 'It is difficult to see how a 25 p increase in the primary floor standard between 2010 and 2016 could be realistically achieved without wide-scale teaching to the test and other inappropriate drilling techniques.' Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: 'School level assessments are fine in principle but in the context of current high stakes accountability, with no framework for support or provision of resources, the outcome is likely be a bureaucratic nightmare for teachers which could undermine high standards.' Head of Ofsted Sir Michael Wilshaw has called for children to be tested n basic language and literacy even before they start school