The National Primary Headteachers Association (NAPHA), the National Primary Trust and the National Association for Primary Education believe the tests put unnecessary pressure on children, parents and teachers, and are not a reliable measure of a child's educational progress.
They will launch the National Primary Education Alliance at a meeting on 19 May in Dudley, West Midlands, which they hope will be attended by teachers representing schools that want to return to teacher assessment.
The Alliance is already circulating a questionnaire outlining its stance.
Among its main points are that teacher assessment is more reliable than SATs; effective teaching time is lost preparing for and administering SATs; they are not cost-effective and the finances could be more appropriately used; there are no tangible benefits to children, and it can inhibit their future learning potential and create unnecessary anxiety among teachers, parents and children; and the current curriculum runs counter to most research into child development.
In a statement accompanying the questionnaire the Alliance has told primary teachers, 'We want to incorporate all your opinions and present the Government with an informed, professional voice in our campaign to abolish Key Stage One SATs, that would bring England in line with Wales and Northern Ireland.'
The Alliance has produced a paper, Testing Times at Key Stage One, that urges the Government to scrap SATs and 'work with the profession to develop good tools for assessment that meet the needs of teachers and pupils in self-evaluating schools. It adds, 'There is a high price to pay when children become disillusioned, de-motivated and disaffected, and teachers become de-skilled, their creativity stifled.'
The Alliance's launch will be at Mountpleasant Primary in Dudley, where head teacher Gail Bedford has been at the forefront of demands for play-based learning to be extended beyond the Foundation Stage into Year One. She said, 'There is no doubt pressure for change is growing. We feel very strongly that the key thing for early years education is the removal of Key Stage One SATs.'
Pupils' talents were being stifled 'because the need to deliver the national curriculum and meet the demands of SATs leaves so little time for quality experiences,' Ms Bedford added.
Barry Knock, NAPHA treasurer and headteacher at St Mary's Primary school in Purton, Wiltshire, said the Alliance was not opposed to testing, but insisted that teacher assessment was crucial. With 340 pupils in his school, he estimated the administration of the SATs cost around 5,000 each year because he had to bring in supply teachers to cover for colleagues involved in running them.
Mr Knock also said attempts to compare different cohorts of children were futile and damaging as it is impossible to compare like with like because the composition of each year group varied.