School Performance
In 2019 - 2020 and 2020 - 2021, due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, all primary assessments including KS1 and KS2 SATs and Year 1 Phonics Screening were cancelled.
Key Stage 1 SATs
From September all new primary school pupils will take the new reception baseline assessment (RBA) that will replace SATs in year 2.
Following successful pilots all over the country, the RBA, a one-to-one exercise done in 20 minutes with a teacher in an informal setting, will be taken by all children in their first six weeks of primary school.
The move paves the way for the removal of the national curriculum assessments at the end of key stage 1 from 2022/23 – commonly known as SATs – when pupils are aged six- or seven-years-old.
Key Stage 2 SATs
In the summer term of 2016, children in Year Year 6 were the first to take the new SATs papers. The new-style SATs for English and maths reflect the new national curriculum, and are more rigorous than previous years' tests. There is also a completely new SATs marking scheme and grading system which has replaced national curriculum levels.
At the end of Year 6, children sit tests in:
- Reading
- Maths
- Spelling, punctuation and grammar
These tests are both set and marked externally, and the results are used to measure the school’s performance (for example, through reporting to Ofsted and published league tables). Your child’s marks will be used in conjunction with teacher assessment to give a broader picture of their attainment.
THE READING TEST
The reading test is a single paper with questions based on three passages of text. Your child will have one hour, including reading time, to complete the test.
There will be a selection of question types, including:
- Ranking/ordering, e.g. ‘Number the events below to show the order in which they happen in the story’
- Labelling, e.g. ‘Label the text to show the title of the story’
- Find and copy, e.g. ‘Find and copy one word that suggests what the weather is like in the story’
- Short constructed response, e.g. ‘What does the bear eat?’
- Open-ended response, e.g. ‘Look at the sentence that begins Once upon a time. How does the writer increase the tension throughout this paragraph? Explain fully, referring to the text in your answer.’
In 2018 the Department for Education announced that the reading content of the KS2 SATs will be more closely linked to the curriculum in future to ensure children are drawing on their knowledge when answering reading comprehension questions.
THE GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION AND SPELLING TEST
The grammar, punctuation and spelling test consists of two parts: a grammar and punctuation paper requiring short answers, lasting 45 minutes, and an aural spelling test of 20 words, lasting around 15 minutes.
The grammar and punctuation test will include two sub-types of questions:
- Selected response, e.g. ‘Identify the adjectives in the sentence below’
- Constructed response, e.g. ‘Correct/complete/rewrite the sentence below,’ or, ‘The sentence below has an apostrophe missing. Explain why it needs an apostrophe.’
THE MATHS TEST
Children sit three papers in maths:
Paper 1: arithmetic, 30 minutes
Papers 2 and 3: reasoning, 40 minutes per paper
Paper 1 will consist of fixed response questions, where children have to give the correct answer to calculations, including long multiplication and division. Papers 2 and 3 will involve a number of question types, including:
- Multiple choice
- True or false
- Constrained questions, e.g. giving the answer to a calculation, drawing a shape or completing a table or chart
- Less constrained questions, where children will have to explain their approach for solving a problem
WHEN WILL THE TESTS TAKE PLACE?
The Year 6 KS2 SATs are administered in May.
HOW WILL THE PAPERS BE MARKED?
The previous national curriculum levels have been scrapped, and instead children are given scaled scores.
You will be given your child’s scaled score and whether they have reached the expected standard set by the Department for Education (‘NS’ means that the expected standard was not achieved and ‘AS’ means the expected standard was achieved).
The range of scaled scores available for each KS2 test is:
80 (the lowest scaled score that can be awarded)
120 (the highest scaled score)
The expected standard for each test is a scaled score of 100 or more. If a child is awarded a scaled score of 99 or less they won't have achieved the expected standard in the test.
The Department for Education expects at least 65 per cent of children to reach the expected standard (the figure was initially 85 per cent but has been revised).
Please view the parents' guide to KS2 SATs below.