Statutory Assessments

KS1 Statutory Assessments

Sats (Standard Assessment Tests) measure children’s educational achievement in years 2 and 6, with the ultimate aim of holding schools to account for the attainment of their pupils and the progress they make.

In the summer term, children at the end of Key Stage 1 will sit SATs papers. SATs have been overhauled in both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 to reflect the changes to the national curriculum, which was introduced from September 2014.

At the end of Year 2, children will take SATs in:

English Reading
English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling
Mathematics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8MjPFWRQs0

Key Stage 1 Reading Tests

The reading test for Year 2 pupils will involve two separate papers:

Paper 1 consists of a selection of texts totalling 400 to 700 words, with questions interspersed
Paper 2 comprises a reading booklet of a selection of passages totalling 800 to 1100 words. Children will write their answers in a separate booklet

Each paper is worth 50 per cent of the marks, and should take around 30 minutes, but children will not be strictly timed, as the tests are not intended to assess children’s ability to work at speed. The texts in the reading papers will cover a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, and will get progressively more difficult towards the end of the test. Teachers will have the option to stop the test at any point that they feel is appropriate for a particular child.

There will be a variety of question types:

Multiple choice
Ranking/ordering, e.g. ‘Number the events below to show in which order they happened in the story’
Matching, e.g. ‘Match the character to the job that they do in the story’
Labelling, e.g. ‘Label the text to show the title’
Find and copy, e.g. ‘Find and copy one word that shows what the weather was like in the story’
Short answer, e.g. ‘What does the bear eat?’
Open-ended answer, e.g. ‘Why did Lucy write the letter to her grandmother? Give two reasons’

Key Stage 1 Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Tests

Children taking Key Stage 1 SATs will sit two separate papers in grammar, spelling and punctuation:

Paper 1: a 20-word spelling test taking approximately 15 minutes and worth 10 marks.
Paper 2: a grammar, punctuation and vocabulary test, in two sections of around 10 minutes each (with a break between, if necessary), worth 20 marks. This will involve a mixture of selecting the right answers e.g. through multiple choice, and writing short answers.

Key Stage 1 Mathematics Tests

The Key Stage 1 maths test will comprise two papers:

Paper 1: arithmetic, worth 25 marks and taking around 15 minutes.
Paper 2: mathematical fluency, problem-solving and reasoning, worth 35 marks and taking 35 minutes, with a break if necessary. There will be a variety of question types: multiple choice, matching, true/false, constrained (e.g. completing a chart or table; drawing a shape) and less constrained (e.g. where children have to show or explain their method).

Children will not be able to use any tools such as calculators or number lines.

Phonics Screening Check

The Phonics Screening Check is meant to show how well your child can use the phonics skills they’ve learned up to the end of Year 1, and to identify students who need extra phonics help. The Department for Education defines the checks as “short, light-touch assessments” that take about four to nine minutes to complete. Schools usually administer the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check in early June.

The checks consist of 40 words and non-words that your child will be asked to read one-on-one with a teacher. Non-words (or nonsense words, or pseudo words) are a collection of letters that will follow phonics rules your child has been taught, but don’t mean anything – your child will need to read these with the correct sounds to show that they understand the phonics rules behind them.

The 40 words and non-words are divided into two sections – one with simple word structures of three or four letters, and one with more complex word structures of five or six letters. The teacher administering the check with your child will give them a few practice words to read first – including some non-words – so they understand more about what they have to do. Each of the non-words is presented with a picture of a monster / alien, as if the word were their name (and so your child doesn’t think the word is a mistake because it doesn’t make sense!).

The Department for Education has published a detailed Q&A about the Screening Checks with more information about why non-words are included, and what allowances have been put in place for SEN students.

The Multiplication Tables Check (MTC)

The Department for Education is introducing a new formal test of multiplication skills in the summer term of Year 4. Our guide for parents explains how the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) will work in English primary schools.The Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) was officially announced by the Department for Education (DfE) in September 2017. It will be administered for children in Year 4, rolling out from the summer term 2022.

Primary-school children are expected to know all their times tables up to 12×12. Under the current National Curriculum, children are supposed to know their times tables by the end of Year 4, but until now they were not formally tested on them other than through multiplication questions in the Year 6 maths SATs.

The DfE says that the check is part of a new focus on mastering numeracy, giving children the skills and knowledge they need for secondary school and beyond. The purpose of the MTC is to determine whether Y4 pupils can recall their multiplication tables fluently (being able to answer times tables questions accurately and quickly, without having to work out the answers).

Announcing the tests in 2017, the then Education Secretary Justine Greening said, ‘A good primary education lays the foundations for success at secondary school and beyond. This year’s (2017) Key Stage 2 results showed our curriculum reforms are starting to raise standards and it is vital we have an assessment system that supports that.’

The times tables test is being introduced in English schools only. It will be taken by children in Year 4, in the summer term (during a three-week period in June; schools will decide which day to administer the check).

Children will be tested using an on-screen check (on a computer or a tablet), where they will have to answer multiplication questions against the clock.

This will be the first time that the DfE has used computerised tests in primary schools. Calculators and wall displays that could provide children with answers will be removed from the room the MTC is taking place in.

The test will last no longer than 5 minutes and is similar to other tests already used by primary schools. Their answers will be marked instantly.

Children will have 6 seconds to answer each question in a series of 25. Each question will be worth one mark and be presented to the child in this format:

n1 x n2 = ____

Questions will be selected from the 121 number facts that make up the multiplication tables from 2 to 12, with a particular focus on the 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 times tables as they are considered to be the most challenging. Each question will only appear once in any 25-question series, and children won’t be asked to answer reversals of a question as part of the check (so if they’ve already answered 3 x 4 they won’t be asked about 4 x 3).

Once the child has inputted their answer on the computer / device they are using, there will be a three-second pause before the next question appears. Children will be given the opportunity to practise answering questions in this format before the official check begins.

The six-second time limit per question has been decided on by the DfE because it should allow children enough time to demonstrate their recall of times tables without giving them the time to work out the answers to each question.

Pupils’ individual results will be made available to schools. It’s unlikely that children will be told their individual score, but schools will be required to report the results to parents or carers.

There will be no “pass mark” (expected standard threshold) and no child will “fail” the test. Multiplication facts will be the only things tested (there will be no testing of children’s knowledge of division facts or problem-solving in the check).

The DfE says the purpose of the check is to help teachers identify which children are falling behind and target areas where they’re not being given a chance to succeed.

Reception Assessments

Reception Baseline Assessment:

The Reception baseline assessment is a short assessment taken in the first six weeks of your child starting schools. It ensures that practitioners have a secure knowledge of your child and can meet their needs successfully.

Early Years Foundation Stage Profile:

In the final term of the year the EYFS profile will be completed for your child. Practitioners will draw on their knowledge of your child to judge whether they are meeting expected levels of development or if they are not yet meeting expected levels (emerging). The EYFS profile provides parents and carers, practitioners and teachers with a well-rounded picture of a child’s knowledge, understanding and abilities, their attainment against the expected levels and their readiness for year 1.

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