Once the exams are over and your child has settled back into everyday school life, it can be easy to forget about SATs – until results day! We answer your questions about how the papers are marked and how secondary schools use the results.
How are SATs marked?
English and maths papers completed by pupils at the age of seven (Key Stage 1, year 2) are marked by the class teacher. Some papers may be sent to the local education authority (LEA) to be moderated to make sure marking is consistent. Science is teacher-assessed only.
In contrast, all papers taken at Key Stage 2 by youngsters at the age of 11 in English (reading and writing) and maths are marked externally. A test in science is also carried out in 10,000 schools to assess national standards at Key Stage 2, but in the majority of schools science is teacher-assessed.
When and how will I get the results?
Schools receive their provisional overall results for the school and individual pupils by the end of July. It’s down to each school to decide how they give individual pupil’s results to parents. Many schools send a sheet of results home with the child, if the marks come through before the end of term. National, local authority and individual school’s results will be published in December.
What do the KS1 SATs results mean?
Parents of seven year olds will receive levels and sub levels from 1 to 4 in KS1.
- Level 1 or W (working towards level 1) are the weakest results, but for some children with special needs or learning difficulties these results will be a great achievement personally.
- Level 2 is the expected level for children to be working at – sub levels a, b or c will also be given, with a being the highest.
- Level 3 shows they are working at a higher level than that expected.
- Level 4 is rare.
What do the KS2 SATs results mean?
For pupils at the age of 11, there will be two sets of results. One will be purely assessed by the child’s teacher looking at different aspects of each subject, alongside an overall level. The other results are the marks from the SATs tests. It’s possible for children to reach different levels in the same subject for the exams and teacher-assessment.
- Level 4 is the expected level of attainment.
- Level 3 is weaker, while level 5 is a higher achievement.
- No sub levels are given.
- A sheet of last year’s national levels will also be provided, so you can use them as a comparison.
What are the targets for performance?
There are no national targets for Key Stage 1. The minimum expected levels for schools at Key Stage 2 is for 60% of pupils to get level 4 in both maths and English.
How are SATs results used by secondary schools?
SATs results are passed on to secondary schools. Some use these results to stream new starters in year 7, so you need to find out if your child’s new school does this. Others may use a combination of SATs results and CATs (Cognitive Ability Tests) or their own internal tests at the beginning of the new term.
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