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TheSchoolRun.com closure date

As we informed you a few months ago, TheSchoolRun has had to make the difficult decision to close due to financial pressures and the company has now ceased trading. We had hoped to keep our content available through a partnership with another educational provider, but this provider has since withdrawn from the agreement.

As a result, we now have to permanently close TheSchoolRun.com. However, to give subscribers time to download any content they’d like to keep, we will keep the website open until 31st July 2025. After this date, the site will be taken down and there will be no further access to any resources. We strongly encourage you to download and save any resources you think you may want to use in the future.

In particular, we suggest downloading:

You should already have received 16 primary school eBooks (worth £108.84) to download and keep. If you haven’t received these, please contact us at [email protected] before 31st July 2025, and we will send them to you.

We are very sorry that there is no way to continue offering access to resources and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.

What are key stages?

Children in a classroom
One of the terms you’ll hear most often during your child’s education is ‘key stage’, but what does it mean? We explain what you need to know.

What are key stages?

Key stages are the groups that have been set up to administer progressive, standardised assessments during a child’s education in England and Wales. Each key stage consists of a certain range of school years.

The assessments associated with each key stage show how a student is doing in the areas of study that have been defined as targets in the National Curriculum. Your child’s teacher will know what these targets are, and will make sure those topics have been covered in the classroom.

How are the key stages grouped?

There’s more than one year in a key stage, and assessments are given in the final year of that key stage. They are grouped as follows:
 

In secondary school, the key stages are:
 

  • Key Stage 3 – ages 11-14 (Years 7-9)
  • Key Stage 4 – ages 14-16 (Years 10-11)

How will my child be assessed in their key stage?

In the final year of a key stage, assessments test what’s been taught over the previous years between the last key stage (if applicable) and the current one. Students work to reach the expected standard for each key stage test or the greater depth standard if they are working above this. 

Visit our super SATs area to find out more about the key stage tests, and to help your child practise for them. It’s packed with links to practice papers for both KS1 SATs and KS2 SATs, revision planners and techniques, and instructions on how to administer a SATs test at home so your child will know exactly what to expect.