At the end of Year 6 (in May), children sit SATs (standard assessment tests) in:
- Reading
- Maths
- Spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPaG)
SATs 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.
Key Stage 2 Reading
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.
Key Stage 2 SPaG Test
The spelling, punctionation and grammar (SPaG) 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.’
Key Stage 2 Maths
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 KS2 SATs take place in 2019?
The SATs will be administered in the week commencing 13 May 2019. Exact dates are:
Monday 13 May 2019
English grammar, punctuation and spelling Paper 1: questions
English grammar, punctuation and spelling Paper 2: spelling
Tuesday 14 May 2019
English reading
Wednesday 15 May 2019
Mathematics Paper 1: arithmetic
Mathematics Paper 2: reasoning
Thursday 16 May 2019
Mathematics Paper 3: reasoning
A New Scaling System
The previous national curriculum levels have been scrapped, and instead children are give 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, usually with their summer report. ‘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% of children to reach the expected standard (the figure was initially 85 per cent but has been revised).
