KS2 SATs Information

At the end of Year 6, children in England sit tests in:

Reading
Maths
Grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS)

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.

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.’

Since 2018 the reading content of the KS2 SATs has been closely linked to the curriculum to ensure children are drawing on their knowledge when answering reading comprehension questions.

Key Stage 2 Grammar, punctuation and spelling test

The GPS 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 GPS test includes 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 2024?

The Year 6 SATs will be administered in the week commencing 13th May 2023.

The SATs timetable runs as follows:

Monday
English GPS Paper 1: questions
English grammar, punctuation and spelling Paper 2: spelling

Tuesday
English reading

Wednesday
Mathematics Paper 1: arithmetic
Mathematics Paper 2: reasoning

Thursday
Mathematics Paper 3: reasoning

How will Key Stage 2 SATs be marked?

Following the tests, the papers are sent to be externally marked and the results and issued to schools in July.

For reading, maths and SPAG your child will be given a scaled score and whether they have reached the expected standard set by the Department for Education.

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.

Teacher-assessment results at the end of Year 6

As well as receiving KS2 SATs results, at the end of Y6 you will be told your child's teacher-assessment results for writing and science. The teacher-assessment result codes you can expect to see are:

GDS: Working at greater depth within the expected standard (for writing assessment only)
EXS: Working at the expected standard
WT: Working towards the expected standard (for writing assessment only)
PKS: Pre-key stage, growing development of the expected standard (the child is working at a lower level than expected)