As a school we are required to publish our end of Keystage performance data for both KS1 (Year 2) and KS2 (Year 6).
From summer 2016, more challenging SATs tests reflect the new curriculum at the end of the Key Stages. Children now receive a scaled score instead of a level. Their raw score (the actual number of marks they accrue) is translated into a scaled score.
For Key Stage 1 (KS1) SATs a score of 100 means the child is working at the expected standard. The maximum score possible is 115, and the minimum is 85. Teacher assessment remains a fundamental part of assessment at KS1. Teachers will assess children throughout the year and use three categories to report on current levels of attainment. These are;
Emerging – Currently working towards the National expected attainment level.
Expected – Currently working at the National expected attainment level.
Exceeding – Currently working at greater depth within the National expected attainment level.
Children will be matched against ‘performance descriptors’ (in other words what pupils are expected to know and be able to do at the time of testing) when being assessed by their teachers in non-SATs subjects at the end of Key Stage 1 and 2 to see if they’ve achieved the expected standard.
In Key Stage 2 (KS2), the papers continue to be marked externally. Each child will receive a raw score, a scaled score, and confirmation of whether or not they achieved the national standard (‘NS’ means the expected standard was not achieved; ‘AS’ means the expected standard was achieved). The range of scaled scores available for each KS2 test ranges from 80, the lowest possible scaled score, to 120, the highest possible scaled score. A scaled score of 100 or more means that the child has met the expected standard in each KS2 SATs test; a scaled score of 99 or less means they haven’t reached the government-expected standard.
Teacher assessment remains an important element of assessment at KS2 and teacher assessment judgements are submitted to the national assessment agency in June. The key teacher assessment 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.
WTS: Working towards the expected standard (for writing assessment only).
HNM: Has not met the expected standard (reading and maths assessment only).
Within school, we use emerging, expected and exceeding to report on attainment at the end of each year in our annual school reports so that there is consistency across all year groups.