KS2 SATs Information for Parents

At the end of Year 6, children sit tests in: Spelling, punctuation and grammar, reading and maths. These tests are both set and marked externally. Your child’s marks will be used in conjunction with teacher assessment in writing and science to give a broader picture of their attainment against other children nationally.

Please watch the video below for a full explanation of the tests and what the expectations of the children will be. 

KS2 Parent Information Video

How Can You Help Your Child Prepare?

We support children with 'readiness' for their next stages in learning and life, through teaching them skills, promoting growth mindsets and considering mental health.

Here are some tips on how you can support your child at home:

  1. Revision - Your children have been well prepared in school. They have experienced past assessment papers and revised key curriculum areas to give them confidence.
  • Spend short bursts revising key areas to show your child how well they are doing.
  • Use the study books to help make revision fun and manageable.
  1. Wellbeing
  • Remind your child how well they are doing and how proud they make you feel.
  • Help your child to put the assessment week into perspective. Whilst we all want them to do well, we want them to be reassured that life goes on as normal after the assessments!
  • Help your child to continue eating healthily in the run up to the assessment week. Don't let them skip meals.
  • Help your child to get sufficient rest. Make the hour before bedtime as relaxing as possible - no revision then. Perhaps a bath, a story or a similar calm activity to help wind down before bedtime.
  1. Readiness
  • On the day of an assessment give your child plenty of reassurance. Remind them how well they are doing, how proud you are and how you will be happy to know they have done their best.
  • Consider a few simple, relaxing treats during the week - perhaps a trip to the park after school, a hot chocolate in a café or something else to help maintain momentum throughout the assessment period.
  • Try to avoid 'grand gesture' promises e.g. I will give you lots of money to spend on holiday. These kinds of promises often add to the stress. Keep any extra-special treats as a surprise.

What do the tests involve?

Most children will sit the tests in the classrooms normally used each day for their learning or within the school hall where they will have had plenty of previous practise. The children will be split into smaller groups in line with normal classroom practice. This is done so that the children are comfortable and familiar with their surroundings and so that they can be spaced out appropriately.

Each room will have enough staff to ensure the correct administration of the test and the staff involved will have been given training on test format and style, their role and what they may or may not read to a pupil in a particular test including any subject specific issues that might occur. Some children will have an adult with them to either read the paper, scribe or prompt. If this is the case, you will be informed and your child will have worked with this adult on a number of occasions prior to testing week and will be aware of why they will benefit from additional support.

Reading Paper:

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.’

Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling Papers:

The grammar, punctuation and spelling 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.’

Mathematics Papers:

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.

How will I find out what my child’s results are?

You will be given your child’s raw score (the actual number of marks they get), alongside their scaled score and whether they have reached the expected standard set by the Department for Education. 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 DFE will report your child’s result as one of two codes:

  • ‘NS’ means that the expected standard was not achieved.
  • ‘AS’ means the expected standard was achieved.