Key Stage 2 SATS
Key Stage 2 SATs: What Parents Need to Know
If you have a child in year 6, at the end of key stage 2, they will take national curriculum tests in:
- English grammar, punctuation and spelling
- English reading
- Mathematics
These tests are both written and marked externally. The tests help measure the progress pupils have made and identify if they need additional support in a certain area. The tests are also used to assess schools’ performance and to produce national performance data. Your child’s marks will be used along with teacher assessments to give a picture of their attainment and progress.
The key stage 2 tests will be taken on set dates. It is important for your child to be in school on these set days.
The Tests
Key Stage 2 English 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.’
Key Stage 2 English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Test
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.’
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.
Teacher Assessment
As there is no test for English writing, this will be reported as a teacher assessment judgement. This is a judgement that teachers will make, based on your child’s work at the end of key stage 2. You will also receive a teacher assessment judgement for science.
When will the tests take place?
The Year 6 KS2 SATs will be administered from Monday 12th May 2025 – Thursday 15th May 2025
How will the SATs be marked?
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 range of scaled scores available for each KS2 test is:
- 80 (the lowest scaled score that can be awarded)
- 80-99: working towards the national expected standard
- 100-109: working at the expected standard
- 110-120 suggests working at greater depth
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.
SATs Boosters
Please remember that our booster sessions take place on a Tuesday (Maths) and Thursday (English) morning – starting at 8am. All children are welcome to come along and complete some revision, often games and quizzes to help improve their knowledge. Children can bring a drink and snack with them.
