Assessments

There are two sections in this 40-word check, and it assesses phonics skills and knowledge learned through Reception and Year 1. Your child will read up to four words per page for their teacher and they will probably do the check in one sitting of about 5-10 minutes.

It is a school-based check to make sure that your child receives any additional support promptly, should they need it. It is not a stressful situation as the teacher will be well-equipped to listen and understand your child’s level of skills.

There will be a few practice words first to make sure your child understands the activity.

It checks that your child can:

• Sound out and blend graphemes in order to read simple words.
• Read phonically decodable one-syllable and two-syllable words, e.g. cat, sand, windmill.
• Read a selection of nonsense words which are referred to as pseudo words.

These are words that are phonically decodable but are not actual words with an associated meaning e.g. brip, snorb. Pseudo words are included in the check specifically to assess whether your child can decode a word using phonics skills and not their memory.

The pseudo words will be shown to your child with a picture of a monster and they will be asked to tell their teacher what sort of monster it is by reading the word. This not only makes the check a bit more fun, but provides the children with a context for the nonsense word which is independent from any existing vocabulary they may have. Crucially, it does not provide any clues, so your child just has to be able to decode it. Children generally find nonsense amusing so they will probably enjoy reading these words

The check is not about passing or failing but checking appropriate progress is being made. If children do not reach the required standard, then the teacher will be in touch to discuss plans and offer additional, tailored support to ensure that your child can catch up. Children progress at different speeds so not reaching the threshold score does not necessarily mean there is a serious problem. Your child will re-sit the check the following summer term.

The school will report your child’s results to you by the end of the summer term as well as to the local authority, but the results won’t be published in a league table as with SATs. If you have any concerns, do talk to your teacher about this in a parents’ meeting or after school.

All schools and academies in England must take part in the phonics screening check unless they are an independent school. There is a process in place for reviewing children with special educational needs, so if your child’s teacher thinks there are very special reasons related to your child and their needs that make them think the phonics screening check may not be appropriate, they will decide on appropriate action and discuss this with you.

• Say each sound in the word from left to right.
• Blend the sounds by pointing to each letter, i.e. ‘b’in bat, or letter group, i.e. ‘igh’ in sigh, as you say the sound, then run your finger under the whole word as you say it.
• Talk about the meaning if your child does not understand the word they have read.
• Work at your child’s pace.
• Always be positive and give lots of praise and encouragement.

Paper one is on arithmetic and pupils are not permitted to use a calculator. There are 25 questions, each worth one mark, and the test lasts for 20 minutes.

Paper two is on reasoning and pupils are not permitted to use a calculator. There are 32 questions, each worth one or two marks. The test lasts for 35 minutes and is worth 35 marks overall.

The times tables test is being introduced in English schools only. It will be taken by children in Year 4, in the summer term (during a three-week period in June; schools will decide which day to administer the check).

Although all tests were cancelled because of COVID-19, in 2020 the MTC became compulsory for all English maintained schools, special schools and academies (including free schools).

Children with special educational needs will be provided for when taking the MTC.

The Multiplication Tables Check will be administered in the three-week period starting on Monday 6 June 2022.

Children will be tested using an on-screen check (on a computer or a tablet), where they will have to answer multiplication questions against the clock.

This will be the first time that the DfE has used computerised tests in primary schools. Calculators and wall displays that could provide children with answers will be removed from the room the MTC is taking place in.

The test will last no longer than 5 minutes and is similar to other tests already used by primary schools. Their answers will be marked instantly.

Children will have 6 seconds to answer each question in a series of 25. Each question will be worth one mark and be presented to the child in this format:

n1 x n2 = ____

Questions will be selected from the 121 number facts that make up the multiplication tables from 2 to 12, with a particular focus on the 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 times tables as they are considered to be the most challenging. Each question will only appear once in any 25-question series, and children won’t be asked to answer reversals of a question as part of the check (so if they’ve already answered 3 x 4 they won’t be asked about 4 x 3).

Once the child has inputted their answer on the computer / device they are using, there will be a three-second pause before the next question appears. Children will be given the opportunity to practise answering questions in this format before the official check begins.

The six-second time limit per question has been decided on by the DfE because it should allow children enough time to demonstrate their recall of times tables without giving them the time to work out the answers to each question.

Pupils’ individual results will be made available to schools. It’s unlikely that children will be told their individual score, but schools will be required to report the results to parents or carers.

School-level results won’t be made publicly available or be used in league / performance tables

There will be no “pass mark” (expected standard threshold) and no child will “fail” the test. Multiplication facts will be the only things tested (there will be no testing of children’s knowledge of division facts or problem-solving in the check).

The DfE says the purpose of the check is to help teachers identify which children are falling behind and target areas where they’re not being given a chance to succeed.

Usually, 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.’

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

In selected years a number of schools (approximately 1900) are required to take part in science sampling, a test administered to a selected sample of children thought to be representative of the population as a whole.

For those who are selected, there are three papers:

• Biology: 25 minutes, 22 marks
• Chemistry: 25 minutes, 22 marks
• Physics: 25 minutes, 22 marks

Each paper takes a maximum of 25 minutes to complete.

It sounds very intimidating, but these are ‘questions in a physics/chemistry/biology context’, for example:

Biology: ‘Describe the differences in the life cycle of an amphibian and a mammal’

Chemistry: ‘Group a list of materials according to whether they are solid, liquid or gas’

Physics: ‘Predict whether two magnets will attract or repel each other, based on where the poles are facing’

The Department for Education has confirmed there will be no science sampling tests in the 2021/22 academic year.

The Year 6 KS2 SATs will be administered in the week commencing 9 May 2022.

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

The previous national curriculum levels have been scrapped, and instead children are given scaled scores (read our parents’ guide to primary school grading and SATs codes for more details).

You will be given your child’s scaled score and whether they have reached the expected standard set by the Department for Education (‘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 per cent of children to reach the expected standard (the figure was initially 85 per cent but has been revised).