Assessment KS2: statutory requirements

At the end of Key Stage 2, Teacher Assessments must be submitted for writing and science. Pupils must also take the statutory tests for English and maths (commonly called ‘SATs’) unless they are working below the level of the tests or unable to access them for any other reason.

NB if a child is working below the standard of the test in either reading or maths, a teacher assessment must be submitted, using the Pre-Key Stage Standards:

Gov.UK: Pre-KS2 standards

Test results and teacher assessments must be reported to parents.

Further details can be found in the KS2 Assessment and Reporting Arrangements booklets, published by the STA. This is available to download from the DfE website at:

Gov.UK: 2022 key stage 2: assessment and reporting arrangements (ARA)

'Disapplication'

The term ‘Disapplication’ has been widely misused or misunderstood over the years. It does not apply to the context of tests and is now no longer applied in teacher assessment either.

The only correct usage of the term ‘disapplication’ in an assessment context is where a child has been disapplied from all or part of the National Curriculum. This is an extremely rare occurrence, as the National Curriculum is intended to be inclusive. A child can only be disapplied from the National Curriculum by applying to the Secretary of State for Education. More information about disapplication can be found here:

Gov.UK: Disapplying aspects of the national curriculum

Where a child does not meet any of the standards set out within the Teacher Assessment Framework, teachers should assess them using the Pre-Key Stage Standards. If children are working below the Pre-Key Stage Standards, they should be assessed using the Engagement Model.

Children not able to access the KS2 tests

At Key Stage 2, a pupil should not be entered into the tests if either:

1. the pupil is working below the level of the tests (this is entered on the marksheet as a ‘B’) or
2. the pupil is working at the level of the tests but unable to access them (this is entered on the marksheet as a ‘U’) or
3. the pupil’s standard of attainment cannot be established because they have just arrived in school (this is entered on the marksheet as a ‘J’)

For more information on all of the above, please see the KS2 Assessment & Reporting Arrangements.

Supporting EAL learners through SATS

The HfL Assessment team have published a blog answering the frequently asked questions around whether EAL children should take the KS2 SATs tests and how best to support them if they do.

HFL Education blogs: Supporting EAL learners through SATS - what are the options?

Removing children’s results from the school’s data

In certain circumstances, a child’s results can be removed from the school’s published validated data. The main scenario where this can happen is when the child has English as an additional language and has arrived from a non-English-speaking country within the final two years of KS2.

The process of applying to remove a child’s results from the data is part of the DfE Performance Tables Checking exercise, which usually takes place in early September (i.e. after the tests have taken place).

NB when the unvalidated data is produced in ASP and IDSR, this will not reflect any applications to remove children’s results from the data.

In other situations, e.g. where a child has joined the school at a late stage during KS2 but is not eligible for removal from the data, if the school wishes to illustrate its results with the late entrant filtered out, this can be done using the school’s own data system.

It is also now possible to customise the data in both Analyse School Performance (ASP) and FFT Aspire.

Furthermore, in ASP, data is automatically calculated and displayed for the ‘Non-mobile’ group, which filters out any child who joined the school within the last two years of KS2.

NB as KS2 data will not be published in the public domain in 2021/22, there will be no tables checking exercise and hence no mechanism for removing children’s results from the data.