Statutory Assessments

Throughout their time at primary school, children take part in a range of statutory assessments set by the Department for Education. These assessments help teachers, parents and schools understand how children are progressing within the national curriculum and identify where additional support or challenge may be needed.

At St Mary’s, we believe assessments should support children’s learning, confidence and development. Alongside statutory assessments, teachers use ongoing assessment, observations and professional judgement to build a full understanding of each child’s progress and achievements.

The information below explains the statutory assessments children complete during their primary education journey.

Early Learning Goals (EYFS)

At the end of Reception, children are assessed against the Early Learning Goals (ELGs) within the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework.

Children are assessed as:

• Emerging – not yet reaching the expected level of development
• Expected – reaching the expected level of development for the end of Reception

The Early Learning Goals assess children across the prime and specific areas of learning, including:

• Communication and Language
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Physical Development
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Children achieving the expected level across the key areas are said to have achieved a Good Level of Development (GLD).

Further information and school outcomes can be found in the documents below.

Phonics Screening Check

The Phonics Screening Check takes place in Year 1 and assesses children’s phonic decoding skills and early reading development.

Children read a total of 40 words, including both real and pseudo (alien) words, to demonstrate their understanding of phonics.

The check helps identify children who may need additional support with early reading skills.

Children who do not meet the expected standard in Year 1 will retake the check in Year 2.

Further information and school outcomes can be found in the documents below.

Multiplication Tables Check (MTC)

The Multiplication Tables Check takes place in Year 4 and assesses children’s fluency in recalling multiplication facts up to 12 × 12.

The check is completed online and consists of 25 questions.

The purpose of the check is to ensure children develop rapid recall and confidence with multiplication facts, supporting wider mathematical understanding and problem-solving.

There is no official “pass mark”; however, the national benchmark is based on pupils accurately recalling multiplication facts within the allocated time.

Further information and school outcomes can be found in the documents below.

Key Stage 2 SATs

At the end of Year 6, pupils complete Statutory Assessment Tests (SATs) in:

• Reading
• Mathematics
• Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling (GPS)

Writing is assessed by teachers using national assessment frameworks.

Tests are developed to the same specification each year. However, because the questions must be different, the difficulty of tests may vary. This means raw scores are converted into scaled scores to allow accurate comparisons of performance over time.

Pupils achieving a scaled score of:

• 100 or more are working at the expected standard
• 110 or more are working at the higher standard

Writing is teacher assessed and pupils may be judged as:

• Working Towards the Expected Standard
• Working at the Expected Standard
• Working at Greater Depth within the Expected Standard

Further information and school outcomes can be found in the documents below.

For further information about assessment at St Mary’s, including how we assess and support progress across the curriculum, please visit the Assessment section of our website.

Information about our results, attendance, intake and other school data are available on the DfE website link below: