Schools and learning

End of Key Stage Statutory Assessments

At various points in your child’s education, statutory assessments of attainment are made and reported to parents. These allow measurement of how schools and children are doing compared with national standards.

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
The EYFS profile is a way of summarising a child’s development and learning
at the end of the EYFS. For most children, this is at the end of the reception year (year R) in primary school. Others may be assessed in settings such as nursery schools and private, voluntary and independent (PVI) settings, including pre-schools.

The EYFS profile is based on practitioners’ ongoing observations and assessments in six areas of learning (personal social and emotional development, communication, language and literacy, problem solving, reasoning and numeracy, knowledge and understanding of the world, physical development and creative development). These are set out in the ‘Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage’, available on the DCSF Standards website at www.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/eyfs

The EYFS profile must be completed in the final term of the academic year in which the child reaches the age of five. All EYFS providers must provide parents, carers or guardians with a written summary of a child’s progress against the early learning goals and the assessment scales.

Key Stage 1
At the end of key stage 1, teachers have to summarise their judgements for each eligible child in English, mathematics and science. Most children will be in year 2 and will reach the age of seven by the end of the school year.

Teachers will determine:
- a level for reading, writing, and speaking and listening
- an overall subject level for mathematics
- a level for each attainment target and an overall subject level in science

For reading and writing, where teachers reach a level 2 judgement, they will then consider whether the performance is just into level 2 (2C) , securely at level 2 (2B) or a high level 2 (2A).

Tasks and tests are available in reading, writing and mathematics and must be administered to all eligible children working at level 1 or above. Individual teachers will decide whether to use the task or test with a particular child or group of children. Different groups of children may carry out their tasks or tests at different times. The role of the tasks and tests is to help inform the final teacher assessment judgement that is reported.

Key Stage 2
Key stage 2 is the end of the primary phase of education. Children at the end of key stage 2 will normally be in year 6 and aged eleven at the end of the school year.

Teacher assessments are reported for the core subjects of English, mathematics and science, together with the national curriculum test (SATs) results for English and mathematics.

Teacher assessment takes into account evidence of achievement in a variety of contexts, including discussion and observation. The tests give a standard snapshot of attainment in English and mathematics at the end of the key stage.

Key Stage 2 National Curriculum Tests (SATs)
- The statutory end of key stage 2 tests in 2010 will take place in the week 10th May – 14th May.
- All pupils at the end of key stage 2 will take statutory tests in English and mathematics. The levels obtained in these tests must be reported to parents, carers and guardians.
- A small sample of schools will also be selected to take part in a statutory sampling exercise to monitor standards in science. Pupils at the end of key stage 2 in these schools will take a test in science, but the results of these tests will not be reported to schools or parents, carers and guardians.

Key Stage 3
At the end of key stage 3, schools report teacher assessments of the national curriculum levels attained by pupils. Pupils will often complete key stage 3 in year 9 and be aged 14 by the end of the school year, but some pupils may complete the key stage 3 programme of study in one or more subjects before this.

At the end of key stage 3, teachers will determine:
- a level for each attainment target in English, mathematics, science and modern foreign languages
- an overall subject level in each of the core and non-core subjects

In the core subjects of English, mathematics and science teacher assessments of the overall subject levels attained by pupils are submitted to the DCSF and must be reported to parents, carers and guardians.

The overall subject level in the following non-core subjects must also be reported to parents, carers or guardians:
- history
- geography
- design and technology
- ICT
- art and design
- music
- physical education
- citizenship
- modern foreign languages

Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5
Key Stage 4 is the end of the compulsory secondary phase of education; Key Stage 5 is post 16 education. Public examinations such as GCSEs, GCE (A levels, AS levels) and Diplomas may be taken by students.

In 2010 GCSE results will be available in schools on 24th August and GCE results on 19th August.