Guidance

Reception baseline assessment: guide to signing up your school

Information for primary schools about the reception baseline assessment for 2016 to 2017.

From:
Standards and Testing Agency and Department for Education
Published
4 February 2015
Last updated
14 April 2016 — See all updates

This guidance was withdrawn on

Schools can still opt to use a reception baseline assessment supplier. The Department for Education will not reimburse schools the baseline assessment costs in the 2017 to 2018 academic year.

Applies to England

Following publication of a study to compare the 3 different reception baseline assessments used in the 2015 to 2016 academic year, we will not use them as the starting point for measuring progress.

Instead, when this year’s reception classes leave primary school in 2022, we will continue to use key stage 1 as the starting point from which to measure pupils’ progress to key stage 2.

Schools can opt to use baseline assessments as on-entry assessments in the 2016 to 2017 academic year.

Sign up for the reception baseline

The approved providers for the reception baseline assessment for the 2016 to 2017 academic year are:

We will not use the outcomes from the assessments for accountability.

DfE has not set a deadline for signing up to an approved baseline assessment, although suppliers may decide to set their own dates.

Funding for the reception baseline

DfE will cover the basic cost of approved baselines for local-authority-maintained schools, academies and free schools. Please check the details of what each supplier is offering, once available, so you are aware of any additional costs over and above the basic price.

For local-authority-maintained schools, reimbursements will be made via the relevant local authority. For academies and free schools, DfE will reimburse them directly for the basic cost

Independent schools who decide to use the reception baseline won’t get any government funding for it. They’ll have to pay for the baseline from their own budget.

Published 4 February 2015
Last updated 14 April 2016 + show all updates

  1. List of approved reception baseline providers added.

  2. Updated following publication of a comparability study and related news story.

  3. Updated information, including the list of approved providers.

  4. Criteria for developing the reception baseline assessments added.

  5. First published.

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