National curriculum assessments: information for parents
Information for parents about the national curriculum assessments for pupils in primary school.
National curriculum assessments
Primary school pupils in England take part in the:
- reception baseline assessment: within the first 6 weeks of entering reception
- early years foundation stage profile assessment: between April and June of the academic year in which they turn 5 (usually the reception year)
- phonics screening check: in June of year 1
- key stage 1 tests: optional, at the school’s discretion, at the end of year 2
- multiplication tables check: in June of year 4
- key stage 2 tests (sometimes referred to as SATs): in May of year 6
You will find more information about the individual assessments below.
Pupils working below the level of the national curriculum
Pupils working below the standards of the national curriculum in one or more subjects may be assessed under an alternative teacher assessment – either the:
- pre-key stage standards, if they are engaged in subject-specific study
- engagement model, if they are not engaged in subject-specific study
Your child’s school will inform you if this is the case.
Information about primary school progress measures
Results from the national curriculum assessments are used to calculate primary school progress measures.
Progress measures provide parents with information to help them understand how their school is performing and to inform school choices.
More information on how the progress measures are calculated and what the progress scores mean is available below.
Updates to this page
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Added information for parents whose children are assessed under the pre-key stage standards in 2024.
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Added a new phonics leaflet for parents, added links to the existing parent leaflets available for the reception baseline assessment, multiplication tables check and engagement model
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Information for parents leaflet, progress measures leaflet and two video links added.
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First published.