Guidance

Teacher assessment: how to use the NCA tools website

Instructions on submitting teacher assessment data for key stage 2, correct codes to use and how to deal with common errors. This page will be updated for the 2015 to 2016 assessment cycle.

This guidance was withdrawn on

This guidance applied to the 2015 test cycle and is for reference only. It will shortly be updated for 2016.

Teacher assessment (TA) data must be submitted via the NCA tools website. There are 2 ways to do this:

  • schools can submit TA data directly via NCA tools using a common transfer file (CTF) or the appropriate key stage template
  • local authorities (LAs) may choose to collect and submit TA on behalf of their schools

The LA should have contacted you to discuss local arrangements if they are submitting TA data on your behalf. If you have not agreed local arrangements, please contact your LA.

Teacher assessment codes

You must use the following codes when recording and submitting TA and P scale data.

Code Description
1-6 Curriculum level achieved
A Absent, or not enough information available to calculate a TA level
D Disapplied - used when a pupil has been disapplied from the national curriculum, including statutory assessment requirements. This code is used for TA only and should not appear on the attendance registers for the key stage 2 tests.
L Pupil has left the school
W Working towards level 1
F Pupil will reach the end of the programme of study and take the relevant key stage assessment in the future. For example, if a pupil takes a mathematics test a year early in 2014 but is not due to take English until 2015, English should be marked as ‘F’.
P Pupil has already completed the programme of study, the relevant key stage assessment has been taken and a TA result has been reported in the past. For example, if a pupil took a mathematics test in 2014 and is taking English in 2015, mathematics should be marked as ‘P’.
P scales See the P scales for details.

Uploading teacher assessment data

  1. Log in to NCA tools and go to the ‘Teacher assessment’ tab at the top of the page.
  2. Click on ‘Submit teacher assessment’ on the left hand side of the screen.
  3. If you are: * submitting your data using a CTF generated by your school’s management information system (MIS), ensure the file is saved to your computer and continue with step 4 * submitting your data using the spreadsheet template from NCA tools, go to step 5 * an LA submitting multiple files for different schools, add these to a zip file and then continue to step 7
  4. Read and complete the checklist on the screen. Further information can be found by hovering your mouse over the blue arrows next to each point on the checklist. Click ‘Next.’ Go to step 8.
  5. Download the spreadsheet by clicking on the blue text link ‘key stage template’ underneath the heading ‘What if your school does not have an MIS?’ Click on the link to download the template and click ‘Open’.
  6. Once the spreadsheet has opened make sure you click to enable content or macros if prompted.
  7. Enter the TA levels for all pupils in the spreadsheet. If a pupil’s unique pupil number (UPN) has changed you can amend this here. You cannot however amend names or dates of birth as these must remain as confirmed during pupil registration. Additional pupils, ie those that have joined your school since pupil registration and are not shown on the spreadsheet, should be added to the bottom of the list of names.
  8. Save your file to your computer. You may be notified that you have entered the wrong values. Any that are incorrect will be highlighted red. Review the highlighted cells and make any necessary changes. Once you have made the changes save your file again. If you don’t get the warning continue to step 9.
  9. Return to NCA tools. You may need to log in again and follow the steps above to return to the last page you were on.
  10. Click the ‘Browse’ button to bring up a window and find the location you have saved your data. Select the data file and click ‘Open.’
  11. Click the ‘Submit’ button.
  12. You will be directed to your upload summary report. If you have warnings or errors, click on the links to find out how to correct them.
  13. You should then check the data that you have submitted by clicking on the ‘view data’ button at the bottom or the ‘view teacher assessment’ link on the left hand side of the screen.
  14. The summary screen will show the overall subject levels for each pupil. You can view the components by clicking on the ‘English,’ ‘mathematics’ or ‘science’ links above the table.
  15. Any expected pupils that have no data submitted for them will be highlighted red.

File upload confirmation

Once you have submitted your TA file, you will be presented with one of the following results.

Green: teacher assessment data successfully uploaded.

This notification will confirm the successful submission of your TA file. If you would like a copy of your TA upload summary, click ‘Print’.

Amber: teacher assessment data uploaded with warnings

This means that you will need to review the warning message(s) and take the corrective action(s) on the error report in the ‘Action required summary’ table. You may need to upload your file again. The report can be printed for easier offline working.

Red: teacher assessment data not uploaded – file error

Your upload attempt has failed. Please review the error message(s) and take the corrective action(s) on the error report in the ‘Action required summary’ table. The report can be printed for easier offline working. When you have completed the corrective action(s), please resubmit your file.

Viewing submitted data

You can view the data you have submitted through the ‘Teacher assessment file upload report’ in NCA tools. You will be redirected to this page when you have uploaded a file to NCA tools. You can also view this page at any point by clicking on ‘View teacher assessment’, and then clicking on the ‘Upload report’ link in the file upload history at the bottom of the screen.

The report tells you what has been uploaded from your specific file and details of any errors or warnings. There are 2 tabs:

  • ‘File upload result’: this refers to the file you have just uploaded
  • ‘Teacher Assessment Summary’: this is a summary of everything you have uploaded so far

File upload result

The summary box at the top of the screen shows the number of records uploaded and updated in that file. The number of records with errors is also shown.

Warning messages

If any of your pupils have been uploaded with errors or warnings, details of these will be shown here, along with what corrective action should be taken.

Expected number of pupils warning

You will see a warning if the number of pupils you have uploaded is not consistent with the number of pupils expected, ie the number of pupils shown in the expected pupils list. A warning will also be displayed if data has not been provided for all pupils for all subjects. Independent schools are only required to submit TA for pupils who took the 2015 key stage 2 tests in those subjects.

Teacher assessment summary

You can view a summary of your complete TA submission, based on all the files you have uploaded, by clicking on the ‘Teacher assessment summary’ tab. This will display a pie chart showing the number of:

  • expected pupils
  • pupils uploaded with errors or warnings
  • pupils uploaded successfully
  • pupils that still need to be uploaded

Types of errors

P scale results contain a ‘W’ but no P scale

If a ‘W’ is reported for the overall subject you must supply corresponding P scales. To correct the error upload the missing P scales for the pupil.

‘X’ is not a valid result

Only TA levels W, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6, non-assessing codes A, D, L, F, P, or P scale codes P1i, P1ii, P2i, P2ii, P3i, P3ii, P4, P5, P6, P7 or P8 can be uploaded. Anything else will be rejected. You should re-upload your file containing one of the allowable values. This will overwrite any invalid results.

There is no teacher assessment data in this file

This message will be displayed if you upload a spreadsheet with no data populated, or if you upload a CTF which does not contain TA levels for the current year. You should check that your CTF includes data with:

  • Year – ‘2015’
  • Method – ‘TA
  • ResultQualifier – ‘NL’ or for SEN records, ‘NP’
  • Stage – ‘KS2’ or for SEN records, ‘SEN’

Correcting errors

Wrong pupil uploaded

If you have uploaded a pupil in error, ie one that is not shown in the prepopulated spreadsheet and is not at the end of key stage 2, you can delete the pupil by clicking on the ‘Delete pupil’ button on the ‘View teacher assessment’ screen.

Note: if you delete a pupil that the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) is expecting to receive data for, it will be highlighted red and you will be asked to resubmit.

Errors in pupil’s details

Correcting or modifying levels

You can change the levels that you have submitted by simply uploading another file with the corrected data. This will update what has already been uploaded.

You only need to include the changes you wish to make; data that was previously uploaded correctly does not need to be re-uploaded.

Wrong UPN

If a pupil you have uploaded has the wrong UPN, eg if they were registered with a temporary UPN and they have now been allocated a permanent UPN, you can correct it by uploading that pupil again with their new UPN. Do not change any of the other details otherwise NCA tools will view this as a new pupil.

Wrong name or date of birth

If a pupil has been uploaded with the wrong name or date of birth then as long as this matches what’s shown in the spreadsheet template, no further action needs to be taken.

The details in the spreadsheet are those which were confirmed during pupil registration so if you make changes to this information it may delay STA when matching the TA result to the test result.

You will be able to make amendments during the school performance tables checking exercise. If these details do not match what is held in the spreadsheet, eg if it is a new pupil that has been added with the wrong details, or appears in the CTF from the MIS incorrectly, you can correct by uploading the file again with the new details.

If NCA tools does not recognise it as the same pupil, it may create a duplicate. You should then delete the incorrect pupil from your submission (see Wrong pupil uploaded).

Deleting pupils

When to delete a pupil

A pupil should only be deleted from your TA submission if they were uploaded in error. Corrections to TA can be made by submitting another file which will refresh data, but will not remove data or pupils that have already been submitted.

A pupil can be deleted if they:

  • are not at the end of key stage 2
  • were not a registered pupil at your school during test week
  • are a duplicate, ie the pupil exists more than once in the submission (this may occur if the pupil was uploaded more than once but with different details)

A pupil should not be deleted in the following cases.

  1. They have been uploaded with incorrect TA levels. These can be corrected by uploading another file which will refresh the data.
  2. They did not sit the tests because they were working below the level, unable to access the tests or were absent on the day of the tests. You should submit their TA levels, or appropriate code if an assessment cannot be made (see the ‘Teacher assessment’ section of the key stage 2 ‘Assessment and reporting arrangements’).
  3. They were registered during pupil registration and appear in the expected pupil list on the spreadsheet template. STA require a TA level or appropriate code for all registered pupils. If the pupil left the school prior to test week you should record them as ‘L’ for all subjects.

How to ‘delete a pupil’

  1. Click on the ‘Teacher assessment’ page at the top of the NCA tools.
  2. Click on the ‘View teacher assessment’ link on the left of the screen.
  3. Click the ‘View’ link next to the pupil you wish to delete.
  4. Click the button ‘Delete pupil and all assessments’.
  5. You will receive a message to ask if you are sure. Click ‘OK’.

If you wish to delete your whole cohort (eg if you uploaded the wrong year group, or there are too many errors in your submission and you want to start again), please call the national curriculum assessments helpline.

Help and support

Standards and Testing Agency

Email assessments@education.gov.uk

National curriculum assessments helpline 0300 303 3013

For general enquiries about national curriculum tests.

Published 18 April 2013
Last updated 13 May 2015 + show all updates
  1. Updated for 2015 teacher assessment submission.

  2. First published.