Y6 KS2 SATS  

SATs week for 2026 will take place in the week beginning Monday 11th May

In the summer term, children in Year 6 take the nationally published SATs papers. These tests in English and maths will reflect the national curriculum, and are intended to be more rigorous. 

At the end of Year 6, children have sat tests in:

• Reading 
• Maths 
• Spelling, punctuation and grammar

These tests were both set and marked externally, and the results were used to measure your child's progress and the school's performance. Your child’s marks were used in conjunction with teacher assessment to give a broader picture of their attainment.

Timetable for 2025 

Key Stage 2 Reading                                                                                                                                                                     

The reading test will provisionally be a single paper with questions based on one 800-word text and two passages of 300 words. Your child will have one hour, including reading time, to complete the test.

There will be a selection of question types, including:

• Ranking/ordering, e.g. ‘Number the events below to show the order in which they happen in the story’ 
• Labelling, e.g. ‘Label the text to show the title of the story’ 
• Find and copy, e.g. ‘Find and copy one word that suggests what the weather is like in the story’ 
• Short constructed response, e.g. ‘What does the bear eat?’ 
• Open-ended response, e.g. ‘Look at the sentence that begins Once upon a time. How does the writer increase the tension throughout this paragraph? Explain fully, referring to the text in your answer.’ 

Key Stage 2 grammar, punctuation and spelling test                                                                                        

The grammar, punctuation and spelling test will consist of two parts: a grammar and punctuation paper requiring short answers, lasting 45 minutes, and a spelling test of 20 words, lasting around 20 minutes.

The grammar and punctuation test will include two sub-types of questions:

• Selected response, e.g. ‘Identify the adjectives in the sentence below’ 
• Constructed response, e.g. ‘Correct/complete/rewrite the sentence below,’ or, ‘The sentence below has an apostrophe missing. Explain why it needs an apostrophe.’ 

Key Stage 2 Writing                                                                                                                                                         

 Year 6 children do not sit a Writing paper, but are teacher assessed on a range of genres written in class.  Each piece must meet set expectations in order that the child is considered to be working 'At Expected'.  These assessments are regularly moderated by the Local Authority.

Key Stage 2 Maths                                                                                                                                                                           

Children will sit three papers in maths:

• Paper 1: arithmetic, 30 minutes (written)
• Papers 2 and 3: mathematical fluency, solving problems and reasoning, 40 minutes per paper 

Paper 1 will consist of fixed response questions, where children have to give the correct answer to calculations, including long multiplication and division. Papers 2 and 3 will involve a number of question types, including:

• Multiple choice 
• True or false 
• Constrained questions, e.g. giving the answer to a calculation, drawing a shape or completing a table or chart 
• Less constrained questions, where children will have to explain their approach for solving a problem

How will Key Stage 2 SATs be marked?                                                                                                                            

Children are given scaled scores. 
Scaled Scores

You will be given your child’s scaled score and whether they have reached the expected standard set by the Department for Education (‘NS’ means that the expected standard was not achieved and ‘AS’ means the expected standard was achieved). 

The range of scaled scores available for each KS2 test is:

• 80 (the lowest scaled score that can be awarded)
• 120 (the highest scaled score)

The expected standard for each test is a scaled score of 100 or more. If a child is awarded a scaled score of 99 or less they won't have achieved the expected standard in the test.

The Department for Education expects at least 65 per cent of children to reach the expected standard (the figure was initially 85 per cent but has been revised).

Check out our results from 2025 on the statutory information page.  

The results will be published to school in July 2026.