When SATs results arrive each summer, it's natural to focus on Year 6.
After all, they're the pupils who sat the tests, the teachers who carried the immediate responsibility, and the results that will shape improvement discussions in the months ahead.
SATs can feel like the final destination. The end point of primary education.
The moment when years of learning are distilled into a set of results.
But every destination is shaped by the journey that came before it.
And if SATs are the destination, perhaps school improvement begins by understanding the journey..
The Danger of Only Looking at the Ending
Imagine picking up a book, reading only the final chapter and believing you understand the whole story.
You might know how it ends, but you wouldn't understand the twists, challenges and turning points that shaped the plot.
SATs results are much the same.
They tell us where pupils finished their journey, but not what happened along the way.
The most important lessons are often found in the chapters that...
Every school does assessments.
Baseline assessments at the start of the year.
Mock tests before SATs.
Progress checks throughout the term.
Pupils sit the tests. Teachers mark them. Leaders review the percentages.
Then comes the important question:
What happens next?
For many schools, assessment data stops at a score. A pupil achieved 72%. A class average was 68%. A cohort performed broadly in line with expectations.
But percentages alone cannot improve outcomes.
They cannot reveal misconceptions.
They cannot explain why pupils struggled.
They cannot identify the curriculum content that needs revisiting.
And they certainly cannot provide the evidence needed to justify future actions to governors, trust leaders, school improvement partners, or Ofsted.
The most effective schools understand that the real value of assessment lies not in measuring performance, but in understanding it.
At DAISI Education, we believe the Assessment is only the Beginning.
Many assessments provide a score, a percentage, or an attainment judgement. While that tells you how pupils performed, it rarely explains why they performed that way...
The words "Ofsted inspection" can still make even the most experienced school leaders feel a little nervous. Not because they're unprepared, but because inspection is about far more than presenting a set of results.
It's about demonstrating that you truly understand your pupils, your curriculum and the impact your school is having every day.
The schools that navigate inspection most confidently are rarely those with the thickest folders or the slickest presentations.
They're the schools that know their children, understand their data and can clearly explain the story behind both.
Moving from Numbers to Narrative...
Beyond the Headline Results
When KS2 SATs results arrive, most schools naturally focus on the headline figures.
Expected Standard
Greater Depth
Progress Measures
School Comparisons
These measures matter. But they're only the starting point.
The real opportunity lies in understanding why pupils performed the way they did and what those results tell us about curriculum effectiveness, teaching, learning and future priorities.
And that's where DAISI Education's Question Level Analysis (QLA) can really help...
Looking back...
Schools today have access to more data than ever before.
Assessment scores, attendance figures, behaviour records, pupil progress measures, intervention tracking, benchmarking reports, and survey responses can provide a wealth of information. Yet having data is not the same as using it effectively.
The most successful schools understand a fundamental truth:
The best schools don't just collect data.
They use it.
The biggest difference between good and great schools is often not the quantity of data they hold, but how they turn that information into meaningful action.
Moving Beyond Data Collection
Collecting data has become routine in education. Every assessment, test, and observation generates another set of numbers that can be stored, analysed, and reported.
However, data in isolation tells us very little.
A pupil scoring 65% on a test provides a headline figure, but it doesn't explain what they understand, where misconceptions exist, or what support they need next. Looking only at overall scores can leave crucial insights hidden beneath the surface.
This is where effective schools take...
In a world that often celebrates giant leaps and massive achievements, "The 1% principle" brings a refreshing and empowering perspective to education.
This concept challenges everyone to rethink their approach to growth and success - focussing instead on the small gains that make up our everyday life in a school.
At its core, it is about the cumulative effect of incremental improvements - a journey of a thousand miles, but by one step at a time.
Used to great success by Sir Dave Brailsford and others, it takes the idea that lots of small improvements collectively make a huge difference as this quote from Shirley Mansfield – founder of CoachSME - explains..
“From cycling to education; car making to holidays, people are finding that 1% certainly makes a big difference. But why? It simply means focusing on small changes to everything in the business; 1% at a time.
Concentrate on making many 1% improvements and you’ll find the compound effect is huge.”
Susan Mansfield – Ultimate Guide to Marginal...
SATs outcomes are a measure, not a verdict.
They don’t see your school, your community.
The published figures are data points in time that prompt questions to drive your school forward?
Are your results in line with internal tracking?
Did the cohort include a significant number of SEND or EAL pupils?
How did other cohorts perform?
Were different topics taught differently?
But you need to look deeper to find the real truths hidden inside.
As one headteacher said..
“Do an in-depth analysis - cohort context, subject breakdowns, question-level analysis, and internal tracking vs outcomes… and you’ll find some good news in there. ”
Confidence and Evidence for Ofsted
When KS2 SATs results arrive, most schools naturally focus on the headline figures: Expected Standard, Greater Depth, Progress Measures, School Comparisons etc. These measures matter. But they’re only the starting point. The real opportunity lies in understanding why pupils performed the way they did and what those results tell us about curriculum effectiveness, teaching, learning and future priorities.
Inspectors aren’t looking for rehearsed answers or...
Multiplication Times Check
The Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) is aKey Stage 2 Assessment to be taken by pupilsat the end of year 4.
The purpose is to determine whether Y4 pupilscan fluently recall their multiplication tables.
https://youtu.be/Wi1UJm27q4Q
The Test
The test will consist of 25 questions, together with 3 practice questions.
Pupils will have 6 seconds to answer each question, with 3 seconds between each question.
Please note that you will not get a report on the number of marks each pupil gets when they "Try It Out". However, there is nothing to stop teachers from monitoring their pupils' tests and keeping their own unofficial score.
MTC Administration
The MTC administration can be accessed from the top menu bar of the Primary Assessment Gateway. This has replaces the NCA tools website, and is usually for headteachers and other super users.
The pupil register will be pre-populated with your year 4 pupils. Additional pupils can be added into the pupil register if needed.
If you wish, you can organise pupils...
When working within cycling both at the 2012 Olympics and onwards with the SKY or INEOS racing team, Sir Dave Brailsford employs a significant principal in all he does.
The 1% principal is based on the small changes that TOGETHER make a big change.
As Brailsford said, Speaking to the BBC…
“The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of, that goes into riding a bike, and then improved it by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.
There’s fitness and conditioning, of course, but there are other things that might seem on the periphery, like sleeping in the right position, having the same pillow when you are away and training in different places. They’re tiny things but if you clump them together it makes a big difference.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34247629
He believed that if it were possible to make a 1% improvement in a whole host of areas, the cumulative gains would end...
News Story - 27 February 2019
The national pilot of the reception
baseline assessment will take place from September 2019, go live in 2020, will
take around 20 minutes, and will have the following 8 indicators:
mathematics
tasks (45%-55%)early
number early
calculation (early addition/subtraction) mathematical
language early
understanding of shape early
literacy, communication and language tasks (45%-55%)early
vocabulary phonological
awareness early
reading early
comprehension
The response formats include:
oral response (30–40%)pointing (25–35%)ordering or moving objects (25–35%)
Schools can sign up to the pilot between 1 March and 5 April 2019.
The maximum number of marks available will be 45, although some tasks may be omitted that pupils are unlikely to be successful in. Each pupil will be presented with activities which are worth at least 26 marks – any omitted tasks will score zero. It is not a test, and there will be no pass mark. Early Years providers will receive narrative feedback instead of the score.
Why is reception baseline being done?
The purpose of the reception baseline assessment is to provide an on-entry assessment of pupil attainment...
This series of articles will be looking at Ofsted's Inspection Data Summary Report (IDSR).
In our series about the IDSR we had a look at how your school's Key Stage 2 Progress scores are shown in the IDSR in chart form, and the significance of your school's progress scores.
In this article, we'll have a look at the calculation.
Your pupil's Scaled Scores
In May, most of your pupils take exams in Reading, Writing and Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling. Their marks (also known as a "raw score") is then converted into a "scaled score" between 80 and 120, where 100 is a pass mark and 110 is a high score - the DfE decides after the exams how the scaled score conversion is to be done.
For the pupils that didn't take the test, then your Teacher Assessment is converted in a Scaled Score of between 59 to 79. In 2017 and 2018, the conversion was as follows:
Scaled scores P1i to P4 -...
