The government has not published Key Stage 2 data for the 2021-22 academic year. They have archived data from the 2018 to 2019 academic year because they recognise that the data from that year may no longer reflect current performance due to the disruptions in education caused by Covid.

73% of our pupils achieved the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths, combined – higher than the national figure of 59%. In relation to pupil progress, the cohort was small (ten pupils), therefore therefore no conclusions can be drawn from this data.

‘Performance data for 2022 should not be directly compared with 2019 and earlier. Nor should comparisons be made between schools. This is because schools may have been affected differently by COVID-19.’ (Inspection Data Summary Report, Ofsted website)

End of key stage 2 assessments (known as SATs) were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The data below represents what we assessed.

For Reading, Maths, and Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling, our assessments are closely based on previous SAT tests and were done under test conditions. They were marked and graded based on the thresholds for that particular test. As a result, the assessments below provide an accurate indication of outcomes.

For Writing, the assessment stems from teacher assessment, as it would do for the outcomes in May. Year 6 teachers across Sphere Federation and beyond met at various times throughout the year to review their assessments for children’s writing. As a result, the teacher assessment for Writing also provides an accurate indication of end of year outcomes.

Attainment: expected standard

Expected standard is where a pupil’s scaled score is 100 or more. Based on previous SAT papers, 64% of our pupils achieved the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths, combined (2019 national: 65%).

The proportions reaching national expectations for each subject, and for Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling, are:

• Reading: 86% meeting expected standards (2019 national: 73%)
• Writing: 79% meeting expected standards (2019 national: 78%)
• Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling: 79% meeting expected standards (2019 national: 78%)
• Maths: 64% meeting expected standards (2019 national: 79%)

Attainment: higher level

Greater depth standard is where a pupil’s scaled score is 110 or more. The proportions who were on-track to reach greater depth levels were broadly in-line with national 2019 proportions or a little lower this year. Teacher assessment indicates that the pandemic impacted most significantly in this respect.

Analysis by RS Assessment and SchoolDash found that had national tests been held for Year 6 pupils this year, it is ‘likely’ that attainment seen in 2019 would only have been replicated in reading, but not in maths or grammar, spelling and punctuation. This makes our internal data, presented here, even more impressive.

End of key stage 2 assessments (known as SATs) were cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. We carried out some assessments before schools were closed.

For Reading, Maths, and Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling, our assessments stem from some trial tests that children did. These tests were all previous SAT tests and were done under test conditions. They were marked and graded based on the thresholds for that particular test. As a result, our assessments are likely to provide an accurate indication of outcomes in the national assessments in May.

For Writing, our assessments stem from teacher assessment, as it would do for the outcomes in May. Year 6 teachers across Sphere Federation and beyond met at various times in the Autumn and Spring term to review their assessments for children’s writing. As a result, the teacher assessment for Writing is also likely to provide an accurate indication of end of year outcomes.

The 2020 Year 6 cohort was small so percentages aren’t especially helpful, and providing them here might also affect anonymity of the data.

Attainment: expected standard

Expected standard is where a pupil’s scaled score is 100 or more. The proportions who were on-track to reach nationally expected levels in 2020 in Reading, Writing, Maths, and in Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling, were broadly in-line with national 2019 proportions or just a little lower.

Attainment: higher level

Greater depth standard is where a pupil’s scaled score is 110 or more. The proportions who were on-track to reach greater depth levels were broadly in-line with national 2019 proportions or a little higher.

Due to the disruptions in education caused by Covid, performance measures for the 2018-19 academic year are not current. The government has archived data from the 2018-19 academic year because it recognises that the data from that year may no longer reflect current performance.

Attainment: expected standard

In 2019, 87% of our pupils achieved the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths, combined. This is the second significant increase in a row and is well above the national figure of 65%.

The proportions reaching national expectations for each subject, and for Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling, are:

• Reading: 87% meeting expected standards (national: 73%)
• Writing: 87% meeting expected standards (national: 78%)
• Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling: 87% meeting expected standards (national: 78%)
• Maths: 93% meeting expected standards (national: 79%)

Another measure used to analyse the assessment data is average scaled scores. ‘Scaled scores’ are the scores given to each pupil based on the test score, where 100 is the expected national standard (80 is the lowest possible, 120 is the highest). Our scaled scores mirror the scores nationally:

• Reading: 104 is the average scaled score (national: 104)
• Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling: 106 is the average scaled score (national: 106)
• Maths: 105 is the average scaled score (national: 105)

Attainment: higher level

Proportions reaching higher levels (scaled scores of over 110) are another measure of a school’s performance. The proportion which reached this higher level in Reading, Writing and Maths combined is 7% (national: 11%).

• Reading: 20% meeting the higher level (national: 27%)
• Writing: 20% meeting the higher level (national: 20%)
• Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling: 40% meeting the higher level (national: 36%)
• Maths: 13% meeting the higher level (national: 27%)

Progress

The Department for Education measures progress from Key Stage 1 (KS1) to Key Stage 2 (KS2). Expected progress is zero, with anything above that being better than expected and negative numbers showing less than expected progress.

• average progress in Reading: 0.0 (expected progress)
• average progress in Writing: +1.7
• average progress in Maths: +0.6

Due to the disruptions in education caused by Covid, performance measures for the 2017-18 academic year are not current. The government has archived data from the 2018-19 academic year because it recognises that the data from that year may no longer reflect current performance.

Attainment: expected standard

In 2018, 71% of our pupils achieved the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths, combined. This is a significant increase from the 2016 figure and is above the national figure of 64%.

The proportions reaching national expectations for each subject, and for Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling, are:

• Reading: 86% meeting expected standards (national: 75%)
• Writing: 86% meeting expected standards (national: 78%)
• Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling: 71% meeting expected standards (national: 78%)
• Maths: 71% meeting expected standards (national: 76%)

Another measure used to analyse the assessment data is average scaled scores. ‘Scaled scores’ are the scores given to each pupil based on the test score, where 100 is the expected national standard (80 is the lowest possible, 120 is the highest).

• Reading: 106 is the average scaled score (national: 105)
• Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling: 106 is the average scaled score (national: 106)
• Maths: 103 is the average scaled score (national: 104)

Attainment: higher level

Proportions reaching higher levels (scaled scores of over 110) are another measure of a school’s performance, and can indicate high expectations in school. The proportion which reached this higher level in Reading, Writing and Maths combined is 14% (national: 10%).

• Reading: 29% meeting the higher level (national: 28%)
• Writing: 29% meeting the higher level (national: 20%)
• Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling: 43% meeting the higher level (national: 34%)
• Maths: 14% meeting the higher level (national: 24%)

Progress

The Department for Education measures progress from Key Stage 1 (KS1) to Key Stage 2 (KS2). Expected progress is zero, with anything above that being better than expected and negative numbers showing less than expected progress.

• -1.3 average progress in Reading
• +1.3 average progress in Writing
• -0.6 average progress in Maths

All these scores are regarded by the government as within the ‘average’ range. We’re really pleased to have securely improved progress in Reading and Maths since 2016 so that it is now close to the national average (previously, progress in both subjects was below average – this reflects the improvements in teaching and learning in Key Stage 2 at St James’ CE Primary). We’re also really pleased that progress in Writing continues to be greater than the national average at +1.3.

Due to the disruptions in education caused by Covid, performance measures for the 2016-17 academic year are not current. The government has archived data because it recognises that the data from that year may no longer reflect current performance.

As we are a small school, our results are not always published within the Department for Education (DfE) school performance tables. This is the case for 2017 pupil outcomes. The 2016-17 Year 6 cohort was very small.

Small pupil numbers can result in misleading statistics and it also guards against individual children’s results being identifiable from the tables.