End of KS1 assessments became non-statutory from the 2023/24 academic year onwards. As we noted in our last post on Key Stage 1, the first cohort to take the statutory Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) had reached the end of KS1. As a result, KS1 assessments were no longer needed to create Value Added measures for this and future cohorts at Key Stage 2.
In Insight, we have maintained an option to record KS1 data in our system. Additionally, we also have estimates for Reading, Writing and Maths in 2019/20 and 2020/21, based on data entered by Insight schools, which the DfE did not require schools to submit centrally. As a result, we have an indication of the outcomes of the KS1 SATs in the Covid years as well as the three years since these assessments became non-statutory. We also know the number of pupils in our system with KS1 data for these years.
If we look at the pre-pandemic means, the post-pandemic means and the last three years (the non-statutory period), we see the following:
| Reading | Writing | Maths | Science | |
| 2015-2019 Mean | 75% | 68% | 75% | 83% |
| 2021-2023 Mean | 68% | 59% | 69% | 78% |
| Insight 23-26 | 71% | 63% | 72% | 83% |
The graph of all this data looks like this:
Years marked with an asterisk (*) are Insight estimates
Once again, it is interesting to note the official ‘post-pandemic’ data – which is notably lower than the pre-pandemic data – is consistent with the data Insight was collecting in 2020 and 2021. In the three years since the assessments became non-statutory, we saw data increasing steadily until this year, when the numbers for reading, writing and maths look somewhat different.
Whether this is because of an underlying change or the changing nature of our dataset – fewer schools enter data, and (as numbers drop) the data is less comparable over time – is unclear.
We do know that fewer schools using Insight are recording KS1 data in our system year on year. In 2023-24, when just 7% of schools opted out of receiving the non-statutory KS1 assessments which the Department for Education supplied for free, the figure was 44.7%.
In 2024-25, when schools had to print the materials at their own cost, it dropped to 33%. This year the figure has dropped to just 7.1%.
Leave a Reply