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Most schools carry out KS2 test practice at several points across year 6. Pupils will attempt previous years’ papers in reading, maths, and grammar, punctuation and spelling; and the results of those tests will typically be entered on to a spreadsheet or an assessment data tracking system such as Insight. Of course, the pass mark for expected standards is a scaled score of 100 – and the high score threshold is 110 – and schools will generally adopt those thresholds as indicators of performance on the practice tests. The problem is, the earlier in the year the pupil takes a… Read Article…

In an earlier post, we looked at what we know about Student Absence and what schools should do as a result. Here, we will look at patterns in overall attendance in 2023/24 compared to 2018/19 using an Attendance Percentile measure which we have created using data from schools using Insight. How have patterns of absence changed over time? In Insight, we currently gather data for 4,000 Primary Schools. Here, we will look at what we know about the changes in overall absence patterns between 2018/19 (the last year pre-Covid 19) and 2023/24, using data gathered by schools using our system.… Read Article…

As James Pembroke and I say in Dataproof Your School (2022, p4), the extensive body of research into teaching, learning and schooling suggests that students need to be in school, in class, focused and learning what we want them to. Here, we will focus on the first two areas: are students in school and in class? What do we know about the trends over time? What do we know about the current situation? What are the best bets to ensure that students are in school and in class? What should schools do to address missed learning? It is important to… Read Article…

In 2016, Becky Allen wrote an excellent article for FFT Education DataLab, which looked at how teacher assessments of writing compared to the results of the reading test at key stage 2. The data showed that there was little consistency within and between local authorities, and concluded that this variability most likely resulted from differences in moderation. The article identified local authorities whose moderation of writing may have been too harsh alongside those that were possibly more lenient. It’s worth pointing out that academies can choose which LA moderates their assessments, and there is some evidence to suggest that schools… Read Article…

Most students are in school most of the time, most absence is due to illness and family holidays during term time represent a small but consistent rate of overall absence. Much of the discourse about attendance in English schools focuses on those students who are absent from school and what happens if families take children out of school during term time. Attendance has been subject to increasing government focus since 2017, when the Supreme Court ruled that ‘regular attendance at school’ meant children should be expected to attend school for every session. The current DfE guidance (first introduced in September… Read Article…

Roughly half of pupils are in schools which have used the KS1 optional End of KS1 assessment framework materials. End of KS1 assessments became non-statutory from the 2023/24 academic year onwards. The first cohort to take the statutory Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) had reached the end of KS1 and KS1 assessments were no longer need to create Value Added measures for this and future cohorts at Key Stage 2. Whilst this change means that there is no statutory requirement to carry out end of key stage 1 (KS1) teacher assessment, the DfE chose to continue to give schools the option… Read Article…

Imagine you’ve signed up for a 10k race. On the day of the race, you go to the desk to collect your race number only to be told by the organiser that things are a bit different this year. Rather than everyone starting off in a big group at the same time, you will be separated into pace groups, each of which will be identified by a distinct coloured vest. As an experienced runner with quick times in previous races, you are placed in the fast pace group and you are handed a purple vest to wear. The race goes… Read Article…

There are now five statutory assessment points across the primary phase, and one – key stage 1 – that is no longer statutory but is ‘recommended’. Because of this seemingly ever-changing assessment landscape, it can be hard enough for teachers, let alone governors and parents, to keep up. This article aims to provide some key information on each of these important assessments. We hope that it’s useful. The dates of primary Assessment are published here. For context, the following table (correct for 2024/25 academic year) shows which assessments each year group has completed, which assessments were missed due to the… Read Article…

Insight Inform’s first report is available here. It includes our first two investigations: How have Primary schools responded to the end of KS1 SATs? and The surprising facts about absences and term time holidays. We have also released our first Insight Inform podcast introducing the new service from Insight. Insight Tracking manages student data for over 4,000 schools in England. We are always looking at ways to help those who use our systems to improve their use of data. Over the years we have produced blogs, supported podcasts and held countless events across the country focused on better understanding and… Read Article…