Our detailed school performance can be seen on the government’s ‘Find and compare schools in England’ website which can be found here.
Year Group and Test | St. Michael's Results 2024 (compared to 2023) | National Average 2023 (2022) |
Yr.R GLoD | 87% (87%) | 67.2% (65.6%) |
Yr.1 Phonics | 93% (88%) | 79% (75%) |
Yr.4 Times Table Checker | 22.2 (19.9) out of 25 | 20.2 (out of 25) |
At the end of Reception children are assessed through teacher assessment. A Good Level of Development (GLD) is defined as children working at or exceeding the expected standard in the key areas of literacy, maths, physical development, communication and language and personal, social and emotional development.
In Year 1, the children are given national phonic tests. These assess the children’s ability to read different sounds, the building blocks of reading.
The phonics screening check is taken individually by all children in Year 1 in England, and is usually taken in June. It is designed to give teachers and parents information on how a child is progressing in phonics. It will help to identify whether a child needs additional support at this stage so that they do not fall behind in this vital early reading skill.
There are two sections in this 40-word check and it assesses phonics skills and knowledge learned through Reception and Year 1. Your child will read up to four words per page for their teacher and they will probably do the check in one sitting of about 5–10 minutes.
You can download a copy of the 2018 Phonics screening check and 2019 Phonics screening check from the gov.uk website, here.
There are also SATs at the end of Key Stage 1 for children in Year 2 when they are tested in maths and English. These tests are informal, not strictly timed and taken in the normal classroom situation, often without the children being aware they are being assessed.
SATs are important because seeing how each child is progressing through school can help teachers identify which students need extra support. This means that children who are struggling will be given the extra help they need in order to be successful in school.
The Reading Test
The reading test for Year 2 pupils is made up of two separate papers:
Each paper is worth 50 per cent of the marks, and should take around 30 minutes, but children are not strictly timed, as the tests are not intended to assess children’s ability to work at speed. The texts in the reading papers cover a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, and get progressively more difficult towards the end of the test.
The SPaG Test
Children taking Key Stage 1 SATs may also sit two separate papers in grammar, spelling and punctuation:
The Maths Test
The Key Stage 1 maths test is made up of two papers:
Paper 1: arithmetic, worth 25 marks and taking around 15 minutes.
Children are not allowed to use any tools such as calculators or number lines.
The multiplication tables check is an online, on-screen assessment given to pupils in year 4. It checks their ability to fluently recall times tables up to 12x12. All eligible year 4 pupils who are registered at state funded schools including academies and free schools and special schools in England are required to take the check.
It’s made up of 25 times tables questions. Your child will be able to answer 3 practice questions before taking the actual check. They will then have 6 seconds to answer each question. On average, the check should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete.
There is no expected standard or ‘pass mark’ for the multiplication tables check, but higher scores indicate greater proficiency in fluently recalling multiplication tables. Schools are encouraged to benchmark themselves against the national and local authority averages.