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06 September 2022
This email is an official communication from the Standards and Testing Agency.
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Primary assessment general Key stage 2 Reception baseline assessment
Primary assessment general
Welcome back to the new school year. This year, we will again email you fortnightly on Tuesdays during term time, with some additional editions in case of new urgent actions or updates.
 
You received this email because you are either a Primary Assessment Gateway (PAG) user or have previously subscribed to our assessment updates, but you can unsubscribe at the bottom of our emails at any time.
 
If you are aware of others who would benefit from receiving our assessment updates for schools, or our separate stakeholder update, they can sign up here.
We and our supplier, Capita, would like to apologise again if you experienced issues with the last national curriculum assessment test cycle. We are undertaking lessons learned activity to ensure that causes of issues are fully understood and how these can be addressed.
 
Later this term, we will conduct workshops with schools, local authorities and trusts, to hear directly about your experiences and get input on some potential solutions. We would also like to offer you the opportunity to contribute (in the next article).
 
Later this academic year, we will relay the outcomes of this process and the actions we are taking as a result.
 
Thank you again for all the work you do to support primary assessments.
As outlined above, some schools experienced issues during the 2021/22 test cycle. As part of our lessons learned exercise we want to hear from schools, trusts, local authorities (LAs) and other interested parties about their experiences.
 
We produced a survey with a focus on the administration and delivery of primary assessments. All responses will help us improve the overall experience in the next test cycle.
 
If you would like to contribute, please complete the survey by 5pm on Wednesday 21 September 2022.
Reminder: national curriculum assessments in 2022/23
 
We will run a full programme of primary assessments in the 2022/23 academic year. This includes the:
  • reception baseline assessment (RBA)
  • phonics screening check (PSC)
  • multiplication tables check (MTC)
  • statutory tests and teacher assessments at the end of key stage 1 (KS1) and the end of key stage 2 (KS2)
 
We will not undertake a science sampling exercise at KS2 in 2022/23.
 
You can read more about the status and plans for the statutory end of KS1 assessments and the science sampling exercise in our email from 20 July.
 
You may also find it useful to remind yourself of the upcoming KS1 and KS2 assessment dates.
Action: participate in national curriculum assessment expert review panels
 
We are seeking expert review panellists to provide feedback on national curriculum assessment materials, including the KS1 and KS2 tests, PSC and RBA.

We review assessment materials during development in a series of external panels to ensure they are fit for purpose.
 
We are interested in hearing from:
  • teachers (or recently retired teachers)
  • senior teachers
  • subject and assessment experts
  • LA or multi-academy trust advisors
  • assessment leads
  • initial teacher training providers
If you are interested in taking part, or for further information you can go to our GOV.UK page: National curriculum assessment expert review panels

If you have any questions, please contact us.
This year, academies choosing to use a non-geographical LA have until 18 November 2022 to put in place a monitoring and moderation agreement and these academies must report this to STA on the PAG. This is the same for those selecting their geographical LA. Beyond this date academies will be expected to obtain an agreement with their geographical LA without exception.
 
Participating independent schools must have an agreement in place for monitoring the end of KS2 tests and a moderation agreement if choosing to submit KS1 or KS2 teacher assessment data. Monitoring and moderation agreements must be put in place with their chosen LA by 9 December 2022.  
 
This assessment update article is positioned to give academies and participating independent schools enough notice to put in place moderation agreements by the date outlined.
Key stage 2
 
The KS2 September checking exercise opened on Monday 5 September.
To access it, select ‘2022 KS2 September Checking Exercise’ and log in with your username and password.
 
The Department for Education recently emailed schools with full details on how to check their data for the 2021/22 academic year and, if necessary, submit requests to remove pupils and amend KS1 results, subject to specified criteria.
 
You must submit all amendment requests and upload any supporting documentation by 5pm on Friday 16 September 2022.
 
For enquiries about the KS2 September checking exercise only, please contact the schools’ helpline by submitting a ‘Contact Us’ request on the checking exercise website or by telephone on 0845 3077867.
 
Schools can continue to view their results (a total score for each pupil) in the ‘View pupil results’ section of the (MTC) service until Friday 30 September 2022.
 
After this date the MTC service will close and re-open again in Spring 2023.
 
If schools wish to keep a record of these results, they can download a common transfer file (CTF) containing their MTC results until Friday 30 September 2022.
Marking and clerical review outcomes will be available on the PAG on Wednesday 7 September 2022. Depending on the outcome, pupil results will have been amended and can be accessed in the ‘View and download KS2 test results’ form in the ‘Available activity’ section.
 
Schools that made review outcomes, will have in their ‘Completed activity’ section a letter confirming the outcome of their review application(s), a notification of changes sheet and a marking review report for each subject, per pupil.

Schools will be able to access reviewed test scripts using the ‘View and download KS2 test results’ form which will show the review marks for each pupil.

Schools should be aware that outcomes of marking and clerical reviews will not be included in the schools checking exercise but will be included in KS2 revised school level data due to be released to schools in December.
Reception baseline assessment
Practitioners must administer the RBA to all applicable pupils in the first six weeks after they enter reception.
 
To do so, log in to the Baseline ePortal (BeP), using the log in details sent to your school via email in August. If your school is part of a multi-academy trust, please be aware that each school has specific log-in details and these should not be confused or shared.
 
All pupils must be uploaded to the system. If the school decides that it is not appropriate for a pupil to take the assessment, this must be recorded on the BeP. This can be done by using the school’s headteacher account to set a pupil’s status to “disapplied”.
 
For more information, please see the RBA assessment and reporting arrangements.

Standards and Testing Agency
Tel: 0300 303 3013 (Monday-Friday 8.30am-5pm)
Email:
assessments@education.gov.uk
Web: https://gov.uk/sta

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Standards and Testing Agency · Cheylesmore House, Quinton Road · Coventry, CV1 2WT · United Kingdom