SATs 2023 results release date: When will the KS1 and KS2 grades come out in July, scaled scores explained

Year 6 pupils and their families across the country will today find out the results of this year’s SATs (Statutory Assessment Tests) results. The tests were held in May, and the results will be used to measure school performance and to make sure individual pupils have the support they need before going into secondary school.

SATs, which take place in years two (KS1) and six (KS2), aim to measure students’ academic progress, as well as holding schools accountable for the pupils’ learning progress. Students are assessed on English grammar, punctuation and spelling, English reading and mathematics.

However, this year’s tests have come under fire, with teachers and parents urging for them to be scrapped since the stress has left students "in tears”. It was claimed the reading test was "the most challenging", and that research has shown that SATs can lead to "increased anxiety, stress, and even depression" in the classroom.

According to Tes research, Year 6 students were given a reading paper that required them to read 2,106 words across three readings, a 34% increase from the previous year’s 1,564 words. Children had only 34 seconds to answer each of the 38 questions in the booklet in the 2023 exam.

The scores of entering students are made known to secondary schools, and many use the findings as a basic guide for setting. Most secondary schools, however, recognise that SATs only measure a subset of courses and skill sets, therefore they administer their own test at the start of year seven.

When will the results be released?

SATs results will be released to schools at 7.30am on Tuesday (July 11). This is when your child’s school will send a report which will include test results and teacher assessment judgements, meaning parents will get a good sense of the standard at which their child is working in each subject.

For Year 2 pupils, parents are unlikely to be given their child’s KS1 SATs results unless you ask for them. However, parents will be told whether or not a child is working at the expected standard as part of the teacher report that is presented at the end of KS1.

What happens if your children fail SATs

According to the Government’s website, there’s no direct consequence of a child failing their SATs although the results may reflect badly on the school, but they don’t have to retake the exams. The children will get their SATs results in July, usually at the same time as their end of year report.

Scaled score explained

According to the Department for Education, to meet government expectations, pupils must achieve 100 in their scaled scores. But this equates to different marks for each paper (maths; reading; grammar, punctuation and spelling) and can change each year.

Converting a pupil’s raw score to a scaled score simply requires looking up the raw score and reading across to the appropriate scaled score. The tables are available on the government’s website.

The marks required for 2023 on each of the key stage 2 SATs tests are:

• Maths: 56 out of 110 (down from 58 in 2022)
• Reading: 24 out of 50 (down from 29 in 2022)
• Grammar, punctuation and spelling: 36 out of 70 (up from 35 in 2022)