Summing up the results of the 2022 Key Stage 2 SATs tests

It seemed like an eternal wait, but the KS2 SATs 2022 results day finally arrived. As we know, the 2022 papers would have been administered in 2020 so they didn’t take into account the gaps in learning due to Covid. We asked our Achieve authors to share their insights into the results.

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling
Raw scores at a glance...

National Attainment at a glance...

High score attainment at a glance...

The expected standard national KS2 GPS results were 6% lower this year than in 2019, taking us right back to 2016 GPS standards. This shows some of the impact of the pandemic on pupils’ knowledge and understanding of grammar. Indeed, this also impacted on pupil writing outcomes which reduced from 78% expected to 69% reaching the expected standard nationally. These subjects were trickier to teach online during school closures.

Most pupils explained that they felt the KS2 grammar test was fair, with some pupils commenting that it was easy, with only a few tricky questions.
 

Maths

It wasn’t any surprise that the percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard fell in mathematics from 79% in 2019 to 71% in 2022 – although, this is still 1 percentage point higher than the first year of the current tests in 2016. Pupils had to achieve a raw score of 58 (out of 110), which was the same as for 2019. In a Third Space Learning survey, 47.9% of teachers reported that results were similar to their expectations. 38.5% reported that pupils had done better than expected.13.7% saying they had done worse than expected.

Interestingly, the average scaled score in 2022 was 104, the same as for 2017 and 2018, with only 2019 being higher at 105. We won’t know the national figures for the higher score until September, but the data suggests that a good proportion of pupils did achieve 110 (the higher scaled score used from 2016 – 2019).

We should remember that 68.5 marks came from content from Years 3, 4 and 5 so it is vital that Year 6 teachers plan to revisit content and ensure that pupils have the conceptual pre-requisites before moving on to new Year 6 learning. In another Third Space Learning survey, 49% of teachers felt that reasoning had been most impacted by the pandemic. Therefore, it would be useful for schools to share examples from the reasoning papers with all Key Stage 2 teachers where the content came from year groups other than Year 6, but were not well answered by their pupils.

Reading

Here is a comparison of the scaled scores and national averages since the introduction of the new style of tests:

The threshold for working at the expected standard has increased from 21/50 in 2016 to 29/50 in 2022. The national average for reading has peaked and is only 1% lower than the highest it has been in 2018, since the introduction of the new style of test – from 66% in 2016 to 74% in 2022. This is an increase of 8% and will be celebrated across schools. As the threshold and the national average have both increased, has the standard of teaching reading improved; are we more familiar with the style and pitch of the reading tests and/or are pupils better prepared for the tests?

Schools and staff are committed to ensuring that as many pupils as possible enter KS3 with the skills to read across the curriculum. There is a fine art of balancing preparing pupils to complete assessments and generating a love of reading for all pupils. Of course, we need to reflect on the 26% of pupils who will be entering KS3 working below the expected standard for reading. Our later Implications for Teaching reports will focus on identifying what we can glean from the 2022 test materials and how we can tweak our practice across school. But for now, let’s reflect on despite the KS2 reading threshold being at its highest yet, the national average for reading has also increased since 2019.

Well done to all the pupils and teachers who worked so hard this year!
 

Shareen Wilkinson, Steph King and Maddy Barnes

Achieve’s SATs Revision series includes a Revision Guide, Question Workbook and Practice Papers – with books designed for pupils aiming for the Expected Standard and the Higher Score. Learn more, view samples and order online here.

Read more about our experts’ thoughts on the 2022 SATs:

• Reactions to the 2022 SATs Reading tests

Don’t forget, in the autumn term, we will be publishing our latest Implications for Teaching and Learning Reports, which will provide a full report with details on the 2022 KS2 SATs results with recommendations on how to prepare for the SATs in 2023. Sign up if you’d like to receive this free reports for:

• Reading
• Maths
• Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling.