In response to the 2017 'Primary assessment in England government consultation', on 11th April 2018 the DfE announced the introduction of a new statutory reception baseline assessment in autumn 2020.
New baseline assessments to be introduced from autumn 2020
The test will be administered by schools as soon as children enter reception and will enable schools to measure children's progress from reception through to KS2. The DfE will publish the results of these measures for all through primaries in the summer of 2027.
The existing KS1 assessments (both national curriculum tests and teacher assessments) will remain statutory until the reception baseline is established within schools (which will be 2022 at the earliest). Schools will be required to administer the KS1 assessments each summer until this point.
Following a procurement process, the DfE confirmed that NFER have been chosen to design and deliver the new reception baseline assessment.
Find out more about the reception baseline assessment.
How will schools be held accountable after autumn 2020?
All schools with a reception year, including infant and first schools, will administer the new reception baseline assessment when it is introduced.
First and infant schools
- KS1 assessments will be made non-statutory for first and infant schools at the same time they are made non-statutory for all through schools.
- Measures will continue to not be published and schools will continue to be responsible for demonstrating pupil's progress to Ofsted.
Middle and junior schools
- KS2 attainment information will continue to be available for middle and junior schools.
- Until the measures based on the new reception baselines assessments are available for all through primaries, the DfE will continue to publish progress measures for middle and junior schools.
Read the full DfE report.
Using standardised tests to measure progress
Many schools decide to use standardised tests to measure progress against national averages. Our standardised tests are available for Reception to 6 in GPS, reading and maths. Find out more here.
Tags
baseline assessment,
key stage 1,
key stage 2,
reception