Information: Cancellation of 2019/20 and 2020/21 national curriculum assessments.
The Secretary of State for Education announced on 18 March 2020 that the 2019/20 national curriculum assessments will not take place due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Department for Education announced on 7 January 2021 that the 2020/21 national curriculum assessment will not take place again this year.
Primary school performance measures will not be published for the 2019/20 or 2020/21 academic years.
This guide has been updated for the academic year 2019/20.
The terminology of Prior Attainment Bands is currently used interchangeably at a national level, with some basing it on the average point scores from the previous key stage and others using it to refer to prior attainment in a specific subject.
Ofsted Inspection Dashboard
Progress – low/middle/high bands are based on KS1 APS.
Attainment – low/middle/high bands are based on the individual subjects
Analyse School Performance (ASP)
Progress – low/middle/high bands are based on KS1 APS.
Attainment – low/middle/high bands are based on KS1 APS for general/overall reports and based on the individual KS1 level for subject specific reports.
Fischer Family Trust
Progress & Attainment – initially based on KS1 APS, but then all pupils are ranked nationally and split into thirds so low/middle/high is based on the corresponding third.
For a more detailed summary, click here to read this excellent Blog by James Pembroke.
The DfE have also clarified their position on this matter, click here.
Pupil Asset users are able to automatically calculate prior attainment bands for every year group.
Years 1 and 2
The Prior Attainment Bands for years 1 and 2 are based on the combined minimum of the core EYFS subjects – that is whether pupils were awarded a 1 (LOW), 2 (MIDDLE) or 3 (HIGH) in Reading, Writing and BOTH Numbers and Shape, Space & Measure for Maths.
To calculate the Prior Attainment Bands for these year groups, navigate to Results > Results and ensure that you have results in the required columns (EYFS Judgement for Years 1 & 2 and End Reception for Years 3 -6).
Next, click Edit and then Auto-calculate the Prior Attainment Bands.
Years 3 to 6
The Prior Attainment Bands for Years 3 to 6 are based on a combined minimum of Maths, Reading and Writing Key Stage 1 Teacher Assessments.
To calculate the Prior Attainment Bands for these year groups, navigate to Results > Results and ensure that you have results in the required columns (End of Key Stage 1 Teacher Assessment).
Next, click Edit and then Auto-calculate the Prior Attainment Bands.
NB: There is currently no DfE guidance on calculating Prior Attainment Bands at KS1. If the DfE produce updated guidance, we will update our calculations accordingly.
Legacy Year 6
For Year 6 pupils, prior to academic year 2019/20, the Prior Attainment Group (PAG) column shows which Prior Attainment Group pupils are in. This is based on their Key Stage 1 Baseline Score and is calculated as follows:
The colours in the Prior Attainment Group column represent which Prior Attainment Band the children are in (Low/Middle/High), also based on the KS1 APS Score, but with the following boundaries applied:
Low: KS1 APS <12
Middle: KS1 APS 12-17.99
High: KS1 APS 18+
For more information on using Prior Attainment Bands in Pupil Asset, see ‘Ways to use prior attainment bands in Pupil Asset’.