KS2 SATs 2027: a parent's guide
· 9 min read
What the KS2 SATs test, when they happen, how scaled scores from 80 to 120 work, and how to support your child's preparation without adding stress.
What the KS2 SATs actually are
The KS2 SATs — formally the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum Assessments — are statutory tests sat by every child in Year 6 across England during the second week of May. They are set and marked by the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) rather than by schools, and results are reported to the Department for Education. The tests measure how well pupils have met the end-of-Key-Stage-2 national curriculum expectations in three areas: Reading, Mathematics, and Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling (GPS). Writing is not externally tested; it is teacher-assessed. The purpose is to provide a national benchmark of primary attainment, to inform secondary schools about incoming Year 7 cohorts, and to hold primary schools accountable for their teaching. For parents, the headline outcome is a scaled score and an 'Expected Standard' or 'Greater Depth' judgement. For children applying to selective secondary schools, strong SATs results sometimes support 11+ outcomes — both share a similar Key Stage 2 curriculum base — but the assessments are independent, and SATs performance is not part of grammar school admissions. If you are managing both SATs and 11+ in the same year, our dedicated guide on preparing for SATs and the 11+ together walks through how to handle the overlap without burning out.
What each paper tests
There are four externally marked papers in 2027. Reading: one 50-minute paper testing comprehension across three different texts — fiction, non-fiction, and poetry are typical — with questions covering retrieval, inference, vocabulary in context, and structural analysis. Marks skew heavily toward inference and retrieval; children who answer in full sentences with text evidence score well. Mathematics: two papers. Paper 1 (Arithmetic, 30 minutes) tests pure calculation — the four operations on whole numbers, fractions, decimals and percentages. Papers 2 and 3 (Reasoning, 40 minutes each) test mathematical problem-solving, data interpretation, geometry, statistics, and multi-step word problems. GPS: one 45-minute paper covering grammar (sentence types, clauses, conjunctions, modal verbs, active and passive voice), punctuation (commas, apostrophes, inverted commas, semi-colons, colons), and spelling (20 words read aloud in sentence context). The GPS paper is often described as the most coachable: a few weeks of focused practice on the tested terminology — knowing the name 'subordinating conjunction', not just using one — reliably improves scores. For families using GrammarPrep's SATs preparation path, the platform covers all four papers with targeted practice organised by topic and year-group expectations.
When the 2027 tests happen
The KS2 SATs are held in the second week of May each year. For 2027 that falls around 10–14 May. The timetable is fixed by STA and published well in advance — typically the preceding autumn — so schools and families know the exact dates months beforehand. Monday is traditionally Reading, Tuesday is Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling, and Wednesday and Thursday are Mathematics (Papers 1, 2 and 3 across those two days). Tests begin at 9am and each paper is sat in one sitting with no breaks. Schools are responsible for administering the tests under STA conditions. Results are returned to schools in early July, giving teachers time to report outcomes before the end of the summer term. The weeks between the tests and results day are often felt as an anxious wait; it helps to reassure children early that the result is information rather than a verdict, and that what matters most is how they perform in September of Year 7, not what a set of papers in May revealed.
How scaled scores work: 80 to 120
Raw marks from each paper are converted to a scaled score between 80 and 120 using a conversion table published by STA after each test series. A scaled score of 100 represents the Expected Standard in that subject. Children scoring 100 or above have met the Expected Standard; children scoring 110 or above in all three subjects typically receive a Greater Depth judgement, though the exact thresholds are recalculated every year to ensure consistency as test difficulty varies. A score of 80 is the minimum reported; children who score below the threshold for 80 are recorded as 'working below the standard of the test'. The conversion from raw to scaled score varies year by year because different test versions have different average difficulty — a raw mark of 28 out of 40 might convert to 102 one year and 99 the next. This is why comparing raw marks across years misleads; always compare scaled scores. Parents sometimes ask what a 'good' scaled score looks like: at national level, around 70–75% of pupils meet the Expected Standard (100+) across all three subjects. A score of 105–115 puts a child in the upper quartile nationally. A perfect 120 is achieved by a small number of pupils each year.
Preparing without adding pressure
The most effective SATs preparation happens quietly alongside normal school life rather than as a separate intensive campaign. Schools cover the curriculum throughout Years 3–6, and most Year 6 pupils are better served by reinforcing the work their class teacher sets than by buying extra workbooks. That said, a few targeted habits help. In the autumn and spring terms of Year 6: read every day for 20–25 minutes, mixing fiction and non-fiction; practise arithmetic for 10 minutes three or four times a week; and review GPS terminology by name, not just by example. In the spring term: work through a small number of full past papers under timed conditions — two or three is usually sufficient — to build familiarity with the format and the pacing. Avoid paper-cramming in the final week before the test; a child who goes into May well-rested and confident typically outperforms one who has been grinding extra sessions. Keep the framing calm: SATs measure what your child knows at one point in time; they do not define their secondary school experience or their long-term outcomes. On GrammarPrep's SATs path, the adaptive engine identifies the specific GPS and Maths topics where a child is losing marks and prioritises those in daily practice — so preparation stays focused rather than broad, and families spend 10–15 minutes a day rather than hours.
What the results mean for secondary school
KS2 SATs results are shared with secondary schools in the summer before Year 7 begins. Most secondaries use them alongside their own Year 7 baseline assessments to understand incoming pupils and to set groupings for some subjects. They are not used for admissions to state comprehensive schools (where distance or sibling criteria apply) and they are not part of grammar school admissions processes (which use their own 11+ tests in the autumn of Year 5 or the spring of Year 6, long before SATs). Independent schools that use SATs results typically do so as one input among several, alongside interviews, reports, and their own pre-tests. For the majority of children, SATs scores matter most as a starting benchmark for secondary school teachers — not as a gate to further opportunity. A child who misses the Expected Standard in one subject will receive targeted support in Year 7; it is not a ceiling. The best framing for Year 6 children: the SATs show your teachers what you know now, so Year 7 can start from exactly the right place.