School leaders have branded the delay of Sats results by one week as “disappointing” and “completely avoidable”, claiming it will have a “negative impact on schools”.
The comments from the NAHT school leaders’ union come after the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) announced this morning that the return of Sats results to schools would be delayed by one week (11 July) due to the additional bank holiday in honour of the coronation of King Charles III.
In November last year, the STA announced that the bank holiday on Monday 8 May 2023 would mean a change to the key stage 2 test schedule as the first tests were set to take place on that Monday.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Sarah Hannafin, senior policy adviser for NAHT, said: “The delay to the return of KS2 results confirmed today is incredibly disappointing and was completely avoidable - the impact of shifting the dates of Sats week on marking and results should have been fully considered before that decision was made.”
Ms Hannafin said it was “difficult to accept that a one-day delay to the tests leads to a week’s delay to results, particularly with the expectations put on school leaders to fulfil their obligations and specific deadlines regarding Sats”.
She added the decision “will have a negative impact on schools, particularly those which break up for the summer holidays the week that results will now be returned”.
In November, ministers announced that the KS2 tests would take place in the same week as usual, but one day later than originally planned due to the coronation.
Today, the STA said the Department for Education will publish KS2 attainment 2023: national headlines statistics at 9:30am on 11 July.
The STA said that the later date for the return of results means “we can extend the deadline for schools to upload KS2 teacher assessment data on the Primary Assessment Gateway to Friday 30 June”, which will give schools and local authorities “more time to check and submit this data”.
However, the STA said that the deadline for submission of KS1 teacher assessment data has not changed and will remain Tuesday 27 June.
It added that the change “will also impact on the processes which follow return of results in 2023”, with the window for schools to submit marking reviews moving back by one week to Friday 21 July.
The date the department launches the checking exercise for school performance data will also move back to Monday 11 September.
The STA said: “We have made this decision as the integrity of the results and the quality standards we apply are of paramount importance and a later date for return of results safeguards these for 2023.
“We have done everything possible to limit the extent of this delay and appreciate a later date for return of results has a significant impact on schools.”
The STA said it regretted “the inconvenience this change will cause schools” and expected to return to the usual timings in 2024.
