KEY STAGE 2 TEST RESULTS

Some details on the National Curriculum tests can be found under More Information further on in this booklet.

The results
This part of the Tables shows:

• the number of pupils who were at the end of KS2 and, therefore, eligible to be assessed in May 2004. All pupils - including those with special educational needs (SEN) - are eligible for assessment under the National Curriculum when they reach the end of KS2. Most pupils will be aged 11 by the end of the school year. But some will be older or younger.
• the number and percentage of eligible pupils with special educational needs, both with and without statements at January 2004;
• the percentage of eligible pupils in each subject who achieved Level 4 or above in the English, mathematics and science tests; and
• the percentage of eligible pupils in each subject who achieved Level 5 in the English, mathematics and science tests.

Level 4 or above at KS2
The Tables show the percentage of pupils achieving Level 4 or above in the KS2 tests for English, mathematics and science. Level 4 is the expected level of most 11 year olds. This percentage is based on all eligible pupils, including those who were absent at the time of the tests or working at the level of the tests but unable to access them and, therefore, did not achieve a result.

Level 5 at KS2
The Tables also show the percentage of pupils achieving Level 5 in the KS2 tests for English, mathematics and science. This percentage is based on all eligible pupils, including those who were absent at the time of the tests or working at the level of the tests but unable to access them and, therefore, did not achieve a result. This is an important step towards ensuring that the Tables provide more comprehensive information about school performance.

Eligible pupils with special educational needs (SEN)
The Tables show how many of the pupils eligible for KS2 assessment had SEN. Some of these pupils may not have taken the tests - because they were working at a level below that assessed by the tests, or because they were working at the level of the tests but unable to access them. This will affect the school's overall results.

Percentage of pupils absent or working at the level of the tests but unable to access them
Some pupils were absent from school at the time the tests were taken in May 2004 (perhaps due to illness) and did not achieve a test level.

The National Curriculum tests have been designed to make sure as many children as possible can access them. Parents cannot withdraw their children from any part of the National Curriculum.

There may, however, be a very small number of pupils who are unable to access some, or all, of the test arrangements, even allowing for the full range of special arrangements to be made, and are therefore assessed as working at the level of the tests but unable to access them. Usually this only happens if all, or part, of the National Curriculum is not suitable for a pupil because he or she has certain special educational needs. The assessments are designed to cater for most pupils with special educational needs.

Each school's results at Level 4 or above are based on the results of all pupils at the end of KS2, including those who were absent on the day of the test or working at the level of the tests but unable to access them. A school's results may have been affected by such eligible pupils, because those pupils are included in the calculations even though they did not achieve a test level. To help you take this into account, the percentage of eligible pupils who were absent at the time of the tests or working at the level of the tests but unable to access them is shown alongside the percentage achieving Level 4 or above and Level 5. The higher the percentage of those pupils, the more a school's results may have been affected by pupils with no test results.

Adjustments to the number of eligible pupils
The results of some schools have been adjusted. Some schools requested that pupils recently admitted from overseas with little or no English be discounted from the figures. This has been agreed where the pupil was admitted to the school in the 2002/2003 or 2003/2004 school year from outside the United Kingdom, and their first language is not English. The Government accepts that these pupils will not do their best in the key stage tests until they have improved their English language skills and are more familiar with the school curriculum in this country.

Average point score (APS)
The APS provides a fuller picture of the KS2 achievements of pupils of all abilities. It allows for easier discrimination between schools with similar percentages, showing those schools whose pupils mostly fall below Level 4, or those who exceed that level. For example, a score of 30 would mean that, on average, pupils achieved more than Level 4 but less than Level 5. For a school with 100% of pupils achieving Level 4 or above in all three subjects, a score of 30 would tell you that a proportion of pupils have achieved Level 5 in some, or all, of the tests.

The APS is calculated by using the following formula:

(Total points for English + Total points for maths + Total points for science) / (Total number of eligible pupils for each subject) = APS

The total points for each subject are calculated by awarding each pupil a number of points, according to the table below, and then adding the total points together. This gives you the total points for a subject.

The number of eligible pupils for each subject does not include those pupils that were absent at the time of the tests or working at the level of the tests but unable to access them.

See the following table for the points awarded per subject per pupil.