2025 KS2 SATs results analysis

The results are in, and there’s a lot to unpack. A lot of increases this year, both in ‘pass marks’ and amount of children passing - but what could this mean? The most surprising part of this whole saga has been the mental rollercoaster surrounding the reading paper. At first, the paper felt fair and accessible; then the mark scheme appeared harsh and overly rigid; yet in the end, the pass mark rose by just one, and the national average turned out to be the highest on record. What could this mean? Into the numbers we go…

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KS2 SATs raw scores

The raw scores required to reach expected standard (EXS – a scaled score of 100) and ‘greater depth’ (GDS – generally accepted to be a scaled score of 110) can be seen below.

Both the reading and maths average scaled scores have increased by one, with reading at the highest it’s ever been (106). Maths has consistently been either 104 or 105, and GPS either 105 or 106. The average GPS scaled score remained at 105 this year, unchanged since 2022.

How many children achieved the expected standard this year?

National percentages for achieving EXS in each subject tend to fall in the 70s, with writing the lowest (at an average of 73% over the last six years) and GPS the highest (at an average of 75% over the last seven years).

Reading: 75% of children achieved EXS this year - a 1% increase from last year

Writing: 72% of children achieved EXS this year - a 0.5% increase from last year

Maths: 74% of children achieved EXS this year - a 1% increase from last year

Reading, writing, maths (combined): 62% of children achieved EXS this year - a 1% increase from last year

Grammar, punctuation and spelling: 73% of children achieved EXS this year - a 1% increase from last year

*There is missing data for writing in 2017 as changes made within the 2017/18 writing TA frameworks mean that judgements in 2018 are not directly comparable to those made using the previous interim frameworks in 2016 and 2017.

The percentage of children achieving EXS nationally in reading is the highest it’s ever been (alongside 2018 and 2022).

Writing and GPS saw their highest achieving years in 2018 and 2019 (pre-Covid) - a 6% and 5% increase on this year’s results respectively.

Maths and RWM were also at their highest in 2019 (pre-Covid), at 5% and 3% higher than this year respectively.

The highest overall percentage of children achieving EXS in any subject was in maths in 2019, with 79% ‘passing’ the test - a level that hasn’t been matched since. In fact, except for reading, EXS outcomes have yet to return to their pre-Covid standards.

Related content:

KS2 SATs 2025: reading paper analysis

KS2 SATs 2025: GPS papers analysis

KS2 SATs 2025: maths papers analysis

Maths SATs results 2025

The EXS boundary in maths has gone up by 4 marks since last year - we haven’t seen a jump as big as this since 2017 to 2018. It is also the second highest it’s ever been (alongside 2019 and 2022). The GDS boundary has always been between 85-87%, and this year it’s settled in the middle at 86%. Whilst this is only a 2 mark increase from last year, this is still the biggest jump in raw score we’ve seen for GDS from one year to another.

What does this mean for maths next year?

Since 2017, the percentage of children achieving EXS in maths has ranged from 71 - 79% (with the highest being the last year before Covid, and the lowest being the first year back after Covid. It has slowly increased since, but is yet to return to pre-Covid levels).

Theoretically, based on the pass marks of almost all the previous papers (all except 2018 and 2019!), children should be able to meet the expected standards by almost exclusively knowing content from years 3-5.

It’s worth noting that although there are nine content domains in the KS2 mathematics test framework, they are not all weighted equally. Each content domain has a varying amount of substrands, ranging from 3 in both geometry – position and direction and statistics, to 12 substrands in fractions, decimals and percentages (where F1 is ‘recognise, find, write, name and count fractions’, up to F12 which is ‘solve problems with percentages).

Each substrand is then split across various year groups to create different objectives; for example, the aforementioned substrand F1 is divided into four objectives: three in Year 3 (e.g. 3F1a: count up and down in tenths) and one in Year 4 (4F1: count up and down in hundredths).

Calculations and FDP, the two weightiest content domains in terms of mark allocation, each have 39 objectives and 40 objectives respectively. This goes some way to explaining the distribution of marks across the content domains (i.e. the most marks are allocated to these domains because they contain the most content. However, this doesn’t always follow as measurement, a domain containing 44 objectives, has been allocated around 10% of the total marks for the last five years!)

Reading SATs results 2025

The EXS boundary in reading has gone up by 1 mark this year to 28/50, the same ‘pass mark’ we saw in 2018 and 2019 (and the second highest it’s been after 2022’s pass mark of 29/50). GDS has remained the same as last year at 40/50.

Although many of us were baffled by this year’s ‘rigid, preposterous mark scheme’, and therefore worried this would negatively affect the results, the pass mark (the second highest it’s been) and the proportion of children achieving EXS nationally (the highest it’s been) tell a different story. Does this mean the paper was easier? Or - could it be - children are getting better at reading?

What does this mean for reading next year?

As we've seen, there's been no clear pattern in the reading pass mark, but children have seemed to consistently perform well in this subject. Since 2017, the percentage achieving EXS in reading has remained fairly stable, ranging from 72% to 75% with the highest results seen this year, as well as in 2018 and 2022. Based on national averages, reading appears to be the only subject largely unaffected by the ‘Covid gap’.

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling SATs results 2025

The SPAG assessment consists of a 50-mark question paper and a 20-mark spelling-only test. This structure gives a bit more leeway to strong spellers (which allows for weaknesses in the grammar test). For example, scoring full marks on this year’s spelling test meant you only needed 15/50 on the grammar test to still reach the expected standard. Weaker spellers could make up the marks in the grammar test.

The EXS boundary in GPS has remained steady at 50% since last year, and aside from 2018, the ‘pass mark’ has consistently been either 50% or 51%. While the GDS boundary has increased by one mark this year, it still remains one of the lowest GDS thresholds we’ve seen, second only to last year.

G1 and G5 collectively make up over half of the SPAG paper. This proportion has also consistently been higher than the amount of marks needed to pass the paper meaning that, theoretically, you could achieve EXS by correctly answering questions from only these two content domains.

What does this mean for GPS next year?

As with the maths test content above, it’s worth noting that although there are seven content domains in the KS2 English GPS test framework, they are not all weighted equally. G5 has the most content within it (15 topics, ranging from G5.1: capital letters to G5.14: bullet points) whereas G2, G6 and G7 contain the least (four topics each). This goes some way to explaining the distribution of marks across the content domains (i.e. the most marks are allocated to domains G1 and G5 because they contain the most content).

Since 2017, the percentage of children achieving EXS in GPS has ranged from 72 - 78% (with the highest being the last year before Covid, and the lowest being the first year back after Covid. It has increased by 1% since, but is yet to return to pre-Covid levels).

What now?

If you have any 98s, 99s, 108s or 109s, I would definitely get checking those papers to see if you can pick up any extra marks. It could take only one extra mark to tip the scale into a ‘pass’ – for small schools particularly, this potential one mark could mean a difference in data of 7% (based on a cohort of 15 children)! We know from experience that there can be marking discrepancies, so it’s worth poring over some of those ‘boundary’ papers.

After reporting to parents and governors, your data may be used as a basis for forming some of your SDP priorities for next year. However, let’s remember…

• These tests are only a snapshot: they are under four hours’ work which are supposed to represent seven years of education (and that’s not forgetting the COVID gap!). They only assess a fraction of the National Curriculum.

• Year 6 teachers should not take any blame, or feel any guilt, if the results are lower than expected – these children have had six years of schooling prior to Year 6, potentially with 6+ different teachers, and only eight months in Year 6 before the tests.

• Year 6 teachers equally should not take all the glory if the results are amazing! These children have had six years of schooling prior to Year 6, potentially with 6+ different teachers, and only eight months in Year 6 before the tests!

• Every school approaches the tests differently: some schools put focus on SATs from the very beginning of Year 6; some have more of a relaxed approach. Many different factors come into play when it comes to producing these results – including children’s confidence and wellbeing on the actual day.

• It’s not all about attainment – don’t forget to consider the children’s progress scores (remember - there are no official progress measures this year, and won’t be until 2027). This is arguably more important than attainment as it’s about how far the children have come whilst at your school.

• There is so much more to the children, and your school, then these numbers. Look at the children in your care and consider how many other ways they have progressed that the government don’t measure – have they secured a speaking part in your play? Have they won a sports match? Do they stay in their seat for the whole lesson now? Each of these could be a ‘win’ for specific children you have in mind.

SATs Springboard

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