Reading test for year 8 pupils

It is reported that there are plans to introduce a mandatory reading test for year 8 pupils.

The plans are outlined in the schools white paper, after recognising that poorer children may be disengaging in the early years of secondary school.

The introduction would mark the first statutory testing for key stage 3 pupils since SATs for 14-year-olds were scrapped in 2008. It would mean England’s pupils taking a compulsory national test in seven of their 14 years at school.

Schools Week report that the test would be administered at the end of year 8 and that ministers hope to put it in place from the 2028-29 academic year, however plans are still being finalised.

Schools are being reassured that while government and Ofsted would have access to the data, it would only be published at a national level, similar to the phonics check. It is also believed that a school’s performance in the test would not trigger intervention by the Department for Education’s regions groups or improvement teams, nor Ofsted.