Starting next week pupils in S3 will be participating in National Standardised Assessments, all S3 pupils in Scotland take part in these assessments. The Scottish Government commissioned the Scottish National Standardised Assessments as part of the National Improvement Framework.

For young people to have the best chance of reaching their potential teachers and the young people themselves need to understand how they are progressing and what further support they require.

These assessments provide teachers objective and nationally consistent information on pupil’s progress in aspects of literacy and numeracy, alongside a wide range of other assessment activity. Teachers can then take into account the full range of assessment activity, including NSA, to plan next steps to best support the young person’s learning. The online assessment system produces diagnostic information about where your child did well and where further support is required.

Pupils do not have to revise or prepare for assessments. The assessments are used as part of routine teaching and learning to help teachers understand how well your child is progressing.

The assessments are adaptive, which means that if a child is experiencing difficulty, the questions will get easier, and if a child is doing well, the questions will become more challenging. In this way, the assessments establish a pupil’s capacity without them having to face lots of questions that are too easy or too difficult for them to answer. There is no pass or fail.

Your child’s teacher uses this feedback to help plan next steps and provide further support as appropriate. Providing the right support at the right time helps to ensure your child can reach their potential.

More information can be found on https://standardisedassessment.gov.scot/

The assessments will run over the course of 2 weeks starting on Monday the 12th of May with each pupil assigned one half day slot for numeracy and the same for literacy.