Year 6 SATs 2027: Dates, What's Tested and How to Prepare

Year 6 SATs 2027 dates

The key stage 2 tests take place from Monday 10 May to Thursday 13 May 2027. Every school in England sits the same papers on the same days.

Source: GOV.UK, primary assessments: future dates.

What the SATs test

• Grammar, punctuation and spelling: a questions paper on grammar and punctuation, and a spelling test read aloud by the teacher.
• Reading: a booklet of three texts with questions on retrieval, inference, vocabulary and the author's choices.
• Maths: an arithmetic paper of calculations, then two reasoning papers of problem solving.

Writing is assessed by your child's teacher across the year, not in a test.

How SATs are scored

Raw marks are converted to scaled scores from 80 to 120. A scaled score of 100 or more means your child has met the expected standard. Schools share results with parents before the end of the summer term.

How to help your child prepare

1. 1Arithmetic first. The arithmetic paper rewards fast, accurate written methods. Ten minutes a day on long multiplication, division and fractions makes a real difference.
2. 2Read and talk about it. Ask "why do you think the character did that?" and "what does this word tell us?" That's the inference and vocabulary the reading paper tests.
3. 3Learn grammar terms. Children need to recognise terms like relative clause, subordinating conjunction and modal verb.
4. 4Practise with past papers. Official past papers are free on GOV.UK. Do one section at a time, then full papers in the spring.
5. 5Keep it calm. SATs measure how well the school has taught, not your child's future. Relaxed children perform better.

Year 4 parents: the multiplication tables check

Year 4 children take the online multiplication tables check within the two weeks from Monday 7 June 2027. It's 25 questions with 6 seconds per question, covering tables up to 12 x 12. Quick daily practice is the best preparation.