What does SATs stand for?

SATs stands for ‘Statutory Assessment Tests’.

Rather confusingly there are two answers for this, both equally correct. The education authority calls these tests National Curriculum Tests but the letters actually stand for Statutory Assessment Tests. They are carried out in UK schools by the Standards & Testing Agency.

Simply, they are used by teachers as an assessment to measure how well schools have been teaching their children and also to measure progress. You can get more information on our page about why children sit SATs tests.

If you would like more detailed information on what is included in the SATs tests, then visit our dedicated pages on KS1 Year 2 SATs and KS2 Year 6 SATs.

You can find much more information about SATs on our SATs Paper Forum.