Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what they consider to be the potential educational merits of a baseline assessment for reception pupils.

In 2017, following a full public consultation, we announced that we would introduce a new reception baseline assessment (RBA) from autumn 2020. The purpose of the RBA will be to provide the starting point of a school progress measure. This will give schools full credit for the important work that they do with all of their pupils throughout their time at primary school, regardless of their prior attainment. Unlike the current progress measure, which only runs from year 2 to year 6 and does not cover the first three years of school, the RBA will allow schools to be recognised for the crucial work that they do with their pupils in the reception year, year 1 and year 2. The short, teacher-mediated assessment will also add to a teacher’s understanding of their class when they start the reception year.

Additionally, the introduction of the RBA will enable us to remove the statutory end of key stage 1 assessments, as they will no longer be required to provide a baseline for progress measures, reducing the overall burden of the statutory assessment system on teachers and headteachers.