What is prior attainment?
Prior attainment is used to assess and calculate pupil progress – e.g. between KS1 and KS2, and then between KS2 and KS4.
In KS2 and KS4 performance tables, pupils are categorised as high, middle and low attainers based on their prior attainment in KS1 (for KS2 performance tables) and KS2 (for KS4 performance tables).
If you’re looking for the whole process of calculating pupil progress scores, see our articles for primary and secondary.
KS2
Prior attainment is part of steps 3, 4 and 5 of calculating a pupil’s progress score – find the whole process in our article on calculating primary progress scores (see the section ‘how pupils’ progress scores are calculated’).
A pupil's teacher assessment outcomes in reading, writing and maths at KS1 are converted into point scores These scores are then used to calculate a KS1 average point score (APS) The KS1 APS is used to determine a