KS3/4 - How is KS2 Banding calculated?

Analytics uses the average of the KS2 subjects nominated as ‘Core’ by your school's Sisra Administrator to calculate a student’s KS2 Banding. This is vital for accuracy, as the subjects can change each year depending on DfE guidance.

Banding Calculations for Scaled Scores

The KS2 banding for cohorts using Scaled Scores is calculated in Analytics as follows:

• Upper/High - Average KS2 equal to or greater than 110
• Middle - Average KS2 equal to or greater than 100 but less than 110
• Lower - Average KS2 less than 100

The core subjects used for cohorts awarded Scaled Scores are English Reading and Maths.

Therefore, if a student had an English Reading Scaled Score of 116 and a Maths Scaled Score of 98, then the banding calculation would be:

(116+98) / 2 = 107

This would then place that student in the Middle band, as they have an average of more than 100 but less than 110.

The DfE have also confirmed that rounding would not apply when calculating the bands. For example, a student with an average of 109.5 would fall into the Middle band. A student with 99.5 would fall into the Lower band.

Banding Calculations for NC Levels

The banding for cohorts using NC Levels is calculated in Analytics as follows:

• Upper/High – Average KS2 above Level 4 (Above 30 points)
• Middle – Average KS2 at Level 4 (Between 24 and 29.99 points)
• Lower – Average KS2 below Level 4 (Below 24 points)

As per DfE guidance, the Core subjects used each Year for cohorts using NC Fine Levels can be found in this table below.

Therefore, if a student in 2015/16 had an English Fine Level of 5.77 and a Maths Fine Level of 4.87 (both nominated as ‘Core’), then the calculation would be:

( 5.77 + 4.87 ) / 2 = 5.32

This would then place the student in the High band, as they have an average above a Level 4.

If your banding appears incorrect in the Reports, we would recommend raising this with your Sisra Administrator at school.

Thanks for reading!