SATs for Home-Educated Children
The complete guide to SATs if you educate your child at home — your rights, your options, and whether SATs are right for your family.
The Legal Position
The most important thing to understand is that SATs are not compulsory for home-educated children. The legal requirement to sit KS2 SATs applies only to children registered at a state-funded school, as confirmed in the GOV.UK guidance on elective home education. If your child is educated at home, there is no obligation to take SATs, and no penalty for choosing not to.
Local authorities have a duty to ensure that home-educated children are receiving a suitable education, but “suitable education” does not mean following the national curriculum or sitting national tests. You are free to educate your child in whatever way you believe is appropriate, and SATs are entirely optional.
That said, some home-educating families do choose to sit SATs for various reasons. If that interests you, read on to understand how it works and what the alternatives are.
How to Register for SATs as Home-Educated
If you want your home-educated child to sit SATs, the process requires cooperation with a local school:
- 1.Contact a local primary school. You need to find a school willing to host your child for SATs week. The school must order the test papers on your child’s behalf and administer the tests under standard conditions.
- 2.Do this early. Schools must order test materials well in advance of SATs week (usually by the autumn term). Approaching a school in April is likely too late. Start the conversation in September or October at the latest.
- 3.Schools are not obligated to help. Unfortunately, there is no legal requirement for a school to accommodate a home-educated child for SATs. Some schools are happy to help; others may decline due to logistics, space, or staffing constraints. Be prepared to approach more than one school.
- 4.Your local authority may assist. Some local authorities can help connect home-educating families with willing schools. Contact your LA’s Elective Home Education team to ask.
If a school agrees, your child will sit the same papers under the same conditions as every other Year 6 child in England. Their papers will be externally marked, and you will receive the results in July.
Practice Resources for Home Educators
Whether or not your child sits the formal tests, the content covered by SATs aligns with what most children should know by the end of primary education. Practising SATs-style questions can be a useful way to check understanding and identify gaps.
- ✓SATs Arcade offers hundreds of curriculum-aligned questions across maths, reading, and GPS, with progress tracking that helps you see exactly where your child is strong and where they need more support.
- ✓Past papers are published by the STA and are freely available online. Working through these under timed conditions gives children a realistic experience of the actual tests.
- ✓Workbooks and revision guides from publishers like CGP, Collins, and Scholastic cover the KS2 curriculum systematically. These can be particularly useful if you are following the national curriculum at home. See our revision books guide for recommendations.
Alternative Assessments
If you do not want your child to sit formal SATs but would like some kind of assessment, several alternatives exist:
- ✓Standardised tests. Assessments like the CAT4 (Cognitive Abilities Test) or MidYIS can provide a benchmark of your child’s ability without the pressure of SATs. Some home education groups organise group sittings.
- ✓Portfolio assessment. Many home-educating families build a portfolio of their child’s work throughout the year. This can be shared with secondary schools to demonstrate attainment without a formal test score.
- ✓Secondary school baseline tests. Most secondary schools run their own assessments in the first weeks of Year 7. If your child does not have SATs results, the school will use these internal tests for setting purposes. Your child will not be disadvantaged.
Should Your Child Sit SATs? Pros and Cons
This is a personal decision that depends on your family’s circumstances and philosophy. Here is a balanced view:
Reasons For
- +Provides a nationally recognised benchmark of your child’s attainment
- +Gives secondary schools data for initial setting, potentially ensuring your child is placed in appropriate groups from day one
- +Builds experience of formal, timed assessments before secondary school
- +Can give your child a sense of achievement and accomplishment
Reasons Against
- −May conflict with your educational philosophy if you do not follow the national curriculum
- −Can create unnecessary stress for a child who is not used to formal testing
- −Logistically challenging — finding a willing school, attending during SATs week
- −Secondary schools will assess your child internally anyway, making SATs data redundant
Transitioning to Secondary School Without SATs
If your home-educated child is moving into a state secondary school, you might worry about not having SATs results. Rest assured: secondary schools are experienced at receiving children without SATs data. This is common for children who have moved from abroad, from private schools, or from home education.
The school will use their own internal assessments to determine your child’s academic level and set them accordingly. These tests are usually administered in the first week or two of Year 7 and cover English and maths. Your child will be treated no differently from any other new pupil.
If you have any concerns about the transition, contact the secondary school’s Year 7 transition coordinator. Many schools are happy to meet home-educating families before the start of term to discuss arrangements and put both parent and child at ease. For more on how secondary schools use SATs data, see our secondary school guide.
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