Your Child's First Primary Maths Assessment: How to Read the Results and What to Do Next

Your child’s first primary maths assessment of the school year can show how they are progressing and give their teacher useful information to guide future teaching.

To understand what the result means for your child, you first need to learn which type of assessment they take and how the scoring system works.

We are a team of expert maths educators in Blackheath, and we'll address this topic in more detail. We’ll explain what common primary maths assessments measure, how to read the results, what they may suggest about your child’s progress and what you can do next based on what you learn.

What Does Your Child's First Primary Maths Assessment of the Year Measure?

Maths assessments measure what your child knows and can do in different areas of maths. Near the beginning of the school year, your child may take one so their teacher can identify what they already understand and monitor their progress from that starting point.

Schools use different assessment approaches throughout primary education, which means the content and format can vary by year group and school.

Some schools use assessments from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), which offers curriculum-aligned maths tests across Years 1 to 6. Its autumn assessments for Years 2 to 6 allow schools to monitor attainment and progress during the school year. 

Teachers can use these assessments to look at: 

• Arithmetic skills, including children's ability to work accurately with numbers and calculations.

• Mathematical reasoning, which shows how children apply their knowledge to different types of problems.

• Attainment, or how their performance compares with the reference used by that particular assessment.

• Progress over time, if the school uses comparable assessments at different points during the year.

One assessment cannot cover every part of the maths curriculum or give a complete picture of your child's mathematical understanding. According to the NFER, schools can compare results from different points in the year to track how children's learning develops gradually.

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How to Read Common Primary Maths Assessment Scores

Your child’s maths result may appear as a raw score, percentage, standardised score or scaled score, depending on the assessment their school uses. Before you start interpreting the numbers, check which type appears on your child’s result.

Here is how the most common formats work:

NFER explains age-standardised scores in more detail in its guide. Age standardisation accounts for differences in age between children within the same school year. 

Since schools may use assessments with different scoring methods, the information that accompanies your child’s result should tell you whether age forms part of the calculation.

For NFER assessments, 100 represents average performance in the standardisation sample. NFER groups the results into the following ranges:

• 70–84: Below average

• 85–94: Low average

• 95–105: Average

• 106–115: High average

• 116–130: Above average

Together, scores from 85 to 115 make up what NFER describes as the broadly average range.

Parents in England may also encounter 100 on a different scoring scale when their child takes the Key Stage 2 (KS2) national curriculum mathematics tests. 

Children take these tests at the end of Year 6, and the Standards and Testing Agency reports results as scaled scores that range from 80 to 120, with 100 or above indicating that the child has met the expected standard. 

So, NFER standardised assessments use 100 to represent average performance in the standardisation sample, while KS2 national curriculum tests use 100 as the threshold for the expected standard. Your child’s assessment type therefore determines what that number tells you about their result.

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What Do Your Child's Maths Assessment Results Suggest?

Your child’s score gives you a starting point for understanding their current performance, while the details behind that result can reveal more about their individual maths skills. 

Results from comparable assessments over time can add useful context too, since similar standardised scores can still represent progress as the maths becomes more advanced.

We’ll use the NFER standardised score ranges as our reference because they come from a widely used assessment system with published guidance for interpreting scores.  

Let’s look at what scores within, above or below the broadly average range may suggest about your child’s performance. 

1. Results Within the Average Range

Scores between 85 and 115 place your child within the broadly average range compared with the national standardisation sample for their age.

In other words, your child’s performance is broadly similar to that of other children their age in the reference group. The overall result can still contain differences across areas of maths, with your child understanding some topics better than others. 

You can check which questions they answered successfully and where they lost marks. The topics covered by those questions can show where your child appears confident and where some additional practice may be useful.

2. Results Above the Average Range

Scores above 115 show that your child performed above the broadly average range compared with the national standardisation sample for their age.

Your child may be doing particularly well with much of the maths covered by the assessment, although the score alone does not show whether that performance was consistent across every topic. So, their answers can give you a clearer picture of where their mathematical strengths lie.

You can speak with their teacher about the areas your child handled particularly well and whether they are ready to extend their understanding further in those topics.

3. Results Below the Average Range

Scores below 85 place your child below the broadly average range for the assessment.

Your child may have found some of the maths covered by the assessment difficult. The questions where they lost marks can indicate which concepts or skills may need closer attention. 

NFER’s diagnostic guidance explains how teachers can then use patterns in correct and incorrect answers to identify errors and misconceptions and plan future teaching. 

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What Are the Next Steps After Your Child's Assessment Results?

Your child’s results and their teacher’s feedback can guide your next steps. We suggest using both to identify one or two areas to prioritise, whether your child needs more practice or is ready for further challenge.

From there, you can:

1. Discuss the result with your child’s teacher. Find out which topics or skills deserve attention and whether your child needs more practice, further challenge or continued work at their current level.

2. Choose one area to work on first. Combine the teacher’s feedback with the questions your child found difficult to narrow the focus. If several missed questions involved multiplication facts, for example, practise that specific skill rather than reviewing unrelated maths.

3. Follow the teacher’s recommendations at home. Try any activities or resources they suggest and keep practice connected to the maths your child is currently learning.

4. Check their progress later. Compare the area you focused on with your child’s later classwork or results to see how their understanding develops.

School tests can point to areas where your child is having difficulty, but the questions they missed may not always reveal the underlying reason. More targeted support can establish whether an earlier gap or a specific skill is affecting their understanding of the maths they are learning now.

At Mathnasium, we build that fuller picture through a diagnostic assessment, which identifies your child’s individual strengths and gaps in maths and guides the creation of their customised learning plan.

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At Mathnasium, we meet children where they are in maths, whether they need to catch up, keep up or get ahead.

How Mathnasium Turns an Assessment Score Into a Customised Learning Plan

Mathnasium is a maths-only learning centre dedicated to helping students of all skill levels excel in maths.

Whether your child needs to address a gap in their understanding or is ready for greater challenge, their instruction should start from what they already know. 

This principle is central to the Mathnasium Method™, our proprietary teaching approach designed to help children build maths mastery through deep understanding. Our approach includes:

• Assessment and a customised learning plan. Every child begins with a diagnostic assessment that identifies their strengths and gaps in their maths knowledge. We use those results to create a bespoke learning plan based on what they already know and what they need to learn next.

• Teaching for understanding. Our specially trained instructors use mental, verbal, visual, tactile and written techniques to explain how and why maths works and develop a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts.

• Face-to-face instruction. Children work directly with specially trained instructors at a pace that suits them, both in-centre and online, while following their own bespoke learning plan.

• Confidence and engagement. Children learn in a fun and supportive environment where instructors encourage them to explain their thinking, solve problems and develop confidence in their maths abilities. 

The results show what this approach can achieve:

• 94% of parents report an improvement in their child's maths skills and understanding

• 93% of parents report their child's improved attitude towards maths after attending Mathnasium

• 90% of students saw an improvement in their school grades

With over 1,250 centres worldwide and over 40 across the UK, there is likely a Mathnasium centre near you.

Families across Blackheath, Kidbrooke, Lee, Greenwich, Deptford and Lewisham trust Mathnasium of Blackheath to help their children build lasting maths confidence.

If a recent assessment result or any other maths topic is on your mind, our team is ready to help.

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