Academic Assessments & Tests

Assessing a child’s academic ability is a very helpful starting point for our work together. It is only by understanding how a child is currently performing that we can provide real value by developing an effective plan for their future learning.

Our academic assessments enable us to benchmark a child’s current academic position, highlighting their strengths, pinpointing any learning gaps and providing us with an accurate measure of each child’s learning ability.

What is the value of an academic assessment?

A structured assessment replaces uncertainty with concrete information. With objective data, tutors (and parents) can adjust teaching strategies, deliver extra practice to build key skills, provide enrichment work to stretch and challenge and identify specific barriers to learning.

For some children, understanding what and how they learn can also be reassuring as it can explain why some things feel easy and others harder.

Assessment results can provide clarity on your child’s performance and attainment, identify high ability and potential scholars, deliver standardised data to guide school choice and highlight areas to improve self-confidence in subjects perceived to be difficult.

 

How do we assess children at Simply Learning Tuition?

We offer two main types of assessment: an In-Person Qualitative Assessment or an Online Adaptive Assessment. Many families use both.

In-Person Qualitative Assessment

This is completed by our highly experienced academic assessors in person at your home or in an SLT classroom. This is a unique, customised academic review of your child; an in-depth analysis conducted by an experienced educator that will involve a variety of discussions and written assessments. It will result in a comprehensive written report that recommends key learning areas and next steps for your child.

Online Adaptive Assessment

This is a highly detailed 90-minute adaptive online test completed in four sections at home, but without adult assistance.

The sections are: Maths, English, Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

The test results are in a standardised data report and will be discussed in a follow-up meeting with your client manager at SLT, where next steps will be decided.

Which test is right for my child?

Both assessments test literacy, numeracy and verbal and non-verbal reasoning and so help families who are seeking school entry guidance and/or tuition for the 7+, 11+ and 13+. Both are benchmarked against the National Curriculum and both can help identify SEN requirements, but not diagnose them.

In-Person Assessment:	Online Adaptive Assessment:
Suitable for students from Reception to Year 11	Suitable for children in Years 3-8
Ideal for students who respond best in a one-to-one environment	Excellent for younger learners who can access an online adaptive test
Delivers qualitative and quantitative data, standardised by human experience	Delivers a high level of detailed data,  standardised by AI comparison to national data sets
Delivered by an experience educator and assessor whose job is assessing children for senior schools (with a high level of human observation and experience)	Delivered with no input from a supervisor or parent
This assessment also looks at handwriting and interpersonal skills	No visibility over handwriting, character, confidence or other essential skills for assessment preparation

Further assessments

We also make referrals for more complex assessments relating to speech and language processing difficulties and can provide access to educational psychologists to diagnose and help students work more effectively with dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia or other specific learning difficulties.

Please note

Assessments cannot guarantee enhanced results. Any assessment will capture a child’s ability at that moment in time. We highly recommend that a child completes both assessments as they highlight different aspects of learning.

Overview of the assessment process