The Department for Education released the 2026 key stage 2 test results on Thursday 16 July.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-2-assessment-and-reporting-arrangements-ara/2025-key-stage-2-assessment-and-reporting-arrangements
This guide explains how you can upload your actual SATs results into Smartgrade using the CTF containing your results that you receive from the DfE. You are able to upload your total KS2 raw scores for Reading, GPS, and Maths.
Before you begin your CTF upload, you must assign the relevant markbooks from the Marketplace:
1. In the Marketplace enter SATs 2026 Y6 in the search box to find the assessments (these are released close to the release of the CTF file):
2. For each subject you need click on ACTIVATE (and agree to the pop-up message), then ASSIGN to assign the classes to the assessment. For more information on assigning assessments, please see this guide. Make sure you assign Reading, GPS and Maths and then leave the markbooks empty and unsubmitted.
3. Once you have downloaded your CTF from the National Curriculum Assessments Portal (NCA Portal), go to Configuration (accessed via the three yellow lines in the top-right corner of Smartgrade).
On the left-hand menu, select Bulk Import:
4. Use the drop-down selectors to configure the details of the assessments you'd like to upload data for. For KS2 2026 SATs select:
ASSESSMENT FAMILY: NATIONAL CURRICULUM TESTS (SATS)
Subject: We recommend selecting All subjects, although the option is available to just select one or two
Assessment Window: Summer 2
Schools: If you are a MAT admin, ensure you select the relevant school
Result Type, Year and Academic Year cannot be changed
5. Select BROWSE FILES to choose your CTF file, and click UPLOAD DATA to begin the upload process.
Viewing your SATs results
1. Once the CTF has imported the data is added to the markbooks and the markbooks are submitted, you will be taken to the Attainment area of the Assessment Analysis module with all classes selected and with data aggregated by class.
2. In Overall Results you will see the following:
3. To update your columns, click the Cog icon in the bottom left hand corner of the screen and de/select columns as required.
You can also find the GOV.UK guidance in relation to how to access results and test scripts for Key stage 2 tests here.
Troubleshooting:
- If you try to upload data to an unsubmitted markbook containing data then a warning modal appears saying "There is already data in this markbook. If you proceed with the upload then all pre-existing data will be erased and replaced with the new data. Are you sure you wish to proceed?" You can choose to Cancel or DELETE AND UPLOAD CTF.
- If the file is in the expected format (CTF) but contains students that are not in a markbook then you will see a message saying: 'STUDENTS MISSING FROM MARKBOOK. There are students in your file that are not in a markbook on Smartgrade. The missing students are:...' You can choose to Cancel or CONTINUE.
- If the file is in the expected format but is missing students that are in a markbook then you will see a message saying: 'STUDENTS MISSING FROM FILE. There are students in your markbooks that are not in this file. The missing students are:...' You can choose to Cancel or CONTINUE, these students are marked as Absent.
- If you upload data to a markbook and there is missing data for some of the students, the students with missing data are marked as Absent in the relevant markbook.
- If you upload data for a student who appears in 2+ markbooks within the same window/subject combination then the data is uploaded to all markbooks but none of the affected markbooks are submitted. An error message says: 'STUDENTS IN MULTIPLE MARKBOOKS. There are students that appear in multiple markbooks. If you continue, results will be uploaded to all instances of the student and the affected markbooks will be unsubmitted. The duplicated students are:...'.
If you are unable to successfully upload your file after troubleshooting the above issues, please contact Smartgrade at help@smartgrade.co.uk.