We provide a set of transition resources specifically designed to help teachers identify gaps in knowledge as students move between key stages.

This consists of:

The Year 7 Baseline: A formative assessment that provides meaningful insights on key aspects of the KS2 science curriculum that are foundational in starting KS3.
- One 40-minute subject knowledge paper
- 50 / 50 split of disciplinary and substantive knowledge.
- Accompanying Question Level Analysis (QLA) spreadsheet highlighting topic gaps by class and cohort.
The GCSE Transition Assessment: A pair of formative assessments that provide meaningful insights on key aspects of the KS3 science curriculum that are foundational in starting GCSE.
- One 45-minute subject knowledge paper
- One 20-minute working scientifically paper
- Question Level Analysis spreadsheet highlighting topic gaps by class and cohort.
- Student completed feedback sheets with Sparx Science topic codes
(Coming soon!) A Level Transition Booklets: Supporting KS4 to KS5 transition with hand-picked questions from our content bank that allow students to practice core knowledge from GCSEs, which will support their success at A Level.
- One booklet for each subject containing around 240 questions from our GCSE content bank, representing around 4 and half hours of student work.
- An answer booklet for each subject
- A teacher guide that details the topics covered, their relevant Sparx topic Codes in both AQA and Edexcel, and the mapped A Level specification areas.

You can download these resources for free on our website here:

To learn more about these resources, you can also view our webinars on the baseline assessment here, and the GCSE transition assessment and A Level booklets here.

Year 7 Baseline

What is the aim of the Baseline Assessment?

The aim of the Baseline Assessment is to highlight to teachers any knowledge gaps that students may have from Key Stage 2, particularly in topics which underpin large amounts of science content delivered in Key Stages 3 and 4.

When should the Baseline Assessment be used?

The assessment has been designed to be used at the start of September. This ensures that teachers are informed of any gaps in student knowledge early in the new academic year, allowing for gaps to be filled ahead of related new content being covered in the classroom.

What topics are included in the Baseline Assessment?

The assessment focuses on Key Stage 2 topics, which are prerequisites for many topics taught in Key Stages 3 and 4. We split this by students' knowledge of the relevant scientific principles (their substantive knowledge) and scientific skills (their disciplinary knowledge). There is a maximum of 50 marks available on the assessment, with a 50:50 split between substantive and disciplinary knowledge.

The topics we include in each of these areas are:

Substantive knowledge	Disciplinary knowledge
Living and non-living things	Planning scientific enquiry
Plants	Accuracy and precision
Food chains	Repeatability
States of matter	Risk
Physical properties of materials	Equipment
Reversible and non-reversible changes	Measurement
Forces	Units
Behaviour of light	Tables
Electricity	Graphs
	Conclusions

Is the assessment tiered?

The assessment is not tiered; instead, we have written a single assessment for all students, allowing for useful comparisons across an entire cohort. We use a combination of question types (including multiple choice, filling out tables and short-answer questions) and careful ramping to ensure all students can experience success in demonstrating what they do or don't know.

What reporting features will be available?

Alongside the assessment, we will be providing a QLA. This will allow teachers to generate student, class and cohort level reports, providing students, teachers and school leaders with crucial insights on both a question and topic level.

GCSE Transition Assessment

What is the aim of the Transition Assessment?

The aim of the Transition Assessment is to highlight to teachers any knowledge gaps that students may have from Key Stage 3, particularly in topics which underpin large amounts of content delivered in the early part of Key Stage 4.

When should the Transition Assessment be used?

The assessment has been designed to be used once students have completed the majority of KS3 content, and before they start to work on KS4 content. This is flexible to the timing and context of your school as the content has been created to be appropriate for students from the end of year 8 to the end of year 9.

What topics are included in the Transition Assessment?

The assessment focuses on Key Stage 3 topics, which are prerequisites for many topics taught in Key Stage 4. We split this by students' knowledge of the core factual knowledge by subject and their working scientifically skills. There is a maximum of 60 marks available on Part A and 25 marks on Part B. The topics we include in each of these areas are:

Is the assessment tiered?

The assessment is not tiered; instead, we have written these assessments for all students, allowing for useful comparisons across an entire cohort. We use a combination of question types (including multiple choice, filling out tables and short-answer questions) and careful ramping to ensure all students can experience success in demonstrating what they do and don't know.

What reporting features will be available?

Alongside the assessment, we will be providing a QLA. This will allow teachers to generate student, class and cohort-level reports, providing students, teachers and school leaders with crucial insights on both a question and topic level.

As an alternative to the QLA we have also provided a feedback sheet that allows your students to self-complete, which signposts them to areas they need to work on. This supports giving students effective follow-up, but does not provide the data analytics supported by the QLA.

A Level Transition Booklets

What is the aim of the Transition Booklets?

The aim of the Transition Booklets is to give students continuing to study the Sciences meaningful practice on the core topics from GCSE that they will need to be confident in during their A Levels. They focus on providing both depth and breadth of coverage, containing around 240 questions or around 4 and half hours of work for students.

When should the Transition Assessment be used?

The booklet is flexible, but we anticipate it to be used in the summer after GCSEs or at the early stages of Year 12 to embed their existing subject knowledge.

How is content selected for these booklets?

There is one booklet for each subject and we have used the following principles when selecting content to ensure they are accessible by any student.

Combined Science Content only: We have only included content that appears in the combined science specification, as whilst some separate topics are covered and revisited at A Level - separate science is not a prerequisite. We have however included Higher Tier content, as we would anticipate any student going on to study at A Level would be asked to have a grade 6 or above.
Ramped Difficulty: For each question we have included a range of question difficulties so all students have suitable work in the book, with question levels ramping up through the subsections, putting the most accessible questions as the first part before moving on to more complex ideas.
Mixed skills and knowledge: Finally throughout the booklet core skills (such as manipulating equations, or practical applications) are included. In Physics a specific “handling data” section is included.

Are these tied to a specific exam board?

Our existing GCSE content that these booklets are based on is written for the AQA and Edexcel series, and therefore, the content used in these booklets will most directly link to these. However, we have been cognisant of the variations between exam boards, as we know that some schools may change boards between KS4 and 5, or may use different boards before or after. Therefore, these booklets can be used by any school regardless of their chosen exam board.