Smartgrade Ltd

Smartgrade is a standardised assessment platform built specifically for Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) to manage testing, data collection, and analysis across their schools. Designed around the operational needs of trusts, it brings assessment data into a central hub to help leaders evaluate performance and spot gaps in learning.

Smartgrade has five guiding principles:
- Aligning tests to the curriculum.
- Improving assessment quality.
- Reducing teacher workload.
- Leveraging standardisation.
- Ensuring analysis leads directly to decision-making.

Smartgrade standardises results using live MAT or national standardisation samples to provide real-time peer comparisons.

MATs can create and standardise their own custom in-house tests, use the Smartgrade Assessment Series, or access curriculum-aligned assessments from partners such as United Curriculum, Ark Curriculum Plus, and CUSP.

Smartgrade streamlines assessment administration through central test assignment, simple markbooks, AI auto-marking, and seamless data exports to management information systems like Arbor and Insight Tracking. By offering question and topic-level analysis alongside national benchmarks, the platform gives MAT leaders clear insights to direct support where it is needed most across their trust.

There are three ways of using Smartgrade:
- Access high-quality assessments from our curriculum partners, which include CUSP, United Curriculum and Ark Curriculum Plus.
- Use our primary-focused Smartgrade Assessment Series, which offers curriculum-aligned maths, reading GPS and science assessments. (Maths assessments align with both the White Rose Maths and NCETM schemes).
- Set up your own in-house assessments, which is particularly popular with MATs who have a common, MAT-wide curriculum.

Whichever route you choose, you can access offline (paper-based) or online assessments, depending on your needs. Many of our AI assessments can also be marked reliably with AI.

One of our major strengths is that you can access powerful analytics at individual, class, school, and MAT-wide levels. Our platform is optimised to process even large MAT datasets at speed so that all stakeholders, from the teacher to the CEO, can see useful, fast, high-quality analysis to spot gaps in learning and make more informed decisions.

Smartgrade is committed to supporting school trusts and contributing directly to the wider sector through practical research, collaborative innovation, and rigorous assessment design.

Sector Insight & Curriculum Alignment: We actively research how Multi-Academy Trusts navigate curriculum alignment. Our report, Aligning Your Curriculum and Assessment Across a MAT, published in partnership with trust leaders, provides actionable guidance on balancing trust-wide consistency with school autonomy. Visit: https://www.smartgrade.co.uk/download-aligning-curriculum-report

Workload-Saving AI Automarking: Working alongside trusts like Ark Schools, United Learning, and Oasis Community Learning, we trialled and launched Powermark, our AI automarking tool. Delivering 94-97% marking accuracy, it cuts marking workload by up to 90% while returning detailed topic-level feedback and flagging low-confidence answers for teacher review. Visit https://www.smartgrade.co.uk/solutions/ai-auto-marking

Proven Prediction Accuracy: We continuously evaluate our algorithms against real student outcomes. Independent analysis of our Key Stage 2 practice SATs predictions showed an 87% accuracy rate when predicting a student’s SATs performance indicator, and an overall reliability level that outperformed conventional standardised assessments. Visit https://www.smartgrade.co.uk/blog/evaluating-accuracy-primary-sats-predi...

Smartgrade Assessment Series: Designed specifically around how primary schools teach, our new assessment series includes termly maths papers aligned with NCETM, White Rose Maths, and National Curriculum sequences. MAT leaders can standardise and analyse results together across schools following different curriculum pathways. This series covers primary maths, reading comprehension, GPS, and science. We also have a new diagnostic reading fluency tool being piloted in Autumn 2026. Visit https://www.smartgrade.co.uk/blog/introducing-smartgrade-assessment-series

Through sector whitepapers, pioneering trials, and curriculum-aligned tools, Smartgrade ensures school trusts receive valid data, actionable insights, and meaningful workload reduction.