How to access the National Curriculum Assessments Portal

About the NationalNCA Curriculum Assessments Portal  Portal  

The NCA Portal is a secure website that supports primary schools, local authorities and MATs with the administration of the: 

• phonics screening check   

• optional key stage 1 (KS1) tests  

• statutory key stage 2 (KS2) tests and teacher assessment 

Schools can: 

• place test orders 

• download phonics screening check and optional KS1 test materials 

• register pupils for KS2 tests 

• apply for KS2 access arrangements 

• submit online attendance registers 

• submit headteacher’s declaration forms  

• download teacher assessment standardisation training materials 

• submit KS2 teacher assessment data 

• view KS2 test results and marked test scripts 

Local authorities can: 

• download teacher assessment standardisation training materials 

• complete standardisation exercises 

• review standardisation exercise results and commentaries 

• approve monitoring and moderation agreements with academies and participating independent schools 

• generate reports on KS2 access arrangements to help inform monitoring visits 

• submit KS2 teacher assessment data on behalf of schools 

• record external moderation data for schools 

• view KS2 results 

MATs can: 

• access KS2 results for schools they manage  

KS3 schools can:  

• access KS2 results for their incoming year 7 pupils only 

SigningRequesting in  a new account

If you don’t have an NCA Portal account yet, ask a user within your organisation who has ‘account manager’ permissionpermissions to create one for you. In schools, this is usually the headteacher. In local authorities, this is usually a senior local authority user or moderation manager.

You will need to provide your full name, email address and information about any user permissions you need.

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  Changing your password 

  You can change your password at any time by following the steps below: 

  1. Sign in to the NCA Portal. 

  2. Select the ‘Account’ tab at the top of the page. 

  3. Select ‘Change password’. 

  4. Enter your current password, then enter a new password and confirm. 

  Do not share your NCA Portal password with anyone.

  Navigating the NCA Portal  

  On the landing page, after signing in, you will find the dashboard with all available activities, their due dates and status. 

  To access any activity on the dashboard, select the activity’s title. Each activity is accompanied by in-system guidance to help you understand what you need to do.  

  Use the tabs at the top of the landing page to navigate between the system’s functions. Your available functions and activities will be based on the user permissions of your account.

  Top tips 

  When moving around the NCA Portal, please do not use the ‘Back’ button on your internet browser. Instead, navigate the website using the links and menus within the NCA Portal. 

  The NCA Portal will time out after 30 minutes of inactivity. This includes staying on the same page for too long without submitting any information. If your session times out, you will have to sign in again to regain access. To avoid being timed out and potentially losing work in progress, make sure you have all relevant information available before starting your session. 

  There is a save function for longer activities, such as pupil registration, so that you can partially complete them and then submit them later. Shorter activities, such as test orders, must be completed in one session.

  User permissions 

  School user permissions 

  There are 3 different permission levels for school users: 

  User	Permissions
  School account manager	Allows the user to create or remove user accounts and amend user permissions for the school. We recommend that headteachers, or members of staff with delegated authority, have this level of permission.
  School general user	The standard account that allows users to view all tasks, except for those involving access arrangements or creating and deleting user accounts. We recommend that account managers give this level of permission to all school users who require access to the NCA Portal.
  School access arrangements	Gives users permission to make and view applications for access arrangements. These applications may contain sensitive information about pupils, so schools should consider carefully who needs to have this level of access.

  Schools can have up to 7 users in total, but are restricted to a maximum of 2 ‘School account manager’ users.

  If ‘School account manager’ users need to view or complete additional tasks beyond managing user accounts, they will also need to add ‘School general user’ and ‘School access arrangements’ permissions to their account, as appropriate. Account managers can update their own permissions.

  Local authority user permissions 

  There are 7 different permission levels for local authority users: 

  User	Primary focus	Permissions
  Local authority account manager	User account creation and removal	Manage access
  Local authority senior manager	Full oversight and management	Access to manage all activities assigned to local authorities
  Local authority deputy manager	Delegated authority	Access to manage all activities assigned to local authorities
  Local authority general user	Support and administration	Access to KS2 test results, manage teacher assessment, submit help desk requests and maladministration requests
  Moderation manager	Lead moderation activities	Manage moderators and deputy moderation managers, access standardisation training materials, access and take standardisation exercises, add moderated schools, upload external moderation summaries
  Deputy moderation manager	Supporting the moderation manager	Manage moderators, access standardisation training materials, access and take standardisation exercises, add moderated schools, upload external moderation summaries
  Moderator	Participation in standardisation	Access standardisation training materials, take standardisation exercises

  If required, local authority users can have access to multiple local authoritiesauthorities, and switch between themthem, within the same account.

  However, local authority users who also require schools access, such as moderators, will need 2 separate accounts. These can be set up with different email addresses or both be linked to the one official school email address.

  Account manager responsibilities 

  School and local authority users who have account manager permissions should ensure that their organisation’s users are kept up to date and only have access to the permission levels needed to carry out the functions of their role. 

  Account managers must carry out regular reviews to ensure that leavers are removed and permission levels are amended when staff join or move to a new role.

  Creating users 

  To create a new user, please follow the steps below: 

  1. Select the ‘Account’ tab. 

  2. Select ‘Manage access’ or ‘Manage moderation team access’, depending on the required permissions.

  3. Enter the user’s full name and email address, and select the relevant user type.permissions.

  4. Select ‘Create user’. 

  5. You will receive email confirmation, and the new user will receive an email with details of how to sign in.

  Additional information for creating dual users 

  To set up NCA Portal access for someone who is a school user but also needs accesslocal authority permissions, such as a moderator, 2 separate accounts are required. To create the user’s:

  • school account, use their official school email address – for example, ‘firstname.surname@schoolname.sch.uk’
  • local authority account, use a separate official email address, where possible – for example, ‘firstname.surname@localauthorityname.gov.uk’

  If a user asalready wellhas asa school account and requests a local authority user,account pleasewith forwardthe theirsame email address, the NCA Portal will display an error message. Where this is the case, follow the steps below:

  1. Select the ‘Account’ tab.

  2. Select ‘Manage moderation team access’.

  3. Enter the user’s full name.

  4. Enter the user’s existing school email address already registered on the NCA Portal, with ‘+mod’ added before the @ symbol – for example: ‘firstname.surname+mod@schoolname.sch.uk’.

  5. Select the relevant user permissions.

  6. Select ‘Create user’.

  7.  You will receive email confirmation, and the new user will receive an email with details of how to STA’ssign Teacherin.

  Alternatively, Assessmentyou teamcan atsubmit TAMOD.data@education.gov.uka request for a dual user to the helpdesk, using the ‘Support’ section of the NCA Portal, to assign the additional role. Please include the following details:

  • first name and surname of the user

  • job role

  • local authority to be assigned to

  • email address already registered on the NCA Portal – this must be a school email

  • user permissions required – for example: moderator, moderation manager

  • confirmation that the user requires dual access as both a school user and a local authority user

  These users will then be set up with an additional username to access their local authority account, which will be their existing school email address with ‘+mod’ added before the @ symbol – for example: ‘firstname.surname+mod@schoolname.sch.uk’.

  You can track the progress of your helpdesk requests in the ‘Support’ section of the NCA Portal.

  Local authority users who need access to multiple local authorities don’t need separate accounts. You can add additional local authority user permissions to the user’s existing local authority account, which will then enable them to switch between the different local authorities within the same account. Ensure you check which permissions the user needs for each local authority, as they may differ.

  Deleting users 

  To delete users, please follow the steps below: 

  1. Select the ‘Account’ tab. 

  2. Select ‘Manage access’. 

  3. Navigate to the list of current users at the bottom of the page. 

  4. Select ‘Remove’ next to the user you want to delete. 

  5. Select ‘Delete user’. 

  6. You will receive email confirmation that the user has been removed.

  School contact details 

  You can view your school’s contact details by selecting ‘Account’ and ‘View organisation details’.  

  If your school’s postal address or Department for Education (DfE) number has changed, you will need to change this on Get Information about Schools (GIAS). Once you have done this, the NCA Portal will be automatically updated with the new information. This can take up to 2 weeks.

  Local authority contact details 

  You can view your local authority’s users and contact details by selecting ‘Account’, then ‘Key contact details’ and ‘System contacts’. You can also add additional contact details within the ‘Additional contacts’ tab on this page. 

  Going forward, we will use these contact details on the NCA Portal for all tailored communications to local authorities. We will no longer use the ‘local authorities contact details survey’, which has now closed. To ensure the correct people within your local authority receive all the relevant communications with important information for moderation and monitoring, you should: 

  • regularly review the user accounts on the NCA Portal 

  • make sure that all registered users are up to date and have the correct permissions 

  • remove accounts for any leavers

  Further support 

  If you need more help with accessing or using the NCA Portal, please contact the national curriculum assessments helpline: 

  • call National 0300curriculum 303assessments 3013helpline (Monday
    Call: to0300 Friday,303 8:30am3013
    Email: to 5pm) 

  • email assessments@education.gov.uk
    Online: NCA Portal

   ‘Support’