National curriculum assessments: monitoring and moderation agreements

Local authorities, academies and participating independent schools must put in place monitoring and moderation agreements for the national curriculum assessments each year. Their individual responsibilities are outlined below.

Local authorities, academies and participating independent schools will use the National Curriculum Assessments Portal (NCA Portal) to record their monitoring and moderation agreements.

From the academic year 2025 to 2026 onwards:

Local authorities are responsible for ensuring academies within their geographic area have an agreement in place for:

Local authorities may also put in place monitoring and moderation agreements with non-geographic academies or participating independent schools. Where this is the case, local authorities must ensure that agreements are in place before the deadlines outlined in the Important dates.

Local authorities are required to approve all agreements in place with non-geographic academies and participating independent schools on the NCA Portal. When a local authority receives an email notification that a school has submitted a request for approval, they should: