Getting started

Get started as a senior leader or governor

TutorialFor headteachers, senior leaders and governors

Use this page to find whole-school information in Sonar Tracker and to read it with care, especially for small groups of pupils. Work through it with Sonar open.

Before you start

You need a Sonar account, which your school’s Account Owner or Account Admin sets up. Senior leaders who enter or correct data usually have Full Edit, and those who only look at data have Full Read-only. Governors have Minimal Read-only (see Set up governor accounts).

Most of these reports depend on complete data. Before a meeting, check with your assessment lead that judgements for the assessment point are in.

Find the reports for a meeting

Go to Reports.
Under What are you trying to achieve?, select Governor Data Meeting.

Sonar lists the reports it suggests for discussing whole-school performance and priorities. They include the Primary Age Related Overview, the Primary Characteristic Attainment Overview, the Primary Flight Path and the outcome reports for reception, KS1 and KS2. To narrow the list, choose Senior Leadership Team or Governor from the Roles filter.

The report library. A list headed What are you trying to achieve? includes All Reports, Featured Reports and Governor Data Meeting. Beside it are filters for Roles, Phase and Assessment Type, and a list of report cards. — The report library groups reports by what you want to do.

Look at statutory results

Go to Analysis, then select Statutory Dashboard.
Choose the academic year from the year list.

The dashboard opens with a headline summary for EYFS, KS1 and KS2. It includes the percentage of pupils reaching a good level of development (GLD), phonics results and the multiplication tables check (MTC) average score. The sections below it give more detail on each assessment.

A green upward arrow shows a rise on the previous year, and a red downward arrow a fall. Figures refresh overnight, and Last updated gives the date. Select View Report in a section to see the figures behind it, or Print for a copy.

The Statutory Dashboard for 2025-2026, last updated 11 October 2026. The headline summary shows EYFS, KS1 and KS2 figures, such as 89.3% for phonics in year 1, with a green up arrow and 21.7 for the change on the previous year. — The headline summary on the Statutory Dashboard.

Pupil Overview, also under Analysis, shows pupil numbers and attendance by year group, gender, disadvantage and special educational needs (SEN). Statutory Dashboard and Pupil Overview explain each figure.

Look at teacher assessment across the school

These reports use teachers’ judgements, so they show where pupils are now. A judgement such as Securely At is a teacher’s in-year view, not a statutory outcome.

Report	What it shows
Primary Age Related Overview	The percentage of pupils at each judgement, by subject, at one assessment point
Primary Characteristic Attainment Overview	Attainment for groups such as boys and girls, disadvantaged pupils, pupils with SEN and attendance bands
Primary Flight Path	Each pupil’s results in one subject from reception onwards, with summary rows for the year group
Benchmarking, if your school subscribes	Your school’s judgements beside the average for other schools that use Sonar

Attainment reports, Pupil and class reports and Benchmarking explain each one.

In Benchmarking, National is the average for schools that use Sonar, not the DfE’s national figures, and LA is the average for Sonar schools in your local authority. Benchmarking runs only at autumn 2, spring 2 and summer 2. Teacher judgements are not moderated across schools, so treat a difference as a question to explore, not a verdict.

Read small groups with care

In a small group, one pupil can move a percentage a long way. In the screenshot, the SEN row is 1 pupil, so a single judgement would take it from 0% to 100% at or above.

The Primary Characteristic Attainment Overview for Year 4 reading at autumn 1. Each row is a group, such as all pupils, boys, girls, disadvantaged and SEN, with a coloured bar, the percentage at or above and the total number of pupils. The SEN row has 1 pupil. — Check Total Pupils before you compare groups.

When you present data:

give the number of pupils with each percentage, such as 3 of 4 pupils (75%)
check how many pupils have no assessment before you read any percentage, because reports treat them differently
look at trends over several years, rather than at one assessment point

Most reports show the count beside the percentage, such as 75.0% (3). Report figures do not match explains how each report counts pupils with no judgement. The DfE’s ‘Making data work’ report gives a sense of scale. In a one-form-entry primary, a gap between two groups may need to be about 40 percentage points before it is statistically meaningful.

Set up governor accounts

If governors look at data in Sonar, give each one their own account with the Minimal Read-only role. They can then view data but not change it, and pupil names are anonymised. Your Account Owner or Account Admin sets up accounts, as described in Governors.

‘Making data work’ recommends that governors do not routinely receive tracking data based on teacher judgement. Give the board summaries instead: statutory results, trends and the attainment of groups, without pupil names, in a format agreed in advance.

Inspection and internal data

Ofsted’s school inspection toolkit, in use from September 2026, says inspectors will not review internal data. They may ask how leaders use assessment information and what they did as a result. You do not need to produce reports from Sonar for an inspection. Check Ofsted’s website for any later changes.