What PP2 assessments are
PP2 assessments check what a pre-primary learner can do through observation of everyday activity rather than through written tests. At this level a teacher watches a child sort objects, join in a song, hold a pencil or take turns in play, and records what they see against the expected outcomes for the activity area.
PP2 is the final pre-primary year, and the point of assessment here is readiness — for Grade 1, and for the more structured learning that follows. Nothing at this stage is scored as a mark out of a hundred. The tools are checklists, observation schedules, simple rubrics and portfolios of a child's work, and they describe a learner against performance levels so a teacher or parent can see exactly which skill needs more support.
What a PP2 learner is assessed on
Pre-primary learning is organised into five activity areas, taught across about 25 short lessons a week:
- Language Activities – listening, speaking, early vocabulary, and pre-reading skills such as recognising letters and sounds.
- Mathematical Activities – pre-number work (sorting, matching, ordering, patterns), early number, and practical measurement using real objects.
- Environmental Activities – the child's immediate surroundings, safety, hygiene, and care for living things.
- Creative Activities – art, craft, music, movement and play, where much of the assessment is simply what the child makes or performs.
- Religious Activities – offered as Christian or Islamic religious activities, following the school's programme.
Assessment runs continuously through all five, because a pre-primary child shows what they know by doing rather than by writing.
How PP2 assessment actually works
The methods matter more at this level than at any other, so they are worth setting out plainly:
- Observation schedules and checklists – the main tool. A teacher records whether a child can perform a specific skill, over several occasions rather than once.
- Portfolios – a collection of the child's drawings, craft work and early writing gathered across the term, showing progress rather than a single snapshot.
- Simple rubrics – describing performance against levels (from below expectations up to exceeding expectations) for each skill.
- Oral and practical tasks – short, playful activities where a child counts objects, names pictures, or follows an instruction.
Written tests play only a small part, and where they appear they are picture-led and very short. An assessment that asks a PP2 child to write extended answers is not fit for the level.
What you get in the files
The PP2 assessments download in editable format, so you can adjust them to your class, your term dates and the activities you have actually covered. Alongside general CBC-aligned assessments, some pre-primary material is developed against specific KICD-approved publisher coursebooks — both sit under the same catalogue link, so open it and check the file titles to see which you are getting.
Who these are for
- Pre-primary teachers – ready-made observation-led assessment material for PP2, matching how pre-primary activity areas are assessed under the CBC.
- Parents and home users – simple, practical ways to see how a child is progressing before Grade 1, without turning it into a test.
- Anyone downloading on a teacher's or school's behalf (including from a cyber café or business centre) – these are specifically PP2, the final pre-primary year, not PP1 and not Grade 1. Confirm the level first.
- Researchers and education-sector readers – these are the CBC observation-led assessments for the exit year of pre-primary, structured by activity area.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do PP2 assessments include? Observation checklists and schedules, simple rubrics, portfolio guidance, and short picture-led practical tasks covering the five pre-primary activity areas.
Are PP2 learners given written exams? Not in the ordinary sense. Assessment at PP2 is observation-led and practical. Where a written element appears it is short and picture-based, because pre-primary learning is play-based.
How many activity areas does a PP2 learner cover? Five, taught across roughly 25 short lessons a week.
How do these help with readiness for Grade 1? They show, area by area, which skills a child has secured and which still need support — the pre-number and early language skills in particular, which Grade 1 builds on directly.
Are the assessments tied to a particular coursebook? Some are. Alongside general CBC-aligned assessments, we publish material developed against specific KICD-approved publisher coursebooks. Open the catalogue link and check the file titles to see which a file follows.
I've been asked to download these for a school – what do I check? The level first: PP2, not PP1 or Playgroup. Then the activity area, if a specific one has been requested.
Looking for another pre-primary or primary level?
This page covers PP2. For Playgroup, PP1 and every primary grade, start from our Primary Exams & Assessments hub, which links to each level. For PP2 teaching resources rather than assessments, see our PP2 Schemes of Work hub and PP2 Lesson Plans hub. For all levels at once, see the Exams & Assessments hub.
Download the PP2 assessments
The full set of PP2 assessments, for every activity area, is in our catalogue. Use the button below for the complete PP2 collection.