Year 4 school report - what does it really mean

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I just got my dd's school report. I am really happy with it - but then I started thinking about it and realised that I am not sure what it really means. It's a state school in England and the report has scored for effort and attainment. For attainment it's a score from 1 to 4, with 1 being the best - "working above national expectations". But reading some of the other threads people talk about percentages and "standardised scores". Why the difference in approach?

Some schools are using tests which will provide a standardised score and/or percentile rank and/or age. The problem with this is that different tests cannot be compared. If your child achieves a score on one test it can't be directly compared with another child achieving the same score on a different test.
Other schools are using a model similar to the EYFS profile of emergent (below/working towards) expected (secure/within) exceeding (beyond/ advanced) based on year group expectations.
You need to ask your child's school about their model