Since Sep 2014 there have been seen significant changes to the way in which children’s attainment and progress is measured in all primary schools. The new statutory Primary National Curriculum for children in Key Stages 1 and 2 has an increased academic expectation of all children than there was previously.
Schools have been expected to develop their own assessment processes to judge whether pupils are making the correct progress in order to reach or exceed age related expectations at key points on their academic journey.
At the end of YR pupils are assessed against the Early Learning Goals of the Early Years Foundation stage profile (EYFS) and these assessments determine whether a pupils has achieved a Good Level of Development = GLD
At the end of Y1 pupils take the phonics screening and this measures whether they have achieved the expected standard in phonics. If not, they resit this in Y2.
At the end of Y2 pupils are assessed using the KS1 SATs and teacher judgments and these teacher assessments are reported nationally and to parents
At the end of Y6 (May) pupils sit the KS2 SAT tests in reading, GPS( Grammar, punctuation and spelling) and Maths. Their Writing is also teacher assessed, as is their attainment Science. These results are published nationally and are given as standardized scores - 100 being the score for a pupils at Age Related Expectation (ARE)
Throughout your child's journey with us you will receive yearly reports which indicate whether your child is on track to reach ARE at the end of key stage for all subjects.
Assessment takes places on a daily basis within school The teachers have a thorough knowledge of what a pupil should be doing to demonstrate they are working at age related expectations. On a daily basis thorough marking and feedback and adult pupil interaction enable pupils who struggle with elements of their learning to be supported to make progress and where necessary additional provision put in place. Those who could be working above ARE are given challenging tasks to ensure they fulfill their potential. Teachers use a package called Target tracker to record these assessments and on a termly basis make judgments about where pupils are in relation to being on track to be at ARE at the end of the year. Testing is often used to help inform these judgments and all KS2 classes take optional SATs in the summer if they are not taking statutory ones.
The systems we have in place are very effective at identifying when pupils need extra support and this is quickly put in place. For more information about the terminology and tracking used please read the Assessment policy.
Assessment of academic subjects is essential in school but we strongly hold the belief that there is much more to a child's education than can be measured by data. It is essential that we know our pupils well in all areas of their development and we always have this in the forefront of our minds when analyzing our assessment data.
