Netherfield CE Primary School

Why do we assess?

Our assessment provides valuable information to help children, teachers, parents and school leaders to acknowledge, analyse and review achievements and progress in learning against expected standards. Our assessments inform our immediate and long term planning. Our assessment gives:

• Children - the learners - an understanding of where they are secure, what it is that they need to do to rectify any gaps and the next steps needed to extend their learning
• Teachers the detailed knowledge of their pupils’ achievements which they can use to inform future learning, their planning and their teaching
• Parents and carers regular reports on their child’s progress in meeting expectations and ensures that teachers, pupils and parents can work together to secure learning and raise standards for all children
• School leaders and governors information that they can analyse and use to make decisions about future actions to improve standards, learning and teaching in the school
• External agencies and partners (such as those schools organisations in which a pupil will receive the next stage of his/her education, or the Council, the DfE and Ofsted) the evidence that a school knows its pupils well and sets and maintains high standards in learning and teaching as part of the school’s public accountability to its pupils’ future.

What are schools statutorily required to assess?

Teachers carry out day to day assessments and checks on pupils’ understanding and progress as part of their day to day teaching. Statutory, formal assessment procedures and examinations also exist to measure attainment against national standards. Our pupils’ achievements are compared nationally with all those pupils of the same age and against schools in East Sussex and in England. These assessments include:

• An Early Years Baseline assessment
  • We assess the development of our youngest children in English and Mathematics when they join our Reception class, measuring their readiness for Foundation Stage progress in number, measure, phonics and early writing skills.
• An end of Early Years Foundation Stage assessment
  • We monitor how well pupils are achieving and the extent to which they are meeting identified expectations in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile which helps to identify those who are achieving a good level of development and those who we need to give additional help.
     
• The Phonics Screening Test at the end of Year 1 (and Year 2 for children who did not meet the threshold in previous year)
  • It assess pupils’ phonic skills as part of early reading.
     
• End of Key Stage 1
  • Schools currently draw on a test and teacher assessments to help us to assess whether pupils are making progress and are attaining national expectations in reading, writing and mathematics.  This is completed at the end of Year 2.  
  • Our teachers also assess pupils’ achievements in Years 1 and 2 across the broader curriculum, as well as making regular formal assessments of reading; writing; spelling grammar and punctuation; and mathematics.
• End of Key Stage 2
  • Pupils at the end of Year 6 take statutory tests that assess whether pupils attain national expectations  in reading, spelling punctuation and grammar and mathematics.
  • Pupils in Year 4 complete a National Multiplication Tables Check, testing their knowledge of all times tables up to 12 x 12.
  • We also assess pupils’ progress across the broader curriculum in Years 3 through 6, and make regular formal assessments of reading; writing; spelling grammar and punctuation; and mathematics.

What are the key features of our assessment procedures?

Good assessment requires attention to detail and analytical skill. It involves teachers in: asking questions and interpreting answers; observing behaviours and responses to tasks; knowing if and when to intervene; and drawing on a wide range of evidence to build up a picture of a learner’s strengths and weaknesses.  

Our assessment procedures help pupils to meet or exceed national expectations and achieve the highest standards they can over each key stage of their learning. The National Curriculum sets out what our pupils are to learn but we decide how we are to assess our pupils’ attainment and progress over the key stage. Our assessment procedures will:

• Make clear to all pupils our expectations in terms of learning behaviours
  • Set out the attitudes and behaviours we expect of pupils when in the classroom
  • Show them how work is to be presented in their books and establish that any unacceptable work is to be done again to the standard required by the school
  • Tell pupils that they will succeed and acknowledge how and when they are becoming successful learners to establish self-confidence and good learning behaviours
• Share learning objectives with pupils
  • Share learning objectives at the beginning of a phase of learning – a module, a week or a lesson as appropriate, and highlight them during the lesson and in plenaries, using language that pupils understand
  • Use this ongoing assessment to inform planning and to make any adjustments to the learning objectives for the week and future weeks
  • Refer pupils back to earlier learning objectives to demonstrate and review progress over time
• Help pupils to recognise the standards they are to achieve and have already achieved
  • Share and discuss pupils’ work explaining how and why they have met the standards expected
  • Give pupils clear success criteria that relate to the learning objectives
  • Set clear and shared expectations about the presentation of work and model how this is to be achieved with examples to set out standards
• Involve pupils in self-assessment and peer-assessment
  • Provide time for pupils to read teacher’s feedback and assess how successfully they carried out the tasks set
  • Give pupils opportunities to talk in pairs or small groups about what they have learned, what they have found difficult and what they might do differently to improve
  • Ask pupils to explain the steps in their thinking and justify their decisions and reasoning
  • Model with pupils the language of assessment that they can use to review their own and their peer’s learning and to identify next steps in learning
  • Establish a classroom ethos that enables a critical review of work to be undertaken that is seen as positive and not taken as any personal criticism
  • Engage the pupils in feedback through their responses to teacher’s comments and giving pupils a short additional challenge to carry out that highlights what they have learned or what they need to correct
• Provide feedback which leads to pupils recognising their next steps and how to take them
  • Provide immediate oral feedback that helps pupils to identify mistakes, correct errors and take the next steps needed to move their learning on
  • Mark work sharing criteria, give feedback and identify next steps
  • Acknowledge success and give positive feedback
  • Ensure feedback is constructive and identifies what a child has done well, what needs to be done to improve, and how to do it
• Involve teachers and pupils in reviewing and reflecting on assessment information
  • Identify carefully progressed steps in learning through the learning outcomes and success criteria to enable pupils to see their progress, thus building confidence and self-esteem
  • Use appropriate tasks that will provide us with quality assessment information by showing pupils’ thinking as well as the answer
  • Provide time for pupils and teachers to reflect on what they have learned and understood, and to identify where they still have difficulties
  • In the light of our assessments evaluate teaching effectiveness and deployment of resources, learning tasks and organisation of learners, and make any adjustments to improve learning and raise standards

How will we inform parents about children's progress and attainment?

Parents’ Evenings and Open Afternoons:

• Provide opportunities for parents/carers to discuss their child’s progress and to highlight any key issues that are affecting the child’s learning
• Update parents on how their child is being supported and challenged in his or her learning, and identify ways in which they can support their child’s learning
• Review assessments and comments in pupils’ books

Formal School Reports:

• Interim Reports (each February) share feedback on children's social and emotional development, and attitudes to learning.  They provide a brief mid-year assessment update and next step target in core subjects of reading; writing; spelling, punctuation and grammar; mathematics; and science.
• End of Year Reports (each July) share feedback on children's social and emotional development, and attitudes to learning, detailed assessment comments on core subjects (as above), as well as assessment details on other subjects across our broad curriculum.

Early Years Foundation Stage feedback to parents:

• Staff observations of children's progress towards the Early Learning Goals are provided through the online Tapestry platform throughout the school year.  Parents are also able to provide their own observations of their child's progress to teachers using this platform.
• Children in the Foundation Stage are provided with an End of Year Report (in July), describing attainment in each area of learning and development.