Assessing and Reporting Without Levels

Assessment Without Levels The new National Curriculum for England is now being taught in all maintained schools. As part of the Government’s reforms, assessing using levels has now been removed and schools are expected to assess without levels. Each child is assessed against the skills appropriate to their year group for each subject. Constantly changing landscape.

What does this mean? This means that we will no longer be talking about ‘the level’ that your child is working at but whether they are:  working at the expected standard for their year group.  working towards the standard, or  working at greater depth (mastery)

So how will we do it? Schools have been left to their own devices to create suitable assessment systems. In Leek we have:

Skills appropriate to their year group The National Curriculum outlines the skills and knowledge that we should teach to each year group. These are known as Programmes of Study. For Reading, Writing and Maths the LEP have produced assessment grids common to all schools in the LEP.

LEP Assessment Grids Year 2Maths Assessment Criteria CountingCount in steps of 2, 3, and 5 from 0, and in tens from any number, forward and backward. Place ValueRecognise the place value of each digit in a two-digit number. Compare and order numbers from 0 up to 100; use and = signs. Representing Number Identify, represent and estimate numbers using different representations, including the number line. Read and write numbers to at least 100 in numerals and in words. Number Facts (+/-) Use place value and number facts to solve problems. Recall and use addition and subtraction facts to 20 fluently, and derive and use related facts up to 100.

Reporting The LEP assessment grids enable schools and parents to see where the children across all age groups (above Reception) are in relation to the National Expectations. It also helps us in school to monitor the progress children are making, and to identify areas in which we need to provide support or challenge for children.

Reporting We will use the assessment grids to help us to form judgements about the attainment of children in each year group. This will be reported to you. They will also be used to help form judgements at the end of each Key Stage throughout the Leek school system.

What is different about Woodcroft? Most of our classes have split year groups. We use a creative curriculum to enthuse the children and give them a wide range of interesting, exciting and relevant experiences.

What about other subjects? Our school reports will tell you the skills your child is confident with in all other subjects. These are split into Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 expectations. Skills that are secure will be highlighted in green. Those that are developing will be highlighted in yellow.

Key Stage 1 Science Plants I can name the petals, stem, leaf, bulb, flower, seed and root of a plant. I can describe what plants need to survive. I can observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants. I can find out & describe how plants need water, light and a suitable temperature to grow and stay healthy.

Reception children At the end of Reception we are required to report to you about your child to let you know where they are at in each of 17 areas of the Early Years curriculum. This will show whether your child is: Entering, Developing or Secure

These judgements are made against the age range we judge your child to be working within months, months and Working within the Early Learning Goals As with all other year groups, these judgements allow us to provide the correct level of support or challenge to each child.

How do we assess? We teacher assess our children in two areas: – Progress (How far have they moved?) – Standards (Where are they linked to the skills outlined for their age?)

What do we use to support our judgements? Professionalism. Knowledge of age expectations (both old and new). Formative assessment from day to day - observations, marking, talking to the children. Summative assessment - tests, where appropriate. Moderation - in school and across the LEP.

●working at the expected standard for their year group. ●working towards the standard, or ●working at greater depth (mastery) This is when skills are embedded so that the child can use them with confidence without even thinking about it. They can use these skills across different subjects and learning activities. For Reading, Writing and Maths, your child will be:

Other subjects For other subjects we will report what they have learned in relation to the National Curriculum at that point.

WARNING! While every effort has been made by the LEP, and other individual and groups of schools across the country, to be as accurate as we can in what we think the expectations should be for each age group, we’re still at a point where even the Government appears to be unsure. We will strive to ensure that each child makes appropriate progress and enjoys a safe, happy, fulfilling education.

Next steps We know that Year 2 will be tested later this month (representing a small part of the process). Next year, who knows? Along with other LEP schools, we are adapting and embedding what we are doing. Use the freedom of the new NC to give our children learning experiences that excite and promote a love of learning.

Where can I find more information? School website LEP document