Life after levels November 2015

The New National Curriculum The National Curriculum defines the programmes of study for key subjects in maintained/state primary and secondary schools in England (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own equivalents). Fundamentally, it sets out what your child is supposed to learn and when. A new version was introduced in September 2014. Why the changes? The current Government's view was that the old curriculum wasn't sufficiently challenging. The new curriculum has been developed partly by comparing England's curriculum to those in other countries. As the Department for Education puts it, it's all about trying to compete in the global economy and the forthcoming curriculum ‘combines the best elements of what is taught in the world's most successful school systems.’ Expectations are considerably higher for any given year group. Whilst some of the content is totally new, existing topics will be introduced a year or two earlier than would currently be the case for most children.

What about fractions at five? Yes this is one of the amendments that has inspired news headlines but five-year olds are not expected to be adding 11/54ths to 14/33rds just yet. This is about very simple fraction work initially, such as understanding what a half or a quarter of a cake or biscuit is. Calculators will not be allowed until secondary school! Other well-publicised aspects of the maths curriculum include pupils being expected to be taught times tables to 12 by age 9 (versus up to 10 by the end of primary school at the moment), and converting fractions to decimals in year 4. Some higher ability children will know how to do these things now but the difference is that the majority will be expected to do it.

Definitions – What is assessment and why do we need it? Assessment for learning – removal of levels. Changes in expectations – Pitch and progression.

What is assessment? Questioning Marking Observation Dialogue Testing Testing is just one element of assessment.

Who wants to know what? Pupil What do I know? What do I need to do next? Am I getting better? Teachers Where are they in relation to where they need to be? What are the gaps in their knowledge and understanding? What do they need to learn next? Parents What can they do? What do they need to know next? Where are they in relation to where they should be? How can I help? Leaders & Are the children meeting expectations? External Agencies Are they making progress? Is provision as good as it should be? Are some groups making less progress than others?

Where have we been? Where are we going?

A teacher’s view of assessment… “People talk about assessment as though it’s separate to teaching. For me assessment is what you have to do to be able to teach effectively. When assessment is driven by accountability it becomes a very different thing.”

Pupil’s view on assessment, marking and feedback (response to marking)… “I like to check my next steps and find what I have done well. I don’t like it if there isn’t a ‘think pink’. I want to know how to get better at what I am doing.”

The government’s view…. “Levels have been a distracting, over-generalised label, giving misleading signals… Crucially, levels have failed to give parents clarity over how their children are performing.”

Our view…. Assessment should support good teaching and learning. It should help teachers and pupils keep track of progress and drive improvement. Assessment is for learning!

Changes No more levels Lift in expectations Changes to Year 2 & 6 testing arrangements

Assessment for learning Short term and long term expectations. Establish where the learners are. MONITORING ASSESSMENT Assessment, planning & teaching NEXT STEPS Establish how they are going to get there. Establish where they need to go.

Assessment going forward needs to: Set out what children need to know, understand and do by when. Explain with clarity to parents what their child does well and their next steps. Support target setting to ensure, where possible, pupils meet the expected standard at the end of each Key Stage. Pinpoint aspects of the curriculum in which pupils are falling behind and recognise exceptional performance. Support effective planning, pitch and progress for pupils.

Learning Ladders Each area is listed developmentally. Year group labels are not in the children’s copies. Clearly shows what the child can do and what the next steps are. Evidence is recorded and dated (at least twice) preferably three times.

Reading Writing & Maths EYFS Reading Decoding Comprehender Reading Detective Targets Language Lover Targets Responder Targets Big Reader Targets Writing EYFS Writing Super Spelling Targets Organised Targets Purposeful Targets Word Wonder Targets Grammar Giant Targets Handwriting Hero Targets Maths EYFS Maths Times Tables Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division Fractions Decimals Percentage and ratio Problem Solving Measures Properties of number Time Perimeter & Area Statistics Shape Place Value Position & Direction

The booklets Each child has three books – Reading, Writing & Maths. These booklets are a record of the children’s achievements and targets. Open Evening discussions will centre around the booklets. The staff have year group labels in their copies. Pupil booklets do not have the year group labels. Evidence must be seen three times in order to mark it off as achieved

Tracking For tracking purposes, the assessments all have a numerical value. Regularly, the staff update ‘Scorecard’ an online tracker. This enables analysis of progress to be carried out. Children not making at least expected progress are identified and supported. The tracker uses a 100 point per year value for expected progress. Start of year Foundation - 0 Year 1 – 100 Year 2 – 200 Year 3 – 300 Year 4 – 400 Year 5 – 500 Year 6 – 600 and finishing on 700. 700 at Year 6 should be the expected National Standard.

Tracking – where are we? It is early days. All children have had their booklets completed up to their current achievements. Those achievements are now transferred to Scorecard. The tracker has expectations of progress – Autumn 35 point, Spring 30 points and Summer 35 points = 100 points. There is a rise in expectations – in Year 6 an able child performing above age related on the previous curriculum is working below age related on the new curriculum. The children in Year 1 and 2 have the benefit of having started their Key Stage 1 journey on the new curriculum.

Tracking – where are we? We are not going to report tracking scores to parents. It is planned to give a judgement at reports based on: Significantly below Below On track Above Significantly above There will be no levels or numerical assessment reported apart from the Year 2 & 6 SATs which will report a ‘scaled score’ where 100 is the national expected standard. This is a new system that is still in its infancy – please be patient with us, we want it to be accurate and so it needs to run for some time to have comparable data.

All schools are in the same situation. Thank you.