The New Primary Curriculum and its Assessment

Aim The aim of this meeting is to give you information about the changes that are happening in education across the country with regard to the curriculum and its assessment, and also what this means for our children here at St Edmund’s.

“Assessment should always improve learning not prove learning”

A New Primary Curriculum The New Primary Curriculum began for most year groups last academic year but now applies to all year groups from this September. What are the changes to the curriculum? The New Primary Curriculum is a more challenging curriculum. The main changes to the key core subjects are: The new programme of study for English is knowledge-based; it is also characterised by an increased emphasis on the technical aspects of language and less emphasis on the creative aspects. English is set out year by year in Key Stage 1 and two-yearly in Key Stage 2. Appendices give specific content to be covered in the areas of spelling and vocabulary, grammar and punctuation. Most of the changes to the Mathematics curriculum involve content being brought down to earlier years. There is also a greater emphasis on problem solving and mathematical reasoning where children really have to understand the skills to be able to apply them to multi step problems.

The end of curriculum levels What were ‘levels’? Levels were a way of measuring children’s progress. During their primary career children moved through the ‘levels’ beginning at 1c and hopefully reaching a level 4b or above in each of reading, writing and maths by the end of Year 6. The Department for Education (DfE) decided that children who were in Years 2 and 6 last academic year were the last pupils to be awarded a level in their end of Key Stage tests (Summer 2015). So why are levels disappearing? The DfE want to avoid what has been termed ‘The Levels Race’ where children have moved through the old national curriculum levels quickly to achieve higher attainment. Children were achieving Level 5 and 6 at the end of Key Stage 2, but it was felt that some children achieving a Level 5 or 6 did not have sufficient breadth and depth in the relevant area.

How does this affect the assessment of my child’s progress? The New Primary Curriculum sets out expectations for each year group and children will be assessed against those every year instead of being given a level. So, for example, with the New Curriculum, a child in Year 4 will always be judged against the expectations for the end of Year 4. To tie in with the New Primary Curriculum, the government has changed the way children are to be assessed and their progress measured. Schools have been invited to devise their own measurements of assessment, although there will still be national testing at the end of Years 2 and Year 6 which will result in a scaled score from July 2016, not a level.

Assessment is at the heart of children’s learning and our teaching. This helps us build up a picture of a child’s progress and achievement and also to identify their next steps in learning. Our Principles of Assessment learning is the main activity, assessment supports future learning learners need to be actively involved in the assessment of their work learners should be confident at self and peer assessment learners should understand, and be confident about, what to do to improve learners must be clear about their learning, what success in their learning will look like and what is expected of them assessment will take a range of forms including self and peer assessment as well as assessment by staff teachers professional judgement, based on knowledge of a learner, will be an important part of assessment “how often” as well as “how well” based on breadth, challenge and application will be fundamental to assessment

progression in learning requires moderation through dialogue with teachers and other professionals to develop a shared understanding of standards high quality feedback has been proven to be the most influential factor in taking children’s learning forward, it is essential for learners to have time to reflect on their learning and to know what to do to improve feedback will inspire greater effort and a belief that, through hard work and practice, more can be achieved assessment draws on a range of evidence that will provide a complete picture of a child’s achievement but will also be manageable and proportionate our assessment system will provide information to you, the parents about how your child is performing and what your child’s next steps in learning are our assessment system also includes summative assessments where we assign a mark to children’s learning at a particular point in time e.g. reading ages, end of year assessments

What are we doing at St Edmund’s? At St Edmund’s we set targets for all children from Year 1 to Year 6 in Reading, Writing and Mathematics. Target sheets will be sent home regularly and can be found in your child’s book bag which comes home and in to school every day. The target sheets/bookmarks are to keep you informed of your child’s learning. NB These sheets are important so please look after them and send them straight back into school the next day.

T will be clearly marked on the sheet to show the current target for your child’s learning. For example: My Number Targets – Year 3 So in this instance, the child is in Year 3 and their target is finding 10 more or less than a given number.

Assessment of progress will be split into the categories: Emerging— Yet to be secure in end of year expectations. Expected— Secure in the majority of end of year expectations. Exceeding—Secure in all the end of year expectations and able to use and apply their knowledge and skills confidently. Just a few children in a year group will be assessed as being beyond ‘exceeding’, and will be given the opportunity to add more depth and breadth to their knowledge and have more opportunities to develop their using and applying skills. This will be termed as ‘Mastery’.

The target cards will be out on the child’s table whilst they work and next to the teacher whilst she marks the book. When the teacher feels the child is secure in that target she will record the date next to it, Emerging. Three dates after a target is Expected. After three dates next to a target the teacher will highlight through the target to show that the learning is Exceeding. The child may then be challenged to demonstrate their knowledge in different contexts and with greater depths, this is called Mastery and will be shown as an arrow at the side of the target.

Keeping you informed. As you will see your child’s Target Card every week you will have a very clear picture of what they are learning and how they are progressing. You will also be more confident in supporting them at home as you will know exactly which targets they are working on from week to week. This will lead to much more productive conversations at Parent’s Evening in October and March with the class teacher. You will also understand the terminology at the end of the year as the Report in the July will use the terms Emerging, Expected, Exceeding and Mastery.

Over to you……………………. Are there any questions you would like to ask?