Assessment

Summative assessments in place  EYFS  Year 1 Phonics  Year 2 – Reading, maths, SPAG, writing  Year 6 – Reading, maths, SPAG, writing

Old assessment Levels e.g. 2b, 4a etc

What has changed?  In the new national curriculum, levels have been abolished. The government have said they took this decision partly in response to concerns about the validity and reliability of levels and sub-levels, but also because they were deemed a driver of ‘undue pace through the curriculum, which has led to gaps in pupils’ knowledge.’ The DfE are therefore changing how test performance is reported and from 2015 they will use scaled scores to report national test outcomes (a method used in numerous other countries)

The new curriculum  The curriculum has focussed on ‘higher expectations’ in various subjects, and it is certainly the case that in some areas the content of the new primary curriculum is significantly more demanding than in the past.  For example, in mathematics there is now much greater focus on the skills of arithmetic and also on working with fractions. Year 4 – all tables. In Year 6 working with numbers to 10 million.  In science, a new unit of work on evolution is introduced for Year 6; work which would have previously been studied in secondary school.  In English lessons there will now be more attention paid to the study of grammar and spelling; an area which was far less notable in previous curricula.

Tracking progress The DfE has been quite clear that it does not intend to replace levels, and that schools are free to devise their own tracking and assessment systems for other year groups. We also know that Ofsted have given guidance to Inspectors to accept data provided in any form, and to use books and other evidence of work to judge the accuracy of assessment in schools.

How do we track progress? Good formative assessment which informs next steps and is acted upon  Teacher assessments using new curriculum guidelines – APP. Evidence from books, observations, guided work, pupil responses  Assessment on a daily basis  Test – maths, reading comprehension, writing (Rising Stars) give an emerging, expected or exceeding judgement  Moderation between teachers and schools to ensure our judgements are correct

 Every child will be targeted 6 steps each year  These steps will assessed by the class teachers 3 times each year. Your child’s progress will be discussed internally at 3 on track meetings and 3 pupil progress meetings each year with class teachers, SENCO and HT/ DHT.

Contd..  The aim is for children to reach ‘EXPECTED’ standards by the end of the year  Some children will reach ‘EXCEEDING’

Example of tracking for year 4 BelowEmerging Y4Expected at the end of Y4Exceeding Y Year 4

Different abilities  High achievers - rather than moving on to the following year group’s work schools will encourage more in-depth and investigative work to allow a greater mastery and understanding of concepts and ideas.  Children working below emerging – differentiated curriculum and Personal Provision Plan for the lowest achievers

Parents meetings You will receive:  Information on how your child is settling in  A number which relates to the step your child is on at the beginning of the year  An end of year target  All children will be emerging as they start a new year group curriculum  Ideas of how to support your child to make these steps  Reception to Year 4 will continue to have a 10 minute meeting – October and February  Year 5 and Year 6 will have a meeting with their child, class teacher and head teacher/ deputy for 10 minutes

Inspiring children to learn  Growth mindset  Learning partners  Learning powers

Growth mindset  ps/help-your-child-try-new-things ps/help-your-child-try-new-things

Learning Powers

Learning powers – what are they?  Be curious  Have a go  Concentrate  Be cooperative  Use your imagination  Don’t give up  Enjoy learning  Keep improving

Why do we have learning powers?  Key life skills that all children need to develop  Gives our children the vocabulary to talk about their learning

How do we use learning powers?  As part of a WALT e.g. WALT: - solve worded problems - have a go - be curious  In the playground and around the school  Assembly focus always linked to the learning powers  Children are encouraged to use the learning powers as a way of talking about their learning

What do the children think? “Helps my brain get bigger” “Keep us focussed” “Helps me to remember to co-operate” “Inspire me to keep going” “They help me to learn”

Learning partners

What are learning partners?  Partners for talking about learning  Share ideas  Solve problems  Evaluate learning and progress

Why?  Develop good communication skills  We learn from each other  Promoting learning powers

How do we use them?  Change on a weekly basis  Generally selected using a ‘randomiser’  Not used in every lesson  Children are encouraged to evaluate their partners participation at the end of each week