Assessment without Levels September 2015

Effective  Effective Assessment Systems should;  Give reliable information to parents about how their child, and their child’s school is performing  Help drive improvement for pupils and teachers  Make sure the school is keeping up with external best practice and innovation  (DfE Assessment Principles)

The National Curriculum 2014  The old and new curriculum have different content. Many of the objectives in the old curriculum have shifted to lower year groups in the new, more rigorous curriculum, this means it is not possible to have an exact correlation between a level that was the outcome of the old National Curriculum assessment and the requirements new National Curriculum, this means a shift in thinking and in the way we assess out children’s outcomes.

The ‘old’ system The levels starting at level, were divided into 3 sub- levels, a,b and c. An ‘average’ Year 2 child will be a 2b and an ‘average’ Year 4 child would be a 3b. The children would work their way through the levels.

The national expectation is that by the end of the academic year, the majority of the children should be assessed as being Expected or above within their year group. During the year, when we have conversations with you about your child’s progress you will be told whether your child is on track to meet the end of year expectations. As this is a new system, we are continuing to develop it throughout the year. If there are any alterations we will inform you with future consultations.

So why are the levels changing?  The DfE want to avoid what has been termed ‘The level Race’ where children have moved through the old National Curriculum levels quickly to achieve higher attainment. The old National Curriculum was sub-divided into levels, but these were not linked to their national curriculum year group. For example, a child in Year 4 could be a Level 3 or even a level 5. The feeling from the DfE was that the old national curriculum and the levels system failed to adequately ensure that children had a breadth and depth of knowledge at each national curriculum level. Under the old levels system children who were exceeding might have moved into the next level. The DfE now want children who are the highest achievers to add more depth and breadth to their knowledge, and to have more opportunities to develop their using and applying skills. They are calling this phase of learning Mastery and Depth. Only exceptional children will move into working towards the end of year expectations from the year above. Similarly, children who are unlikely to be emerging at the end of the year may work towards the expectations from the year below.

 We will use a system similar to that used in the EYFS:  Emerging – Yet to be secure in the end of year expectations.  Expected – Secure in the majority of end of year expectations  Exceeding – Secure in all the end of year expectations and more importantly is able to use and apply their knowledge and skills confidently and independently.

Whole School Tracking Teachers have tracking grids (paper and online), which will be used to track progress across the year There is a sheet for Reading, another for Writing and another for Maths. The teachers and headteacher can identify strengths and gaps in children’s learning, for individuals, groups, classes, year groups, key stages and of course, whole school.

Children’s targets Children need to be able to understand where they are with their learning and what they need to do next. Children have their own version of these for Maths and Writing. We call these ‘targets’ and they are evident in both English and Maths books and will be reviewed termly.

Teacher Tracking  Teacher tracking of individual progress  Your child’s teacher has an ‘Assessment Sheet’ for Reading, Writing and Maths for each individual child. Every year your child will have a different tracking sheet. These sheets will inform Assessment, Planning and Teaching for the teacher. This is an ongoing document that is added to regularly when evidence of learning is seen. The teachers will collect a variety of evidence including observations, discussion, work in books (formative assessments) and end of unit tests (summative assessments).

Talking to Parents about progress and how you can support your child  During the year, when we have conversations with you about your child’s progress. We will talk you through where the strengths and gaps are in your child’s learning and how this compares to the expectation for the year group your child is in.

Reports There will be 3 opportunities a year for parent/teacher consultations. At the first meeting you will be given what the English and maths end of year expectations. This will help you when supporting the learning of your child. You will have 2 shorter written reports throughout the year, in order to keep you up to date with your child’s progress. The End of Year Report will be replaced with a summary. Your child will be invited to attend the meetings so that everyone understands.

 It is important to note that expectations have increased with the new national curriculum.

EYFS  Early Years Foundation Stage Unit (EYFS)  Children in the EYFS will continue to be assessed against the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP for short). This consists of Ages and Stages criteria for nursery learners moving into Early Learning Goals for Reception aged learners.  At the end of Reception these are reported as Emerging, Expected or Exceeding the Early Learning Goals in each area.  Evidence is gathered across the year to create ‘Learning Journeys’ for all children in EYFS and we value all contributions from parents and carers to these documents.  Assessment in EYFS is gathered through observations of learners, samples of learning, photographs and conversations which demonstrate the child’s understanding of a given concept.  In addition to this, staff identify the learning behaviours of children and plan lessons and activities to develop a wide range of learning skills in preparation for the next stage in their education Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2).

Any Questions?