Assessment without Levels The New National Curriculum

National Curriculum The National Curriculum changed in 2014, and expectations were raised across all subjects. The way that we are expected to teach and scaffold learning has also changed.

Ofsted Since our last inspection, Ofsted has changed the criteria against which schools are judged several times, the most recent change being made at the start of this month.

Ofsted Teachers set challenging homework, in line with the school’s policy and as appropriate for the age and stage of pupils, that consolidates learning, deepens understanding and prepares pupils very well for work to come. Teachers are determined that pupils achieve well. They encourage pupils to try hard, recognise their efforts and ensure that pupils take pride in all aspects of their work. Teachers have consistently high expectations of all pupils’ attitudes to learning.

Ofsted Pupils love the challenge of learning and are resilient to failure. They are curious, interested learners who seek out and use new information to develop, consolidate and deepen their knowledge, understanding and skills. They thrive in lessons and also regularly take up opportunities to learn through extra-curricular activities. Pupils are eager to know how to improve their learning. They capitalise on opportunities to use feedback, written or oral, to improve

Ofsted Pupils are confident, self-assured learners. Their excellent attitudes to learning have a strong, positive impact on their progress. They are proud of their achievements and of their school. Pupils value their education and rarely miss a day at school. Pupils’ impeccable conduct reflects the school’s effective strategies to promote high standards of behaviour. Pupils are self-disciplined. Incidences of low-level disruption are extremely rare.

Ofsted Throughout each year group and across the curriculum, including in English and mathematics, current pupils make substantial and sustained progress, developing excellent knowledge, understanding and skills, considering their different starting points. Pupils read widely and often across subjects to a high standard, with fluency and comprehension appropriate to their age. Pupils in Year 1 achieve highly in the national phonics check.

Ofsted Higher expectations have been set since the beginning of this academic year, ‘Pride in Presentation’ and the evaluation of Rising Stars – Ready, Respectful, Safe.

Assessment Attainment targets and levels were introduced with the national curriculum in To align with the introduction of the new National Curriculum, the government has given schools the freedom to develop their own approach to in-school assessment. Levels have been removed, and it is hoped that schools will now be able to use their own approaches to in-school assessment to allow the focus to change to how well pupils have learnt and understood the programme of study set out in the new curriculum, rather than just the attainment targets, levels and sub-levels.

Assessment 1 st change to assessment is the introduction of the Baseline Assessment for all children in Acorn Class. This is being run as a pilot scheme this year, but will be statutory next year.

Statutory Assessments Phonics screening, which has been in place for several years now. New this year is the introduction of a new non-statutory pilot to extend the phonics check to Y3 pupils who haven’t yet met the required standard. Statutory assessment arrangements (KS1 and KS2 SATs) are changing in summer Levels are no longer to be used. Still to be confirmed at this stage, it is expected that results of the SATs will be reported in the form of scaled scores. 100 will represent the bottom end of ‘average’ but the raw score needed in order to obtain a scaled score of 100 will not be published until after the SATs have been taken.

Statutory Assessments KS1 SATs – children will sit a spelling test, and a grammar and punctuation test. There are also 2 reading papers, the second of which will be harder than the first, but the expectation is that we give both papers to all children. Finally, there are 2 maths papers – 1 testing arithmetic and the second mathematical reasoning. KS2 also sit a spelling test, a grammar and punctuation test, one reading paper, 1 arithmetic paper and 2 mathematical reasoning papers.

Spelling and Grammar Spelling and Grammar is being taught discretely in each class. Study And Cover And Write And Check (SACAWAC) sheets completed weekly. This could be a list of High Frequency Words, words that have a rule, or age related words that has been misspelled in independent work. Grammar is taught in weekly sessions and then it is expected that the learning is applied within the children’s independent work.

Depth of Learning “As part of pupils’ progress, inspectors will consider the growth in pupils’ security, breadth and depth of knowledge, understanding and skills.” Ofsted Handbook 2015 In the new national curriculum, it is expected that children (in general) are all taught the same objectives across the year. Within a single lesson, all children will be learning the same objective. The children who learn most quickly, cannot be stretched by teaching them objectives from the next year group; instead they will have to be stretched by having to apply and link their learning in deeper ways – they are stretched by application of learning.

An example of teaching a mathematics block on HTU addition, differentiating by Depth of Learning: First and second day of the block of lessons Third and Fourth day of the block of lessons Later in the block of lessons Above average learners Children taught how to add HTU using formal written methods. Children have achieved this objective and now go on to applying their understanding using money and money problems. Children applying their understanding further using two and three step problems, linking number, weight and money when exploring questions.

An example of teaching a mathematics block on HTU addition, differentiating by Depth of Learning: First and second day of the block of lessons Third and Fourth day of the block of lessons Later in the block of lessons Average learners Children taught how to add HTU using formal written methods and some scaffolding materials and support. Children consolidate their knowledge of how to add HTU using formal written methods with fewer scaffolding materials. Children have achieved this objective and begin to apply their understanding in problems.

An example of teaching a mathematics block on HTU addition, differentiating by Depth of Learning: First and second day of the block of lessons Third and Fourth day of the block of lessons Later in the block of lessons Below average learners Children review how to add TU using formal written methods and some scaffolding materials and support. Children taught how to add HTU using formal written methods and some scaffolding materials and support. Children consolidate how to add HTU using formal written methods but continue to need some scaffolding materials.

Depth of Learning The example shows how all ability groups within the class have been catered for and stretched. They have all made appropriate progression in their learning; the teacher has not rushed on to further next ‐ year objectives, but has instead given time for all groups to consolidate and apply their learning at their level of application and Depth of Learning. In the previous curriculum, the most able children would have been taught addition of ThHTU once they understood addition of HTU ‐ but this is no longer appropriate; instead more able pupils are stretched by giving opportunity to link and apply their understanding.

Depth of Learning Therefore, in addition to assessing whether a child has learnt the objective, consideration now needs to be given to how deeply a child applies this learning. There are 4 judgement categories.

Depth of Learning As shown in the example of teaching HTU addition, the children will progress at different rates over the same time period. The DfE does not expect to see fluctuations from term to term over the depth of learning. That is not to say that through hard work and motivation, a child will not be able to change their depth of learning, but when we report progress to you, if your child has stayed on the same depth of learning all year, this is not a fault of either the teacher or the child, but an indicator of how your child learns.

In-School Assessment In Somerset, the four levels have been given labels. 1 = Emerging, 2 = Developing, 3 = Secure 4 = Mastery

Assessing Depth of Learning Emerging We teach this child how to write a letter. They learn how to write a letter and have achieved this objective. A week later, we ask them to write a letter and they write the same letter. There is little connected learning; we have learned how to use adjectives to add detail since, but the child does not incorporate this into their letter.

Assessing Depth of Learning Developing We teach this child how to write a letter. They learn how to write a letter and have achieved this objective. A week later, we ask them to write a letter and they write a different and improved letter, including new content and in particular, they include the use of adjectives to add detail (a skill we have worked on in the last few months). The child is combining and enhancing their work based on applying their knowledge.

Assessing Depth of Learning Secure We teach this child how to write a letter. They learn how to write a letter and have achieved this objective. A week later, we ask them to write a letter and they write a very different and improved letter, including a slightly different structure ‐ they have decided to use paragraphs and a style of writing similar to how we worked on making complaints last term. Also they include the use of richer adjectives to add detail (a skill we have worked on in the last few months). The child is combining and enhancing their work based on applying their knowledge from across the subject.

Assessing Depth of Learning Mastery We teach this child how to write a letter. They learn how to write a letter and have achieved this objective. A day later, this child comes to school with a letter they have written. They have written a letter to the BBC to ask why their favourite TV show was replaced by Wimbledon. They like tennis, but it is certainly not as good as the train show where they travel across the country they had decided to watch that afternoon. The letter combines a wide range of learning concepts from across the year. This child is combining their learning in creative contexts and independently developing their own learning.