1. The New Curriculum & Assessment Without Levels September 15 The New Curriculum & Assessment Without Levels September 15 Sheet Primary School “making a difference for every child”

2. Purpose of this meeting: To provide you with clear information about all the changes that are happening in education across the country, and what that means for the children here at Sheet Primary School. To give a brief overview of the changes to National Curriculum and consequent assessment guidelines. Let you know of the key language used to report how your child is doing at school and what this language means.

3. Curriculum 2014 So, what are the changes to the curriculum? Main changes to the key core subjects are highlighted below: English –  knowledge-base, knowing facts  Increased emphasis on the technical aspects of language and less emphasis on the creative aspects.  Learning of poetry (including reciting poetry) introduced  Specific spellings for each year group  Joined writing expected in Year 2 Mathematics –  The main areas in the new programme of study for mathematics are called domains.  Number Measurement Geometry Statistics Ratio & proportion Algebra  Focus on FLUENCY REASONING PROBLEM SOLVING  Most of the changes to the mathematics curriculum involve children developing content being brought down to earlier years.

4. Reasons for changes to assessment: As there are no levels mentioned in the new Curriculum schools can no longer give children a level. Children were achieving Level 5 and 6 at the end of Key Stage 2, but the DfE thought that a significant number were able to achieve a Level 5 or 6 in a test—but were not secure at that level.

5. Under the old levels system children who were exceeding might have moved into the next level. Only exceptional children will move into ‘working towards’ the end of year expectations from the year above. Similarly, children who are unlikely to be on the beginning ‘step’ at the start of the year may work towards the expectations from the year below.

6. From September 2015: We have used a new Early Years baseline assessment to assess children on entry to our school. All pupils in KS1 (Infants) and KS 2 (Juniors) will be taught and assessed using the new National Curriculum. We will report on reading, writing and mathematics.

7. What this means for you and your child: The new curriculum has end of year expectations for each year group. The age related expectations are hard. Much of the curriculum changes, particularly in maths, have brought in expectations from the year above.

8.  Year 4  Recall all multiplication and division facts for multiplication tables up to 12 x 12 (previously a Year 5 objective, which was up to 10 x 10);  Count backwards through zero to include negative numbers (previously a Year 5 objective);  Read Roman numerals to 100 (I to C) – not in any previous primary curriculums;  Add and subtract fractions with the same denominator (not in any previous primary curriculums);  Year 2  Recognise, find, name and write the fraction 1/3 of a length, shape, set of objects or quantity (previously a Year 3 objective)  Estimate and measure temperature (in ºC) (previously a Year 3 objective)  Tell and write the time to five minutes (previously a Year 3 objective)

9. What this means for you and your child: We are now using a system called Target Tracker which measures children’s progress in ‘steps’. The majority of children in each year group, will start at the beginning of the year on step “B” for Beginning. There are 5 steps to work through in a year. B+ W W+ ARE S B S+ depth & mastery

10. So how will the process in school work? At the start of each year group, almost every child will be B B+ (beginning) as they are being judged against the End of Year statements. Your child has been assessed in reading, writing and maths and has a baseline judgement. In each term, before parents evening, the teachers will have had an opportunity to assess how the children are working. By using their professional knowledge and judgement teachers will know what the children can already do and what they think the children can achieve..

11. From next parents evening, teachers will report where your child is at and give a forecast as to where they think your child will be by the end of the Year. We will also let you know next steps so you can help at home We are hopeful that the new assessment using ‘steps’ will be easier for parents to understand and recognise their child’s progress in their learning.

12. We hold high aspirations for our children and we know you do too. At the end of each school year, our expectation is that children will be on the ‘working+’ or secure step which indicates that they have reached an expected age-related level of attainment. Please bear with us, this is all new to everyone and things are changing all the time

13. To clarify, the language you will hear from our school now is:  Beginning  Beginning +  Working towards  Working towards+  Secure  Secure+ Other schools may/will use other language

14. What this means for you and your child (cont): At the start of the new year, all children are considered to be beginning as they are starting a new curriculum. BUT If a child is at Secure or Secure+ (Mastery and Depth) at the end of one year, the expectation is they will be at Secure or Secure+ (Mastery and Depth) by the end of the next year.

15. What this means for you and your child (cont): For example: If a child leaves Year 1 as Secure+ in reading we will expect them to be at Secure+ by the end of Year 2, but they will start the year ‘beginning’ into a new curriculum.

16. How we will track progress/ensure accuracy We are part of a group of local schools – we will be moderating our judgements to ensure they are accurate and in line with other similar schools From Sept 15 we will be using these steps to make sure all children are making progress at their level. This is ongoing assessment, based on teacher knowledge of a child and work in books.

17. End of Year Expectations: These will be available on the school website by the weekend.

18. Our expectation: There is a Government expectation that 85% of children leaving Year 6 will reach the expected standard and will be ‘Secondary Ready’. As a school we have adopted this guidance and have an expectation that at least 85% of our children will reach at least the expected standard by the end of each year group.

19. Any questions so far?

20. National Assessments

21. There will continue to be a phonic screener. This was introduced in 2012 and is a measure of how many children have achieved the expected level with their sound skills by the end of Year 1. This is reported to parents in the end of Year 1 report. If children do not make the expected level in Year 1, they are supported with their sound work and checked again at the end of Year 2.

22. At the end of Year 2 we will report on teacher assessment based on class work. We will report on:  Writing

23. There are national tests to support our teacher assessments (SATs). These are changing this year there will be:  2 mathematics tests – arithmetic and reasoning (new)  1 spelling  1 grammar and punctuation (new)  2 reading comprehension

24. There are national tests to support our teacher assessments (SATs). These are changing this year there will be:  3 mathematics tests – arithmetic and two reasoning papers  1 spelling  1 grammar and punctuation  1 reading comprehension

25.  We will be holding a SATS evening in January for year 6 In the meantime PLEASE DO NOT use the sample 2016 papers as this is the only real sample we have to help us assess your child’s needs

26. Thank you for taking the time to come this evening Any questions?