1. Life After Levels
Parent Workshop
March 2016

2. Aims of the evening:
New National Curriculum- Sept 2015 where are we now?
Expectations of the new curriculum.
Progress reports- How they will change this year.
External tests- How will the Government assess pupils from 2016? What will be involved in end of key stage assessments and end of year tests?
What will our new assessment system looks like?

3. Why did we need a new National Curriculum?
The short answer- the government decided that we needed one. Before 1988 there was no National Curriculum.

4. The new National Curriculum is about schools developing pupils to be independent, creative thinkers with good literacy and numeracy skills.

5. Life after levels
A large part of our curriculum is focussed on developing basic skills:
to be literate, numerate, to tolerate and respect one another, to get on with each other and develop skills for the future in computing.
At Marston Vale Middle School we want pupils to have a wide range of different curriculum experiences, to enjoy learning and ………

6. Life after levels
From September 2014 all maintained schools were required to move to a new curriculum (the National Curriculum 2014 ).
At the same time the DfE decided that the old National Curriculum levels would be discontinued with the exception of the current Year 6 who would continue with this until their SATs tests in July 2015.
All other year groups are to be assessed in a way that the school deems suitable.
This must be robust, easy for parents/governors to understand and be able to measure both attainment and progress.
The DfE have stated that there is no one-way or right way to do this

7. Old National Curriculum
From 1988 the National Curriculum comprised of a range of knowledge and skills that were developed throughout each key stage.
It was then broken down into levels and expectations were set for certain milestones along this journey.
Year 2 expectation = Level 2
Year 6 expectation= Level 4
Year 9 expectation= Level 6
Year 11 expectation= grade C
Most schools adopted an A,B,C approach to break these levels down into sub levels.

8. Teaching at Marston Vale Middle School
The new NC has changed significantly what pupils need to learn and as a result has changed how assessment needs to be managed.
Teaching at Marston Vale Middle School
What do we want them to learn?
Planning for each pupil to progress.
Assessment- What do they know now?
Delivery / Teaching

9. Changes
Levels e.g. Level 3, Level 4b etc. no longer exist
All subject areas have been separated into year groups or in the case of Key Stage 2, Years 3 & 4 and Years 5 & 6 for reading and writing.
Each subject has then been sub-divided into specific sections each with the knowledge that pupils need to have learned during that year.
It is important to note that these are the minimum requirements for the pupils and that we will be teaching more content than the areas that will be assessed.

10. At Marston Vale Middle School, we have agreed that we will introduce a system of assessment which will follow the procedure set out below: Teacher assessments will take place continuously throughout the year with check-in points half-termly to analyse current progress.

11. Age Related Expectations
To avoid confusion with old levels we have decided to use the terms ‘age related expectations’ (ARE).
Age Related Expectations
(ARE)
Levels

12. Assessing each pupil These assessments CANNOT be compared to their results (levels) from the end of last year as the curriculum content is different.

13. We have four descriptors: Developing Expected Secure Mastery
Age Related Expectations (ARE) have been written in all subjects. ARE are the core skills that are to be learnt in a subject which means pupils will be GCSE ready by Year 10.
We have four descriptors:
Developing
Expected
Secure
Mastery
Developing
Expected
Secure
Mastery
Evidence few of the ARE being demonstrated.
Evidence many of the ARE being demonstrated.
Evidence most of the ARE being demonstrated.
Evidence all, or almost all, of the ARE are being demonstrated (and most likely showing ‘glimmers’ of the next year’s criteria).

14. For example: ARE: Year 6 Maths
To solve problems involving proportion, using knowledge of fractions and multiples.
“Has this child demonstrated they understand how to solve problems involving proportion, using knowledge of fractions and multiples. Are they developing, expected, secure or mastery?
ARE: Year 6 Maths

15. 5 6 7 8 Developing Expected Secure Mastery 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1
This relates to the year group of the age related expectation.
These numbers fine line the descriptors into more detail. 5
Developing 3 2 1 6
Expected 3 2 1 7
Secure 3 2 1 8
Mastery 3 2 1
This is the grading for the age related expectation.

16. Assessing each pupil – Overall assessment of a subject
Teachers will take an average of all the ARE within that subject and come up with a final grade.
The assessment will be recorded as follows: e.g.
Section
Grade
Day and night
6D1
Forming new materials
Gravity
6E2
Planet movement
Planning
Recording data
OVERALL SUBJECT JUDGEMENT

17. The New Curriculum
The new National Curriculum still has all the subject areas that we had before:
It is important to take levels out of our minds as the new curriculum is broken into ‘programmes of study’ for each year group / phase.
Core Subjects
Foundation Subjects
English
Maths
Science
History
Geography
Design & Technology
Art & Design
Personal, Social, Health & Citizenship Education
Music
ICT- is now computing
Physical Education
Modern Foreign Language- now statutory at KS2
Religious Education

18. 6E1 (66)
6E2 (65)
6E3 (64)
6D1 (63)
6D2 (62)
6D3 (61)
5M1 (60)
5M2 (59)
5M3 (58)
5S1 (57)
5S2 (56)
5S3 (55)
5E1 (54)
Progress The expectation for progress this year is that a pupil will move 12 points a year. Attainment The expectation is that a pupil’s attainment will be at age-related i.e. working within the band of expected for his/her actual year group.

19. How does the school set targets?
Year 5 or 6 end of KS2 targets in the core subject area of Reading, Writing, Mathematics and Science will be set using Fisher Family Trust (FFT 20) and KS1 data. Foundation subjects will be set by the teacher, taking into consideration Fisher Family Trust (FFT 20) Reading, Writing, Mathematics and Science and KS1 data.

20. The targets that are set take into account each individual pupil’s starting point and are designed to ensure that every pupil achieves expected progress and a very high proportion of children reach or exceed national expectations. Targets are not usually changed; however they are reviewed to ensure they remain challenging.

21. Assessing each pupil- Tracking Progress and Attainment
As a school we use a program for tracking our pupil’s progress and attainment called SIMS.
The information gathered from SIMS enables the School’s Assessment Leader to analyse all classes’ recent assessments and consider the current standards across the whole school.
This information is then used in Pupil Progress Meetings.

22. Reporting to parents
At all parents’ evenings parents will continue to receive information from the class teacher about:
Their child’s current level of attainment.
The progress that has been made since the end of the previous year.
The child’s targets for the forthcoming term
Any support/challenge that the child will be receiving
How parents can support their child at home
Other relevant issues
Their child’s perception of the targets that they have achieved in the term and the next steps they will be taking
Progress report
Parents will receive a termly report detailing the attainment and progress of their child with other relevant information.

23. Any questions?