1. ‘Life after Levels’ Assessment Information Session for Parents
4 Elms Primary School
‘Life after Levels’
Assessment Information Session for Parents

2. The New Curriculum (2014)
New National Curriculum – was implemented in September New National Curriculum - more challenging • Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 now assessed against performance descriptors and reported as emerging, expected or exceeding •Eventually, New expectation that in Year % reach expected standard - ‘Secondary Ready’ 2016 – 65% (combined reading, writing, maths)

3. Why Curriculum Levels are not being Used
Wide amount of information in a single number
Viewed as thresholds
Progress simply became seen as moving to the next level
Levels were used as a “best fit”
Subjective comments made it difficult to standardise
Too much attention on children just below the level boundaries

4. The Transition Process
Much greater focus on high quality formative assessment
Schools have the freedom to choose their own approaches to formative and summative assessment
Expectation that children will be expected to show deep, secure learning before moving on (explore, clarify, apply cycle)
Extremely important that schools work together to establish commonality for moderation

5. The curriculum is based on a system of a new programme of study (POS) for each year – pupils are assessed ‘in year’ - each year all pupils begin at the emerging stage – regardless of the level achieved the previous year.
Year 6
Year 5
Year 4
Year 3
Year 2
Year 1
The program of study widens and deepens as pupils progress up the school
Year R

6. New assessment categories
Progress from now on is to be measured in year using the following categories.
Emerging
Working with a lot of additional support towards the expected level
Expected
Working within the level of the year group with very little additional support
Exceeding
Working at and above the level of a specific year with no support
Mastery / Embedded
ALL children should have an opportunity to show mastery of the subject, at whichever stage they are at. 
The ‘Exceeding’ band is only appropriate for pupils who are attaining above age-related expectation
‘Mastery’ level is exceptional – and will only apply to a minority of pupils who are gifted or talented in an area of the curriculum.
Any pupils considered to have attained the ‘Mastery’ standard are expected to explore the curriculum in greater depth and build on the breadth of their knowledge and skills within that key stage.

7. Types of assessment we use
Observation
Formative
Summative
Pupils are observed as they work and we assess their attitude to learning .
Formative
Day to day assessment that informs planning and next steps
Learning intentions and success criteria in lessons
Pupil self-assessment
Summative
Pupil Progress Meetings six times per year.
Year R Baseline assessment / Phonics screening / KS1 SATs / KS2 SATs / formal testing / CAT tests in Year 5
All pupils are teacher assessed at the end of each term – six times a year
Assessments are moderated both in school and externally

8. Tracking Progress Informal teacher records
Fed into Pupil Asset – termly
Data used as before - to inform provision maps, pupil progress interviews , appraisal cycle and target setting
Moderation with other schools
Moderation with external agencies
Report to parents - suggestion

9. New Key Stage One test specifications from 2016
KS1 maths – paper 1 (arithmetic); paper 2 (mathematical fluency, problem-solving and reasoning)
KS1 reading – 2 papers, second one harder than first. Teachers use judgement when to withdraw child from test. Majority of marks on comprehension, up to 30% on inference, a few on language for effect
KS1 GPS – paper 1 (short written task – focus on grammar and punctuation); paper 2 (questions on grammar, punctuation and vocabulary); paper 3 (spelling)

10. New Key Stage Two test specifications from 2016
KS2 maths – paper 1 (arithmetic); papers 2 & 3 (mathematical fluency, problem-solving and reasoning)
KS2 reading – 1 paper % on comprehension, % on inference, 10-25% on language for effect, up to 10% on themes and conventions
KS2 GPS – paper 1 (questions on grammar and punctuation); paper 2 (spelling)

11. Reporting to Parents…
A summary of the child’s strengths and successes within the curriculum and personally.
Formative next steps which are individual to a child in order for them to make progress within the age-related expectation for their year-group as appropriate.
An indication of how well a child is progressing, e.g. are they making limited, expected or accelerated progress over time.
An indication of a child’s progress and attainment e.g. ‘emerging’, ‘expected’ or ‘exceeding’ age-related expectations in different aspects of the curriculum.
This information will inform Parent Consultation Meetings. A written report will be provided prior to consultation evenings, in order to aid discussion and provide parents with information regarding progress towards expectations.

12. Coasting schools
From 2016 “ A school will be coasting if in 3 consecutive years fewer than 85% of pupils make the new expected standard across reading, writing and maths and pupil progress is below the progress element of the definition” (Dfes 2016)
Progress measure – not calculated yet
Ten indicators – 5 not yet known from Dfes
Meanwhile, for 2014/2015 – bar is set at 85% for L 4B.
4 Elms results were all above floor standards
Last 3 years all 4 Elms results well above National Average