Marking and Feedback Policy

JULY 2017

Aims and Rationale

The aim should be to challenge, consolidate and also ‘close the gap’ between current performance and desired performance therefore it may be appropriate to return to the child with an appropriate intervention due to evidence of lack of understanding (‘keep up not catch up’). Time is allocated for staff to provide interventions to challenge and support as identified through the marking and feedback process.The process should enable the pupils to become reflective, motivated and lifelong learners.

Key Principles

  • Feedback and marking should focus on the learning objective of the lesson , the success criteria and/or targets specified for each group of learners within the class
  • Feedback should be an integral part of the lesson
  • Feedback and marking should have a positive and developmental impact on pupils’ learning
  • Marking should be effective and purposeful for the teacher and as a result impact on the following learning of the pupil
  • Feedback and marking should involve all adults and pupils in the classroom
  • Written feedback should be easy for the child to read, understand and act upon. Time should be given for children to reflect and all staff should model the high expectations of presentation.

Purpose of Marking

  • To have an impact on pupils’ learning and enable them to make progress
  • To enable pupils to identify their successes and areas for development through the use of ‘tickled pink’ and ‘green for growth’
  • To inform future planning and target setting
  • To raise learners’ self-esteem by rewarding their efforts
  1. English and Maths – Developmental Feedback and Responsive FeedbackOrganisation
  • Wherever possible, marking should be done in class with pupils. This will be done through guided group work, peer/self-assessment or verbal feedback. This will be noted on the pupils’ work
  • Children are to be given time to respond to any feedback – this should be done in purple pen.
  • Work will be marked against clear learning objectives and success criteria
  • Learning objectives will be evident on pupils’ work and teacher’s planning in all curriculum areas
  • Pupils will use pencil and blackpen to record their learning in school
  • Teachers and other adults will provide feedback in blue pen
  • Evidence of pupils meeting the learning objective/including the success criteria should be highlighted inpink
  • Next steps should be highlighted in green with a written comment below the work providing an opportunity for children to develop their learning further
  • Purple pens will be used for pupils to review, edit and improve their written work
  1. Acknowledgement Marking
  • It is not always possible to consider the next steps for every piece of work (pink/ green). In such cases it is appropriate to acknowledge that the work has been seen by an adult, in which case there may be a tick
  • An example of using this type of marking may be to acknowledge where a child has self or peer-marked their work
  • Where appropriate a written comment may be given, for example if self or peer marking has identified misconceptions
  1. Self- Assessment
  • Wherever possible pupils should be encouraged to assess and mark their own work. They should identify their own successes and improvement points
  • Children should use structures such as targets or success criteria to mark their own work.
  • Children should refer to previous learning experiences or knowledge of their strengths and areas for development
  1. Peer-Assessment
  • Where it is appropriate, pupils should be given the opportunity to assess and mark their work in pairs or small groups. These activities should be denoted with the code ‘PM’ by the child, therefore identifying that peer assessment has taken place.
  1. Verbal Feedback
  • When verbal feedback has been given during a lesson, reference should be made to this in the child’s book using the code ‘VF’
  • Verbal feedback may be to address misconceptions or to move learning to a higher level
  • As a child moves through school there will be a transition from more verbal feedback to more written feedback
  1. Pre-assessment/ Post Learning tasks
  • During pre-assessment tasks children will require acknowledgement marking
  • An assessment should be reviewed by the teacher and used to inform planning and structure the learning.
  1. Other Curriculum Areas
  • All work across the curriculum should be acknowledged, as a minimum, by the teacher.
  • Any pieces of writing from other curriculum areas may marked using Self-Assessment or Peer-Assessment
  1. Presentation
  • All marking should be written according to the school’s handwriting policy in order to model good handwriting to the children
  • All marking should be written in blue pen
  • Marking should be initialled if it hasn’t been done by the usual member of staff or where there are two teachers sharing a class

Monitoring

  • This policy will be regularly monitored by the SLT in a variety of ways:

-‘drop ins’

-Work scrutiny

-Pupil interviews

-Learning walks

Appendix 1 – Examples of Developmental Comments

A Reminder Prompt

This refers pupils back to the learning objective and suggests more that they could include in their work

Say more about…

Explain why you think this…

A Scaffolded Prompt

This gives more help by focusing on specifics

Can you describe how this person is a good friend?

Describe something that happened which showed they were a good friend.

Finish this sentence – He showed me he was a good friend when…

An Example Prompt

This is where you give pupils a range of possible answers to choose from:

Choose one of these statements and/or create one of your own:

George was unlucky because he tipped over Grandma’s medicine before she drank it all.

OR

George had a lot of bad luck, particularly when he tipped over Grandma’s medicine before she had finished it.

Appendix 2 – Marking Codes

Pink – highlight strengths in pink (linked to learning objective and success criteria)

Green – highlight areas for development in green (linked to learning objective and success criteria)

Sp – Spelling

P - Punctuation

 - answer correct

. correction needed

Level of Support

I – independent

T – teacher assisted work

LSA – LSA assisted work

-