Assessment Policy 2016
Purpose
A key aim of the school is that every child will achieve to his or her full potential. We believe that this will be accomplished through a close partnership with parents, pupils taking responsibility for their own learning, and highly motivated, highly skilled staff.
Children’s progress is closely monitored in order that we can provide the best possible opportunities and highest levels of support for all children. All assessment activities aim to ensure that the children are able to make excellent progress in their learning whilst taking into account the needs of individual children.
“Marking must be Manageable and Make a difference”
Staff meeting September 2016
The aims and objectives of assessment in our school are:
●to enable our children to demonstrate what they know, understand and cando in their work;
●to allow teaching teams to plan work that accurately reflects the needs of eachchild;
●to help our children understand what they need to do next to improve theirwork;
●to provide regular information for parents that enables them to support theirchild’s learning;
●to contribute towards assessment information
Who was consulted?
In producing this policy we consulted with all teachers, pupils and governors.
Relationship to other policies
The policy should be read in conjunction with the curriculum, homework, equality, performance management, SEN, Marking and Feedback, and teaching and learning policies, and the home-school agreement.
“The work of disadvantaged/ pupil premium children will be marked first”
Staff meeting September 2017
Roles and responsibilities of Executive head, Head of School, Assessment Leader, other staff, governors
The heads will ensure that:
•where a subject does not have national standards as a reference then school standards will be provided and standardised assessment will be used to inform teacher assessment of pupil progress.
•Interim standards produced by the Standards and Testing Agency are used to moderate work in Year 2 and 6 in English, Maths and Science
•national tests are applied in accordance with the statutory framework
•all teachers receive training on how to use formative assessment to inform lesson planning – this will include setting learning objectives, observing pupils learning, discussion and questioning, and giving feedback
•marking of pupils’ learning complies with the school’s guidelines and is used to motivate pupils and to provide them with specific guidance on what further learning is required
•a database (School Pupil Tracker)of pupil attainment will be used to track individual progress, but information about individual pupils will only be made available to them or their parents/carers
•all pupils will receive a report once per year written in accordance with agreed procedures
•parents will be informed regularly about their child’s progress and annually about the results obtained in national tests and examinations (Year 2 and 6).At parent consultations parents will be offered the opportunity to look at their child/children’s work. On request parents may view their child/children’s work at any time of the year.
•any changes required to this policy in the light of practice and changes in national requirements are reported to the governing body.
All staff are expected to ensure that:
•pupils are actively involved in learning and self-assessment of progress
•care is taken to ensure that assessment builds pupils’ motivation, confidence and self-esteem
•lessons begin with clear expectations, and learning objectives are shared with pupils. These are reviewed at the end of the lesson or series of lessons
•each pupil receives feedback about the standards of their work, although this may not always be in writing
•where work is marked it must always show what is required for the pupil to improve and move on to the next stage of learning and they are given the opportunity to respond to this (see Marking and Feedback policy)
•results of assessment are used to inform further planning and differentiation.
Pupils are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning through:
•assessing their own work and, where appropriate, the work of other pupils
•setting targets for their own learning as part of the school’s review and reporting system
•using a variety of strategies before asking for help and advice on improving their work from their teacher
Arrangements for monitoring and evaluation
Subject leaders and the Head of school will oversee marking and assessment practice within their areas of responsibility. Lesson observation and work sampling will be part of this process. The leadership team and the governing body will evaluate the success of the policy by asking for feedback from pupils and teachers through pupil conferencing. Records of pupil conferencing are kept by the Heads of Schools.
The heads will report annually to the governing body on:
•the outcomes of monitoring, and changes in practice that have resulted from them
•the overall standards achieved in each subject by year group
•the standards achieved by focussed groups: SEND, Pupil Premium, LAC, More Able, ‘Catch Up’, Boys and Girls – compared with national
•the impact of internal/external intervention or support on standards
•the views of staff about the action required to improve standards
•feedback received from pupils and parents.
Assessment of English and Maths
Assessment of Writing
Elicitation tasks/First attempt are marked very lightly. The purpose of this task is to inform planning and set targets. Throughout the teaching sequences formative assessments are made. Teachers indicate objectivestaught, consolidated and internalised through the use of a three step system. Step 1: Objective has been taught but not yet understood and applied. Step 2: Further consolidation needed. Step 3: Objective has been achieved.As a result it is apparent when the objective has been learnt. At the end of each teaching sequence teachers record assessmentson School Pupil Tracker.
Writing is assessed in line with the new National Curriculum with reference to the Standards and Testing agency interim standards guidelines. The interim standards for Year 2 and Year 6 and exemplification guidance are used to ascertain whether pupils are working below/at/above national standards. The other year groups are aware of this guidance and use it to make judgements on writing standards. Moderation of writing happens within the school, the Federation and within the Culm Valley Cluster of small schools.
Assessment of Reading
Reading is continually assessed during guided reading sessions. Reading comprehension skills are also tested using Rising Stars assessment books. These are recorded and tracked using Excel spreadsheets. Reading comprehension skills are tested half termly from Years 2 to 6 using summative tests (Rising Star,CPG and DfE drafts). Results are recorded and tracked using Excel spreadsheets.
Teachers complete on-going formative assessment on a weekly basis for reading. Reading is continually assessed during daily guided reading sessions. Evidence is recorded on Guided reading record sheets and are transferred to School Pupil Tracker.
Assessment of Phonics and Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation
Phonics is assessed according to the six phases included in the Letters and Sounds program in Key Stage 1. Assessments are not transferred to School Pupil tracker but paper versions are held by class teachers and are updated weekly. Spelling and phonic intervention programs in Key Stage 2 are monitored by Head of School and Senco. In Year 1, and for those children who have not passed their phonics screening test, pupils take practice phonics tests in preparation for the phonics test in June.
Spelling, punctuation and grammar are taught and assessed in line with ‘No Nonsense’ programmes. Summative tests (Rising Star, CPG) are used half termly. Results are recorded and tracked using Excel spreadsheets.
Assessment of Mathematics
Elicitation tasks are conducted and used to inform planning and set targets. Teachers continuously assess the children informally through their marking and interactions with the pupils during lessons. Teachers complete on-going assessment sheets on a weekly basis. Teachers indicate objectivestaught, consolidated and internalised through the use of a three step system (see above).At the end of each teaching block, teachers carry out an assessment task from the ‘Rising Stars’ end of unit assessment activities. Teacher assessments are inputted on School Pupil tracker.
Early Years
Our Foundation Unit follows the, observe, assess and plan cycle: daily, weekly and half termly.
Every child has an individual ‘Learning Journey’ which includes observations and information from both staff and parents that record the child’s journey and progress through the foundation stage.
In the EYFS children are given a Baseline assessment (Early Excellence) within six weeks of entry. Progress and attainment is tracked through the use of regular observations and guided work. These assessments are indicated on EYFS tracking sheets.
Learning journeys contain:
- Focussed observations
- A range of observations from different sources
- Pieces of work and photographs of significant steps in learning.
- Comments from parents/carers
They form an essential evidence base for planning children’s next steps and sharing learning with families.
Final outcomes, relating to Emerging, and Exceeding are recorded in July on SPT.
Transition
A handover timetable is arranged towards the end of the academic year. This provides an opportunity for teachers to share assessment information relating to their new class.
Policy Agreed September 2016
Review date March 2017