Mayflower Primary School

Marking Policy

Reviewed & adopted: Spring 2016 To be reviewed: Spring 2019

Chair of Governors:

Aims

At Mayflower School we recognise that pupils learn best & make progress when they receive feedback on their work which:

  • Is timely- the more instant the feedback, the more able the pupil is to respond to it constructively
  • Involves the pupils
  • Focuses on the intended learning
  • Identifies the pupils successes
  • Identifies and clarifies misconceptions
  • Challenges them
  • They understand!

So when giving feedback & marking learning at Mayflower we aim to:

  1. Involve the pupils in the process
  1. Ensure all learning is acknowledged & that pupils receive as much diagnostic &constructive feedback as possible
  1. Recognise the importance & raise the profile of timely & efficient verbal feedback/conferencing
  1. Make the feedback process as efficient as possible & reduce teachers’ workload by minimising the amount of time teachers spend marking outside the lesson
  1. Ensure that adults’ subject knowledge is such that they are able to offer the most appropriate diagnostic feedback; they can unpick misconceptions & see how best to challenge learners
  1. Show that we value the learning pupils produce & celebrate achievement
  1. Assess pupils learning to inform planning and ensure that learning meets the needs of all pupils
  1. Provide effective communication between everyone involved in the pupils learning
  1. Maintain a consistency of expectation & practice in marking and feedback throughout the school

Agreements

As such, we ensure that:

  • Where possible, diagnostic marking takes place during the lesson, alongside the pupil, when they are most able to understand and respond to it.
  • Where it is not possible, feedback is as prompt as possible; pupil are given time to read next steps and make the necessary improvements.
  • All class based adults are trained & expected to mark & offer verbal feedback.
  • Groups working with an adult have their books marked in depth by that adult. Thus at least 2 or 3 out of every 5 pieces of work in books show diagnostic marking on the editing page. This may vary, especially when pupils are working on extended writing.
  • All learning is acknowledged, and is initialled by staff.
  • Instances of verbal feedback/conferencing are recorded with a ‘C’ in the margin at the point of feedback
  • Comments refer to the learning intention
  • Comments highlight where success has occurred and where improvement could take place (pink & green highlighter)
  • Comments are accessible to the pupils

Other Agreed Protocols

  • All work is dated
  • The learning intention is recorded at the start of a piece of learning
  • For writing books we use an editing page. This is where the pupils improve the quality of their learning after receiving next step feedback,written or verbal. The teaching team may also use this page in a number of different ways i.e. to provide word banks, display shared writing, story mapping etc.
  • Marking & pupil’s responses to marking are regularly monitored by the phase leaders with staff, including during phase meetings
  • Comments in books are written in continuous cursive script to provide a good writing model
  • Pupils have opportunities to self assess and to peer assess. The quantity differs in each phase.
  • The quality of feedback is consistent across all subjects
  • Pupils to think about marking effort during self assessment. In KS1 pupils grade out of 3. In KS2 it is out of 10. (Staff are trialling this method)

Subject Specific Marking

Maths- all calculations are marked for accuracy during the lesson or as early as possible afterwards to ensure:

  • Errors and misconception are addressed in as timely a manner as possible
  • Pupils are appropriately challenged and are not wasting time performing pages of calculations that are too easy for them

Spelling- In addition to the usual diagnostic marking of pupils’ learning, staff refer to; incorrect spelling of age-appropriate high frequency words and they are highlighted

Punctuation- Similarly, incorrect use (or non use) of age appropriate punctuation is highlighted

Marking Codes

/ I received feedback from the teaching assistant
/ The teacher supported me with my learning and provided me with next steps
/ I worked independently today
/ During the lesson a member of the teaching team gave me verbal feedback to improve my learning.
/ Self assessment

Growth Mindset Marking Created by Mayflower Staff 2015

Early Years & KS1
  • “You are managing your distractions”
  • WMG checklist on display – refer to verbally or written
  • “You might not be able to ... yet.”
  • “What makes good...(counting),(reading)...(children to generate)”
  • “You can ... so now you can try...”
  • “Have a WMG sitting /listening poster to refer to with photo of children”
  • “Keep trying and you will be able to...”
  • “Good...talking...”
  • You helped your friend to... by ...
  • You identified the initial sound
  • You found the letter on our sound mat
  • You used ... to help you ... e.g. sound mat to help you write, counting finger to help you count.
  • Specific verbal and written comments about what children have done and achieved

English / Maths
  • You have made this really exciting for the reader
  • I can see you have used your phonic strategies to write tricky words
  • You have included time connectives
  • I can see that your use of interesting adjectives
  • You used a capital letter and full stop
  • I can see you used interesting verbs like...
  • You have used the magpie wall to up level your work
  • You reflected on your learning using the visual success criteria
  • You used your story map to support your writing
  • You chose the resource that would help you
/
  • I can see you have used the working wall to support your learning
  • You used the working wall
  • You asked your learning partner for help
  • I can see you have used the working wall to help you in your learning
  • You chose resources that support you really well today
  • You thought carefully about your level of challenge
  • You have checked and edited your work and this has helped your understanding of...
  • You have used x resource( number square, number line etc.to help you ......

  • I can see you have used the WMG to help you in your learning
  • I can see you have persevered- collaborated notice...BLP
  • You have managed your distraction well and because of this your work has improved
  • You used an appropriate strategy to help you focus
  • You have challenged yourself
  • I noticed you showed determination in your learning today
  • You managed your distractions and were absorbed in your learning
  • You have clearly put a lot of effort into your learning today

Lower Key Stage 2
English / Maths
  • You showed empathy by___ this is a good example of___
  • You included ___ to make your writing ___
  • You are beginning to ____
  • you are on the right track to ______
  • You used the learning wall to enrich your writing
  • Great use of magpie words to improve your writing
/
  • I can see you applied column addition strategies
  • Your self assessment shows you preserved

  • You are responding well to feedback
  • Your questioning helped you to understand ____ more
  • You collaborated well with your learning partner, by___
  • You positively contributed to ____, by ____
  • You were absorbed in your learning and this enabled you to _____
  • You challenged yourself by______
  • You have applied your previous learning effectively
  • You effectively used the magpie wall to ____
  • You actively listened, therefore ___
  • You have shown active listening
  • I can see you found it tough, but you preserved ___
  • You can do ___
  • You helped support your learning partner___
  • You have reflected on your initial ideas and ___
  • You were honest in your self assessment
  • Your ____ skills helped you to ___
  • You have made links between___
  • You engaged your learning partner with your ideas
  • You used good questioning skills to ____

Upper Key Stage 2
English / Maths
  • You actively listened to ___ and took on board their ideas
  • You referred to the WMG to improve /edit/up level your writing
  • You used ambitious vocabulary to engage the reader
  • Your use of ___ made me feel scared/ excited / worried for your character.
  • I like how you used ______in your sc to be able to achieve______
  • You were resourceful today by___ (using the shared writing, magpied language etc.)
  • You used your learning partner to help you persevere with _____today
  • You used (success criteria/magpied language features) well to create (terror, empathy, etc)
  • I like how you used ____to achieve____
  • You made links with_____
  • You showed interdependence by using your own ideas and magpie language This created – well
/
  • You have reflected on previous learning to move on is this learning (specific skills)
  • You followed the method well to move on in your learning
  • You were absorbed in your learning today. This meant that ____(you tackled a tricky problem)
  • You worked out what you know to solve the problem
  • I noticed you used_____ to _____
  • By remembering your ____ you have been able to ___
  • I like how you used the displays in the room to help you understand the strategy
  • You have used your next steps from yesterday to improve on today’s learning (specific skills)
  • Interesting thoughts , your learning followed the steps carefully
  • You collaborated well to discuss good reasoning skills about ___maths problems
  • You really challenged yourself today to extend your learning
  • You have shown a deeper understanding of ____ by taking on_____challenge.

Building Learning Power

Resilience
How can you help yourself?
  • Absorbed in your learning
  • Managing distractions
  • Noticing
  • Perseverance
/ Reflectiveness
How do you improve?
  • Meta-learning
  • Planning
  • Editing
  • Reviewing

Resourcefulness
What can you use?
  • Questioning
  • Making links
  • Imagining
  • Reasoning
/ Reciprocity
Who and what can help you?
  • Collaboration
  • Empathy
  • Listening
  • Imitation/magpie

Marking Policy Page 1