St. Mary's C.E. Primary School, Washington

Assessment is integral to high quality teaching and learning. It helps us to ensure that our teaching is appropriate and that learners are making (at least) expected progress.

The main purpose of assessment in our school is to help teachers, parents and pupils celebrate improvement and plan next steps in learning to ensure that a clear pathway of progress and development is identified for every child. We also use the outcomes of assessment to check our teaching and help us improve.

At St Mary’s C.E. Primary School we will ensure that our assessment processes and procedures:

· Are at the heart of teaching and learning

· Secure high expectations for all

· Are honest, open and transparent

· Are fair, inclusive and free from bias

· Provide meaningful and understandable information for pupils, parents and school staff.

· Inspire great effect from pupils, and a belief that, through hard work and practice, more can be achieved

· Are accurate (judgements are made against agreed standards and criteria) and consistent

· Are appropriate to age, task and desired information

· Inform teaching in order to ensure it is appropriately pitched

· Are moderated both internally and externally by experienced professionals

· Are reliable and based on a range of evidence

· Support comparison with other schools, both locally and nationally

· Support school leaders to allocate resources effectively

Assessment for learning is based on the principle that pupils will improve most if they understand the aims of their learning, where they are in relation to these aims and what they need to do to achieve the aims.

Our aims are that:

Every child:

· Knows how they are doing

· Understands what they need to do to improve and how to get there

Every teacher:

 · Receives regular training in our approach to assessment in order that they are equipped to make well-founded and accurate judgements about pupils’ attainment

· Understands the concepts and principles of progression

· Knows how to use their assessment judgements to forward plan

Every parent and carer:

· Knows how their child is doing

· Knows what their child needs to do to improve;

· Knows how they can support their child at home.

During the Reception year, we assess the children in two ways –

a)      Progress – we look to see what stage of development each child is at when they first join us and then compare this to the stage they have reached by the end of the year. This uses a system called ‘Development Matters’ and 'Birth to 5' which the Reception teacher will be happy to explain in more detail if you wish. Typically, we would expect:

A child entering Reception – to be comfortably within the 30 – 50 month band, or just inside the 40 – 60 month band.

By the end of the Reception year – to have achieved/be firmly within the 40 – 60 month band.

b)      Attainment – we measure the children’s ability in key areas and assess them as either:

Emerging (not quite at the expected level)

Expected  ( at the expected level)

Staff will add information to an assessment profile for each individual. Insights will be shared at parent consultation meetings. Your child will have a learning journal of photos and comments which will be available during the year for you to add to.

Year 1 – Year 6

We assess pupils’ depth of understanding against agreed descriptors of what a pupil is expected to know and be able to do, at each stage of development. Clear assessment criteria are set out in relation to what is expected by each pupil by the end of each academic year. Each pupil is assessed using a range of strategies across the year to build an overall picture of achievement. The descriptors reflect each year group’s Programme of Study, so teachers will use key concepts to guide planning and for assessment purposes. The expectation is that the majority of pupils will move through the programme of study at broadly the same pace. Every child will start on their appropriate year’s Programme of Study and each pupil’s understanding is assessed half termly against five ‘Expanded Age-related Expectations’.

For example Year Group Year 3       3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5

Where pupils are assessed as working well below or well above expectations additional provision will be considered. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly should be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content. Pupils who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material should consolidate their understanding through additional practice, before moving on.

Assessment judgments are backed by a body of evidence and are regularly quality assured to ensure they are accurate and robust.

Formative assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning. It contributes to learning through securing evidence and providing feedback. For example; it should indicate what is good about a piece of work and why it is good; it should also indicate what is not so good and how the work could be improved. Effective formative feedback will affect what both the pupil does next e.g. their next steps (please also refer to our feedback and marking appendix within our Teaching for Learning policy) and what the teacher does next e.g. lesson planning.

Summative assessment demonstrates the extent of a learner's success in meeting the assessment criteria used to gauge the intended learning outcomes of unit of learning.  It is normally, though not always, used at the end of a unit of teaching and away from the point of teaching. Summative assessment is used to quantify achievement and to provide data so that teachers and leaders can analyse progress of individuals and groups across the school; including those who are most vulnerable, to ensure that they are making appropriate progress and that all pupils are suitably challenged.  Leaders including Governors also use summative assessment data to consider the effectives of teaching and to help the school improve and to compare achievement with other schools and challenge where necessary.

Assessment for Learning involves pupils in their own learning and achievement. It incorporates the principles of formative assessment, but explicitly involves the pupils in the process. Pupils are taught to know what success looks like, what skill levels are required and how to judge whether they have actually been successful. They are able to form an opinion on the level of their own achievement through self assessment, and to support and advise their peers.

Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA)

Children who start in Reception will complete a reception baseline assessment (RBA) within the frst 6 weeks of starting school. The purpose of the assessment is to provide the starting point for a new measure that will help parents understand how well schools support their pupils to progress between reception and year 6.

Year 1 phonic check

All children in Year 1 will participate in a phonics screening check. The phonics screening check is a short, simple assessment to make sure that all pupils have learned phonic decoding to an appropriate standard by the age of 6.

This assessment will be administered by either the Headteacher or the class teacher. Results are included within the End of Year Report to parents. The phonics check will help teachers identify the children who need extra help so they can receive the support they need to improve their reading skills. These children will then be able to retake the check in Year 2.

End of Key Stage 1 (Year 2) These assessments are non statutory from Autumn 2023

During the month of May Year 2 children will be assessed using externally set tests, which are marked internally by the class teacher.  These tests will be done for Reading and Maths.  Children will be given a scaled score out of 100, where 100 is the new standard for that stage. Writing will be assessed through teacher assessment only.  The results of these tests will be reported to parents.

Multiplication Test Check (MTC) Year 4.

Pupils in Year 4 will participate in the multiplication tables check in June. The purpose of the check is to determine whether your child can fluently recall their times tables up to 12, which is essential for future success in mathematics. It will also help your child’s school to identify if your child may need additional support.

End of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)

During the month of May Year 6 children will sit National tests in Maths, Reading and Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation, which will form part of the writing assessment. These tests will be externally set and externally marked.  Children will be given a scaled score out of 100, where 100 is the new standard for that stage. The results of these tests will be reported to parents.