Assessment

Assessment happens all the time - the best assessment is the knowledge of each child that a Teacher carries around in their head.

However it is important that we have systems and processes in place to ensure that each and every child is achieving their very best, so that we can identify and then intervene for those who are not making as much progress as we would like.

Following the introduction of the new National Curriculum in 2014 and the end of 'levels' we have worked hard to create a new assessment system which we call the 'Steps'. This is explained in the following document.

 

This system is used as targets for children, so they know the next steps in their learning; is used to communicate attainment to parents; and is used by the school to identify gaps in learning and measure the progress of every child.

 The rigorous processes we use to monitor and track children's progress are summarised in the following document.

We have developed our own spreadsheet-based system to rigorously track children's progress and attainment, using FFT 5% targets to set aspirational goals for staff and pupils . Teachers up-date the system at least once every half term with current assessment information, which may come from formal tests (NFER, national assessments, other standardised tests), other diagnostic assessments and/or teacher judgements against our curriculum outcomes.  This drives conversations during Pupil Progress Meetings which take place 5 times a year between the Head, SENCO and each class teacher and TA. In these meetings the progress and attainment of each child is discussed in depth, specifically considering their achievements in Maths and English and more generally. This allows prompt action to be taken if we feel that a child is not meeting their full potential in any way.

 

We also assess and track children's achievements across the whole curriculum by subject and topic. Determining if they have reached national expectations, have exceeded these, or are working towards these.

By following these processes we are able to adapt teaching and learning across the school and ensure the very best outcomes we can for all our pupils.