Rational

The purpose of this policy is to inform how we measure, monitor and evaluate our pupils’ attainment and achievement ensuring effective progress and improving the outcome of all our pupils. This policy should be read alongside our SEND and Marking and Feedback policy.

This policy intends to:

  • Make clear our vision of the role of assessment as part of teaching and learning at Ingleton Primary School
  • Provide clear guidelines for the implementation of the policy
  • Make transparent the procedures in place for monitoring and evaluating assessment practices
  • Define clear responsibilities in relation to assessment
  • Provide clear definitions and purposes for different types of assessment

 

Fundamental Principles of Assessment

At Ingleton primary we believe all assessment should:

  • Measure, evaluate and support children’s learning
  • Be fair, relevant and meaningful
  • Be inclusive, accommodating the diverse learning needs and starting points of all our children
  • Allow all children to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and the skills they have achieved
  • Relate to shared learning objectives
  • Measure and reflect the effectiveness of teaching practices and inform future planning
  • Include reliable judgements about how learners are performing, related, where appropriate, to national standards ( gov.uk)
  • Provide feedback which is meaningful and motivational for children
  • Ensure effective monitoring of progress of children’s learning
  • Improve the outcomes of children allowing all children to reach their potential
  • Enable parents to be involved in their child’s progress

 

Types Of Assessment

 

At Ingleton Primary, we believe the best forms of assessment result from frequent ongoing dialogue and interactions with children. As outlined in our feedback policy wherever possible, children should receive ‘ live’ feedback either within the lesson itself or in the next appropriate lesson. We recognise progress in learning is not linear and therefore children should not be judged solely on the results of a test.

 

There are two main types of assessment:

  • Formative Assessment
  • Summative Assessment

 

 

Formative assessment

 

Formative assessment takes place on a day-to-day basis during teaching and learning, allowing teachers and children to assess attainment and progress more frequently. Subject progression documents sequence the knowledge and skills expected for each subject. At Ingleton Primary each lesson starts with a recap of previous taught knowledge/skills to check understanding and identifying gaps before moving on. Throughout the learning process, teachers further assess pupils’ retrieval of knowledge and understanding  and amend the lesson and subsequent lessons accordingly to reinforce or extend learning.

 

Formative assessments assess the retrieval and understanding of previously taught knowledge and skills and may be in the form of questions, tasks and quizzes with verbal or written responses. The teaching of all subjects uses this retrieval practice to assess the retention of key knowledge and skills taught recently and, through spaced practice ( revisiting knowledge and skills taught some time ago ), we aim for our children to shift knowledge and skills from working memory to long term memory.

Through feedback, children and teachers work together to plan the next steps in the learning process.

 

Summative Assessment

 

Summative assessment  occurs at the end of a teaching unit or term and assesses what a pupil has achieved at the end of a period of time, relative to the learning objectives and the relevant national standards. Assessments may occur at the end of a topic, at the end of a unit of work, at the end of the term, at the end of a year or, as in the case of the national curriculum tests, at the end of a key stage.

A summative assessment may be a written test, an observation, a conversation or a task. It will summarise attainment at a particular point in time and provides individual and cohort data which is used to track progress. This is also used to inform parents and governors on the progress of individual children and cohorts.

‘If we think of our children as plants ….summative assessment of the plants is the process of simply measuring them. The measurements might be interesting to compare and analyse, but in themselves, they do not affect the growth of the plants. Formative assessment, on the other hand, is the garden equivalent of feeding and watering the plants – directly affecting their growth,’

(Shirley Clarke, Unlocking Formative Assessment, 2001)

 

Assessments at Ingleton Primary School

 

As already stated, teachers use formative assessment throughout the learning process to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching and learning of subjects and inform next steps in planning. This is the most impactful assessment.

 

End of topic and/or end of unit assessments occur in all subjects and more formal summative assessments may be done at the end of each term.

 

Formal Summative Assessments

 

At Ingleton Primary School, we use Little Wandle Assessments to assess phonic progress in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.

In Years 1 – 5, we use  end of term NFER ( National Foundation for Educational Research) tests for Reading and Maths and in Years 3-5 we also use end of term NFER grammar and punctuation tests. In Y6, we use the national SATs ( Standard Assessment Tests) for Reading, Maths and EGPS ( English, Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling as detailed below:

 

Reception

  • Baseline assessment is done within the first six weeks of the autumn term
  • Phonic assessments are done each half term and progress tracked

Year 1

  • Phonic assessments are done at the end of each half term and progress tracked
  • The National Phonic Screening Check is done during the month of June
  • NFER tests in Reading and Maths are done at the end of the summer term

Year 2

  • Those children who did not achieve a pass in the Y1 Phonic Screening Check are reassessed .
  • End of term NFER tests in autumn and national SATs tests in spring and summer

 

 

Year 3-5

  • End of term (autumn, spring and summer) NFER tests in Reading, maths, Grammar and Punctuation

(Year 4 also have the national, external Multiplication Tables Check in June)

Year 6

  • SATs in Reading, Maths, EGPS end of the autumn term, early spring prior to until national external SATs in May.
  • TA ( teacher assessment) in Science in summer term

In years 1-6, writing is assessed by the teacher at the end of each term by the teacher using the end of year Assessment Frameworks for each year group.

Monitoring and Reporting of Results

Individual pupils and groups of children are monitored and their progress is tracked to inform future planning of interventions to support children to make expected progress. Senior leaders and subject leaders of Maths and English hold Pupils Progress Meetings with teachers to discuss planned support and challenge for specific individuals and cohorts.

Parents are informed of their child’s attainment and teacher assessment levels according to the national standard for each year group as follows:

  • WTS- Working towards the standard
  • EXS- Working at the expected standard
  • GDS- working at a ‘ greater depth’ within the standard

( Science in Year 6 is assessed as either WTS or EXS – there is no GDS)

In Reception the teacher assesses the 7 areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage goals.

Parents of  Year 1 children ( and those children retaking the test in Y2) , are informed of their child’s attainment in the Phonic Screening Check with a score and if they have:

  • Met the standard
  • Did not meet the standard.

 

In Year 4, parents are informed of their child’s score in the Multiplication Table Check- no pass mark is indicated.

Teachers, subject leaders and the senior leadership team, track pupil attainment and progress and ,through headteacher reports to governors and regular meetings, governors are clearly informed of the attainment of children in all year groups and different cohorts enabling close monitoring and tracking of all children.

Roles & Responsibilities

Teachers and teaching assistants are responsible for carrying out summative and formative assessments  with individual pupils, small groups and whole classes, depending on the context. Where appropriate, these outcomes will be shared with pupils as part of an ongoing dialogue with pupils about their learning progress.  The outcomes of summative assessments are reported to Subject Leaders and the Assessment Leader. These outcomes will be shared with parents at Parent Consultation meetings and in each pupil’s written reports.

The Assessment Leader (DHT) is responsible for ensuring that:

  • Each class teacher uses agreed pupil tracking systems to analyse the performance of individuals and vulnerable groups and produces an action plan for intervention.
  • Summative assessment tasks are carried out and that the resultant data is collated centrally
  • All staff are familiar with the current Assessment Policy and practice
  • All staff are familiar with levels ( WTS, EXP. GDS etc.)

The Headteacher is responsible for:

  • Monitoring standards in core and foundation subjects
  • Analysing pupil progress and attainment, including individual pupils and specific pupil groups
  • Identifying pupil groups who are vulnerable to underachievement in relation to age/personal progress expectations and prior attainment
  • Prioritising key actions to address underachievement of individuals and groups
  • Reporting to Governors on all key aspects of pupil progress and attainment, including current standards and trends over previous years

The Headteacher and Assessment Leader are jointly responsible for:

  • Holding teachers to account for the progress of individual pupils towards their end-of-year targets during termly pupil progress meetings

Subject leaders are responsible for:

  • Ensuring all staff are familiar with the assessment policy, practice and guidance for their particular subject
  • Ensuring that assessments of individual pupils are being carried out, recorded and shared with parents
  • Monitoring standards in their subject according to assessment criteria set out in the National Curriculum

Monitoring, Moderation and Evaluation

The Headteacher and Assessment Leader will take overall responsibility for ensuring that the Assessment Policy is put into practice in the school. Policy and practice will be reviewed regularly with staff. Regular internal and cluster moderation of writing occurs in years Reception- Y6. New strategies will be implemented, as appropriate, as a result of moderations and reviews and in response to statutory requirements.

 

J Colledge
October 2024

To be reviewed: October 2025 ( or in response to National Directives)