Rational

The purpose of this policy is to support school improvement and the raising of standards of achievement and attainment for all our pupils.

This policy intends to:

  • Make clear our vision of the role of assessment as part of teaching and learning in 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

All assessment should:

  • Enable individual pupils to make progress in their learning
  • Relate to shared learning objectives
  • Be underpinned by confidence that every child can improve
  • Help all pupils to demonstrate what they know, understand and are able to do
  • Include reliable judgements about how learners are performing, related, where appropriate, to national standards ( www.gov.uk )
  • Involve both teacher and pupils reviewing and reflecting upon assessment information
  • Provide feedback which leads to pupils recognising the ‘next steps’ in their learning and how to work towards achieving these
  • Enable teachers to plan more effectively
  • Provide us with information to evaluate our work and set appropriate targets at whole-school, class and individual pupil levels
  • Enable parents to be involved in their child’s progress

Roles & Responsibilities

Teachers and teaching assistants are responsible for carrying out summative and formative assessments  (see Appendix 2) 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 the Assessment Coordinator. These outcomes will be shared with parents at Parent Consultation meetings and in each pupil’s written reports.

The Assessment Coordinators (JM & RC) are responsible for ensuring that:

  • Each class teacher uses pupil tracking to analyse the performance of individuals and vulnerable groups, then to set individual pupil progress targets
  • 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 ‘Scholarpack’ and understand our definitions of ‘working towards,’ ‘achieved’ and ‘mastered’ see  Appendix 1

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 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 Coordinators are jointly responsible for:

  • Holding teachers to account for the progress of individual pupils towards their end-of-year targets at mid-year and end-of-year 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 and Assessment Coordinators where appropriate
  • Monitoring standards in their subject according to assessment criteria set out in the National Curriculum

Monitoring, Moderation and Evaluation

The Headteacher and Assessment Coordinators 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.  EYFS and KS1 assessments are moderated every three years by the LA. Year 6 writing assessment will be moderated every year in conjunction with our partner Primary and Secondary schools in the local cluster and with the LA. New strategies will be implemented, as appropriate, as a result of moderations and reviews and in response to statutory requirements.

Assessment Policy –  Appendix 1

‘Scholarpack’ and Mastery

Working towards – shallow learning

  • On the surface, the curriculum is being dipped into
  • Knowledge, understanding and skills are developing and are unlikely to be remembered at this stage
  • Confidence is growing
  • Reinforcement may be required from another person or through a variety of related activities

Achieved – deep learning

  • Curriculum content has been covered and the depth of knowledge, understanding and skills is developed
  • Confidence is secure
  • Similar tasks can be completed successfully and independently

Mastered

  • Curriculum content has been explored in a variety of contexts so that the full depth and breadth has been mastered and connections can be made
  • Knowledge, understanding and skills are embedded and can be transferred to a different subject or to another person with absolute independence
  • Skill sets and knowledge banks are tapped into purposefully to match a variety of tasks over time

Assessment Policy – Appendix 2

Formative Assessment/Assessment for Learning
What is it?
Day-to-day, ongoing assessment as part of the repertoire of teaching strategies, based upon how well pupils fulfill learning objectives. It is about providing feedback and involving pupils in improving their learning.
Strategy and Purpose

Planning: Identifies valid learning and assessment objectives that ensure differentiation and progression in delivery of the National Curriculum. Ensures clear learning objectives, differentiation and appropriate delivery of the National Curriculum; short term plans show how assessment affects next steps by the development of activities and contain assessment notes on pupils who need more help or more challenge.

Sharing learning objectives with pupils: Pupils know and understand the learning objective for every task. Ensures that pupils are focused on the purpose of each task, encourages pupil involvement and comment on their own learning; keeps teachers clear about learning objectives.

Pupil self-evaluation and peer-evaluation:  Pupils are trained and encouraged, in oral or written form, to evaluate their own and their peers’ achievements against the learning objective (and possibly beyond) and reflect on the successes or otherwise, of the learning process. Empowers each pupil to realise his or her own learning needs and to have control over future targets; provides the teacher with more assessment information – the pupil’s perspective.

Feedback: Must reflect the learning objectives of the task to be useful and provide an ongoing record; can be oral or written.Tracks progress diagnostically, informs the pupil of successes and weaknesses and provides clear strategies for improvement.

Target setting: Targets set for individuals, over time, for ongoing aspects – e.g. writing. Ensures pupil motivation and involvement in progress; raises achievement and self-esteem; keeps teacher informed of individual needs; provides a full record of progress.

Celebrating achievement: Making links between achievements explicit; treating all achievements in the same way and thus creating an inclusive learning ethos, rather than an emphasis on an external reward ethos. Celebrates all aspects of achievement, provides motivation and self-esteem thus enabling pupils to achieve academic success more readily.

Summative Assessment

What is it?

This is ‘snapshot’ testing which establishes what a child CAN do at a given time.

Strategy and Purpose

Statutory Assessments: Pupils are statutorily assessed at the end of Key Stage One and Key Stage Two. Pupils in Reception are assessed throughout the year using the assessment strands in the guidance material for the Early Learning Outcomes in the Early Years Foundation Stage. To provide a summative end of key stage attainment result. It is a national yardstick against which to compare children’s performance.

Baseline Assessments: Teacher assessments made at the beginning of entry to Nursery and Reception. Assessments are usually completed within the first six weeks of the autumn term. To establish pupils’ abilities at the beginning of YR and N2 so that subsequent progress in achievement can be compared with, and measured against, expected norms. They can also be used formatively, to identify strengths and areas to develop, and support teachers in providing appropriate learning experiences for individual pupils.

Mid-Year teacher assessments & End- of-Year teacher assessments: We use the ‘steps’ statements from ‘Scholarpack’ to inform teacher assessment of reading, writing and maths. We use PIRA reading tests and ‘White Rose’ maths assessments termly from years 1 to 6. To monitor pupil progress during the year and also to provide information to parents and to the next year’s teacher.

Class Tests: Created by an individual teacher and used in day-to-day lessons (e.g. mental maths, times tables, spellings). To improve pupils’ skills and establish what they have remembered or learned so far.

End-of-Key Stage Teacher Assessment: At Key Stage One three standards are defined for reading, writing and mathematics based on ‘pupil can’ statements. At Key Stage Two three standards are defined for maths, reading and EGPS writing as well as writing which is reported only as teacher assessment. To provide information to parents and next phases of education. Pupils will be either: Working towards the expected standard, working atthe expected standard or working at greater depth within the expected standard

‘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)

In 1998, Paul Black and Dylan Williams (University of London) were commissioned to find out whether or not ‘formative’ assessment could be shown to raise levels of attainment. The key findings of their research were:

‘Improving learning through assessment depends on five, deceptively simple, key factors:

  • The provision of effective feedback to pupils
  • The active involvement of pupils in their own learning
  • Adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessment
  • A recognition of the profound influence assessment has on the motivation and self-esteem of pupils
  • The need for pupils to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve.’

In practice this translates to:

  • Sharing learning objectives
  • Defining success criteria
  • Appropriate questioning
  • Self- and peer evaluation
  • Effective feedback
  • Reporting on progress
  • Raising children’s self-esteem.

J Colledge
October 2020