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Little Hill Primary School

Langmoor Primary School

Langmoor Primary School

Assessment

Assessment without Levels

In April 2014 the Department for Education (DfE) introduced ‘Assessment Principals’, a document outlining the core values of effective assessment systems, which should be implemented as part of the changes introduced with the 2014 National Curriculum. It stated that the ‘Government will not impose a single system for ongoing assessment’. Therefore, it is up to schools to implement a system that can ‘give reliable information to parents about how their child, their child’s school, is performing, and help drive improvement for pupils/teachers. Similarly, to make sure the school is keeping up with external best practice and innovation’.

Our Philosophy of Assessment

Assessment should have a purpose at every level for everyone involved:

  • Pupils should be given appropriate feedback on their learning from the formative assessments carried out by class teachers.
  • Class teachers should be able to use formative assessment to support planning and implementation of a curriculum designed to meet the needs of learners.
  • Teachers and school leaders should be able to use assessment to help ensure that the pupils who need specific intervention are quickly identified.
  • Parents should be able to get a clear and accurate sense of their child’s achievement.
  • Governors should be able to use data to ensure the school is supporting pupils learning effectively.

PYG, WTS, EXS, GDS

Each term, the staff will assess the children using their own assessments methods such as marking work, end of units tests for Maths, extended writing for English and discussion around tests. Children will also have a Maths test linked with the White Rose Curriculum that we teach and a reading comprehension.

In November and May, children also take a reading and spelling test that gives us a standardised score. This enables us to track their progress across the year, and if necessary intervene early to ensure that learning continues to progress.  

The four sections may be thought of in these terms:

WTS – Pupil learning is chiefly focussed on the criteria for the band. There may be minimal elements of the previous band still to gain complete confidence in.

EXS – Children are able to achieve the expected standard for what they have been taught so far. 

GDS - These children are able to access the higher learning for their year group and regularly access the Greater Depth Challenges in lessons. They need less adult intervention and are clear on how to improve their work. 

For children to be working at age related expectation, they would need to reach the EXS step at the end of the appropriate year.

The New Curriculum allows schools to have the flexibility to introduce content earlier or later than set out in the programme of study. It is important for children to demonstrate their mastery of a particular skill at a deep and thorough level before moving on.

Writing Assessment

At Langmoor each child has a writing assessment checklist. The teachers will assess the children's work and the children will also get the opportunity to see which parts they need to improve. The Writing checklist allows the children to self assess and see what to include in their next piece of writing. We have also introduced Reading Checklists as well to ensure that our children are able to show the skills in all areas of reading. 

Maths Assessment

We follow the White Rose Curriculum and part of this is the small steps tracker. These are in each unit and staff use these to assess where the children are and their next targets.