Mab’s Cross Community Primary School
ASSESSMENT,
REPORTING
AND
RECORDING
POLICY
Mab’s Cross Community Primary School
Assessment, Reporting and Recording Policy
1 Introduction
1.1 We believe that effective assessment provides information to improve teaching and learning. We give our children regular feedback on their learning so that they understand what it is that they need to improve. This allows us to base our lesson plans on a detailed knowledge of each pupil. We give parents regular reports on their child’s progress so that teachers, children and parents are all working together to raise standards for all our children.
2 Aims and objectives
2.1 The aims and objectives of assessment in our school are:
- to enable our children to demonstrate what they know, understand and can do in their work;
- to help our children understand what they need to do next to improve their work;
- to allow teachers to plan work that accurately reflects the needs of each child;
- to provide regular information for parents that enables them to support their child’s learning;
- to provide the the school and governors with information that allows them to make judgements about the effectiveness of the school.
3 Planning for assessment
3.1 We use our school’s curriculum plan to guide our teaching. In this plan we set out the aims, objectives and values of our school and give details of what is to be taught to each year group. In our school curriculum plan we also identify opportunities for assessment within each broad unit of work.
3.2 We use the National Literacy Strategy, National Numeracy Strategy and the national schemes of work produced by QCA to support our teaching. We use the assessment guidance in these schemes to help us identify each child’s level of attainment.
We plan our lessons with clear learning objectives. We strive to ensure that all tasks set are appropriate to each child’s level of ability. Our lesson plans make clear the objectives for each lesson. We evaluate each lesson, and we use this information when planning for the next lesson. We also keep assessment information as a record of the progress made by the class and individual children.
These assessments allow progress to be monitored and curriculum adapted for individual children if necessary. They also act as a measure to benchmark the school against L.E.A. and national results and allow development planning for future direction.
5 Target setting
On entry to Reception, children are assessed for their ability. This Baseline Assessment provides a benchmark by which to measure the predicted achievement of the individual. The school uses the data from the baseline assessment to track progress, inform parents and to set targets for the attainment at the end of KS1 SATS. The KS1 SATS are used to set future targets for attainment in the KS2 SATS.
Other assessment material includes published schemes – as listed above. This material informs the target setting process and to inform parents and staff of attainment and expectations.
The school uses the Government generated reports, Local Education Authority Comparative and Standards Report to provide comparative data that informs assessment and target setting. Baseline Assessment will also be used to provide evidence of value added scores to aid comparison of our school’s data internally and with other comparable schools.
The school is involved in target setting at the following levels:
PUPIL TARGETS – individual learning intentions negotiated one to one.
CLASS/TEACHING TARGETS – improve attendance/home school links
SCHOOL TARGETS – legal requirement for school governors to set and publish the predicted attainment in KS1 and KS2 SATS.
LEA TARGETS – The LEA is required to reach targets and these are negotiated with the school over these expectations.
NATIONAL TARGETS- the Government proposals for levels of attainment by a set date.
5.1 Every school is required by law to set targets in mathematics and English each year for those pupils who are in Year 6. We set targets in mathematics and English for all our children during each academic year. We discuss individual targets where necessary and communicate these to parents. We review the progress of each child at the end of the academic year and set revised targets.
6 Recording
6.1 We recognise various methods of assessing a child’s learning. The type of assessment that we make varies from subject to subject. We think that it is unnecessary to keep a formal record of all these assessments; we record only information that affects future learning.
6.2 We plan our lessons with clear learning objectives. On our planning sheets we record only those pupils who fail to meet the learning objective, or who achieve more than was planned, so that we can take the needs of these pupils into account when planning for the next lesson. Where the majority of the class makes the planned progress, of course, there is no need to record this. We use our annotated lesson plans as a record of progress measured against learning objectives.
6.3 We take the objectives for individual lessons from the broad learning objectives within the school’s curriculum plan. These in turn reflect the demands of the National Curriculum. Our teachers record the progress of each child against these broad objectives. This enables them to make a judgement about the work of each child in relation to the National Curriculum level of attainment. This allows us to monitor the progress of each child. Each teacher passes this information on to the next teacher at the end of each year.
7 Reporting to parents
7.1 We have a range of strategies that keep parents fully informed of their child’s progress in school. We encourage parents to contact the school if they have concerns about any aspect of their child’s work.
Twice a year we offer parents the opportunity to meet their child’s teacher. At these meetings we review the progress being made for their child.
During the summer term we give all parents a written report of their child’s progress and achievements during the year. In this report we also identify target areas for the next school year. We write individual comments on all subjects of the National Curriculum and on religious education.
In reports for pupils in Year 2 and Year 6 we also provide details of the levels achieved in the national tests. We also provide details of levels achieved in Optional SATs in English and Mathematics in Years 3, 4 and 5.
8 Feedback to pupils (Assessment for Learning)
8.1 We believe that feedback to pupils is very important, as it tells them how well they have done and what they need to do next in order to improve their work. We have an agreed code for marking, as this ensures that we all mark in the same way.
8.2 We give children verbal feedback on their work whenever possible. We usually do this when the children are working during the lesson although we sometimes give feedback on a particular lesson at the beginning of the next one. When lesson time does not allow for verbal feedback, we write comments on the children’s work during marking. We give written comments to children of all ages. We do not always aim these comments at the children; quite often we write something that is useful to both parents and teachers.
8.3 When we give written feedback to a child, we relate this to the learning objective for the lesson. By so doing we make clear whether the objective has been met and we produce evidence to support the judgement. If we consider that the objective has not been met, we make clear why this was the case. In both cases we identify what the child needs to do next in order to improve future work.
8.4 We encourage the children to make comments about their own work and the work of fellow pupils. We encourage older pupils to be the first markers of some pieces of work.
We allow time at the beginning of each lesson for the children to absorb any comments written on their work. We do this to ensure that the time that our teachers spend marking really has an impact on the children’s work.
9 Consistency
9.1 All subject managers keep examples of children’s work within their subject area where appropriate. Subject managers use the national exemplification materials to make judgements about the levels of the children’s work. All our teachers discuss these levels, so that they have a common understanding of the expectations in each subject. By doing this we ensure that we make consistent judgements about standards in the school.
9.2 It is each subject manager’s responsibility to ensure that the samples that they keep of children’s work reflect the full range of ability within each subject.
10 Monitoring and review
10.1 Our assessment co-ordinator is responsible for monitoring the implementation of this policy. This policy will be reviewed in light of changes brought about by National Curriculum changes, staff development or school initiatives.
All significant changes will be included in the School Improvement Plan to enable resources, finance, and appropriate staff development.
M. Wilson 11.10