As you may be aware, a few years ago, the Government made some key changes to the National Curriculum and the way that children are assessed. You will find information on this page which explains the way we assess pupils in Sunnybrow Primary School.
A new National Curriculum was developed and was implemented in September 2014. The new curriculum is very challenging and the expectations for each year group have been raised. Children are now expected to be able to do more than before in every year group. Additionally, the new curriculum has a greater focus on broadening children’s learning and ensuring that they are secure in their new skills.
Previously, children were assessed and their attainment was measured using levels. Children were encouraged to progress through the levels to reach higher levels of attainment. It was felt that this had a negative impact on the breadth and depth of children’s understanding which is why levels were removed as an assessment tool.
Pupils are now assessed against a set of expectations for their year group. They are not encouraged to progress to the expectations for the next year group but to learn in greater depth and apply their learning to a variety of different situations and subjects. At the beginning of each school year, pupils will face the challenge of a new set of expectations.
At Sunnybrow Primary, children will be assessed as being either emerging, developing, secure or exceeding in their year group expectations. It is considered that pupils will have met age related expectations if they are assessed as being secure by the end of each academic year. This means the children will have met the majority of the national curriculum objectives for their year group. However, a small number of pupils may struggle to reach secure, just as a small number of children will progress to be exceeding.
Teachers will continue to assess during lessons and use this information to plan their next steps in teaching. This is called ‘Assessment for Learning’. Teachers will also evaluate each individual pupil’s learning against the national curriculum objectives. It is this assessment against the national curriculum objectives that will be used to grade children as emerging, developing, secure or exceeding. This information will also be used to set targets for pupils at the beginning of each half term. These targets will be shared with parents and discussed with each pupil during an individual target setting meeting at the beginning of each half term.
Pupils in each year group, with the exception of EYFS, complete a small, non-statutory test at the beginning and end of each academic year. This provides further information to support our judgements of attainment and progress across the year. It also allows children to experience sitting a test so that they are familiar with the process before reaching the end of each Kay Stage.
Children must also complete statutory assessments in certain year groups. These assessments are as follows:
EYFS
EYFS pupils are assessed on entry to school. This takes place over the first few weeks of the Autumn Term and is used to gauge each child’s ability as they enter school. This is called Baseline Assessment. At the end of the year, the children are assessed against the Early Learning Goals. They will be judged to be either emerging, expected or exceeding against these Early Learning Goals.
Year 1
Year 1 pupils must complete the National Phonics Screening Check. This assesses children’s phonic knowledge and their ability to use this to decode words.
Year 2
Year 2 pupils complete SATs tests in reading, maths and grammar, spelling and punctuation. Writing is teacher assessed only. The test results are used as a tool to inform and support teacher assessment. In Year 2, it is teacher assessment that is considered to be the final judgement.
Any children who did not pass the Year 1 phonics screening check will be required to re-sit the test in Year 2.
Year 4
Year 4 pupils take part in the multiplication tables screening check. This is a test which children complete on a computer. They have a few seconds to answer a multiplication tables question. The children are tested on all times tables up to 12×12.
Year 6
Year 6 pupils complete the SATs tests in reading, maths and grammar, punctuation and spelling. Writing is teacher assessed only.
