Our vision is to LEARN EVERY DAY, TO HELP EACH OTHER AND TO BE HAPPY.
For more information about the assessments that your child will have, please speak to your class teachers.
Assessments
How do we assess pupils' learning?
Knowing where children are at, where they need to go and how they will get there.
These are the underlying principles of our approach to assessment at the Northam Schools’ Federation.
Teacher's in our Federation assess children's learning and how they progress through a clearly planned sequence of learning to acquire the skills and knowledge needed to apply them in a variety of ways.
The principles that underpin our assessment system are:
Every child can achieve: teachers have the mindset, ‘What do I need to do next to enable a child in my class to achieve?’. We adopt the Growth Mindset approach to learning. You will hear our children saying’ I can’t do it yet’ rather than ‘I can’t do it’ when confronted with a challenging situation or concept.
Objectives from the National Curriculum and Early Years Foundation Stage Profile are to be used as the expectations for all children.
Pupils will make age appropriate progress from their different starting points – more for those who need to 'close the gap' to reach age related expectations.
Teachers are experts at assessment - assessment is effectively used to ensure the correct scaffolding is built into lessons and the next steps are identified to ensure all children achieve.
Our assessment and reporting system includes:
Ongoing assessment by the class teacher throughout each lesson, through:
questioning,
observation
written evidence
and dialogue
Children knowing what they are being asked to learn and more importantly, why and how it feeds into their outcome, as well as linking to prior learning.
Success Criteria are discussed and agreed with or formulated by the children and are used as assessment tools.
Peer and self-assessment are used to identify next steps
Written or verbal feedback
Teacher-pupil conferencing
In addition to the above will have three 'formal' assessment points or 'data checkpoints' in the year. These will take place at the end of each term.
Children in Years 1, 2 and 6 will continue to sit the statutory assessments in the summer term and Year 4 pupils will sit the new national times table check, again in the summer term.
How we share this information with parents:
Books are available in class, should a parent wish to see them.
Discussions at parent, teacher, consultation meetings in the Autumn and Spring terms provide feedback on your child’s progress and attainment.
Parents also receive an annual report and outcomes of statutory assessments at the end of the Summer Term.
Statutory Assessments
In addition to the above assessments, pupils also complete the following statutory assessments:
Reception – Baseline, EYFS profile
Year 1 (and 2) - Phonics Check
Year 4 - Multiplication tables check
Years 2 and 6 - end of Key Stage assessments.
Early Years - Nursery & Reception
Class teacher's will use a combination of the EYFS profile and the a baseline assessment to measure children's progress.
Baseline:
The baseline assessment will result in a score that forms part of each child’s baseline profile. By having a good understanding of the child’s abilities when they start school, class teacher's are able to measure each child's progress and plan for next steps in learning.
The baseline assessment is face-to-face with a mixture of tasks and observational checklists.
EYFS Profile:
The EYFS profile assessment is carried out in the final term of Reception
The main purpose of the EYFS profile is to provide a reliable, valid and accurate assessment of individual children at the end of the EYFS.
EYFS profile data is used to:
Inform parents about their child’s development against the early learning goals (ELGs) and the characteristics of their learning.
Help year 1 teachers plan an effective, responsive and appropriate curriculum that will meet the needs of each child.
Children in Nursery and Reception are assessed against the Prime and Specific areas of Learning in the EYFS profile, these are recorded on our on-line system, SIMS. Assessments are based on observation of daily activities and events. At the end of Reception for each Early Learning Goal, teachers will judge whether a child is meeting the level of development expected at the end of the Reception year:
Emerging, not yet reached the expected level of development (Below)
Expected (inline)
Phonics Screening Check Year 1
The Phonics Screening Check demonstrates how well pupils can use the phonics skills they have learned up to the end of Year 1, and to identify those who need extra phonics help.
The checks consist of 40 words and non-words that your child will be asked to read one-on-one with a teacher. Non-words (or nonsense words, or pseudo words) are a collection of letters that will follow phonics rules your child has been taught, but don’t mean anything.
The 40 words and non-words are divided into two sections – one with simple word structures of three or four letters, and one with more complex word structures of five or six letters.
Pupils will be scored against a national standard, and the main result will be whether or not they fall below, within or above this standard
Pupils who do not meet the required standard in Year 1 will be re-checked in Year 2.
Year 2 End of Key Stage 1 Assessment
Assessments made across the KS1 core curriculum: Reading, Writing and Maths.
Assessments are teacher assessments - using SATS assessments as an assessment tool within this process.
SATS are conducted in Maths and Reading.
Writing judgements are teacher assessed. These assessments are regularly moderated by external Local Authority Advisors.
Year 6 End of Key Stage 2 Assessment
Assessments are made against the core subjects across the entire KS2 curriculum.
KS2 SATS tests are conducted in Maths (3 Papers), Reading and Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar.
Pupil’s scores will be measured against a national scaled score, with a judgement being made in regards to whether the child has ‘met’ or ‘not met’ this standard.
KS2 assessments are passed on to Secondary School providers.
Writing judgements are teacher assessed. These assessments are regularly moderated by external Local Authority Advisors.