Assessment
Types of Assessment
On-Going Formative Assessment
Children are assessed throughout their time in Foundation through observations, questioning and direct teaching. They are given the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge through investigation and exploration. A Learning Journey is developed for each child using written observations, photographic evidence and examples of children’s work. Your contribution to your child’s assessment is vital and we appreciate any information you can give towards their Learning Journeys about how your child is developing, what new skills they have gained and their interests. Our main learning objectives are displayed and sent home on newsletters, to show you what our focus is for that term in each area of learning. Your child's ongoing progress is discussed at regular parent meetings.
EYFS Profile
In the final term of the year in which the child reaches age five, and no later than 30 June in that term, the EYFS Profile must be completed for each child.
The Profile provides parents and carers, practitioners and teachers with a well rounded picture of a child’s knowledge, understanding and abilities, their attainment against expected levels, and their readiness for year 1. We will discuss the profile with you at parents’ sessions and in your child’s end of term report.
The Profile must reflect our knowledge and professional judgement of a child to inform discussions with parents and carers, and any other adults whom the teacher, parent or carer judges can offer a useful contribution.
Each child’s level of development must be assessed against the early learning goals and indicate whether children are meeting expected levels of development, or if they are not yet reaching expected levels (‘emerging’). This is the EYFS Profile.
Year 1 teachers must be given a copy of the Profile report. A short commentary on each child’s skills and abilities in relation to the three key characteristics of effective teaching and learning is also completed. These help inform a dialogue between reception and Year 1 teachers about each child’s stage of development and learning needs and assist with the planning of activities in Year 1 and complete their annual report.
The profile is shared with parents and/or carers, and it is explained when and how you can discuss the Profile with the teacher who completed it. The Profile is completed for all children, including those with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).
Reasonable adjustments to the assessment process for children with SEND is made as appropriate. Providers should consider whether they may need to seek specialist assistance to help with this. Children will have differing levels of knowledge, skills and abilities across the Profile and it is important that there is a full assessment of all areas of their development, to inform plans for future activities and to identify any additional support needs.
National Curriculum
In Year Groups 1-6 we follow the National Curriculum and school has its own creative system of assessing pupils.
Following on from the terminology used in Foundation Stage, your child will now be assessed against year group statements from the National Curriculum. As s/he moves into the national curriculum levels, in Year 1, these descriptors are called: ‘Working Towards; Expected and Greater Depth'.
‘Working Towards’: “Your child has been introduced to a national curriculum learning objective/statement in a lesson or couple of lessons”
‘Expected’: “Your child is able to remember and apply the objective/statement independently or with limited support, within their work. We would be able to show you evidence to support this judgement in their books or worksheets.
'Greater Depth’ means: “Your child consistently applies the objective/statement throughout their work and is ‘ready’ to move onto a level above their current position.
As your child works their way through the learning objectives/statements for their year group, they will accumulate a number of these descriptors (working towards; expected; greater depth) for each learning objective. The total number of working towards; expected and /or greater depth descriptors will inform your child’s overall award for their year group.
The goal of Crags, with the support of parents/carers and pupils, is to have all of these learning objectives, for each year group, at expected or greater depth. Those that are still at working towards will become your child’s targets for learning and where we might seek your support and/or target their learning.
There may be occasions whereby a child is in one year group but working on a different year group’s set of objectives – either above or below. The class teacher for that pupil will speak to the individual parent/carer about that child’s learning needs.
How can you track your child’s progress? At a parent’s meeting or in your child’s annual report, you will be given these descriptors by the class teacher. This will allow you to see the learning journey for your child and whether they are working towards; entering or greater depth in their year group.
2 Year Progress Check
When a child is aged between two and three, our practitioners review their progress, and provide parents and/or carers with a short written summary of their child’s development in the prime areas.
This progress check identifies the child’s strengths, and any areas where the child’s progress is less than expected. If there are significant emerging concerns, or an identified special educational need or disability, practitioners will develop a targeted plan to support the child’s future learning and development and involve parents and/or carers and other professionals (for example, the provider’s Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) or health professionals) as appropriate.
Beyond the prime areas, it is for our practitioners to decide what the written summary should include, reflecting the development level and needs of the individual child. The summary must highlight: areas in which a child is progressing well; areas in which some additional support might be needed; and focus particularly on any areas where there is a concern that a child may have a developmental delay (which may indicate a special educational need or disability).
We encourage parents and/or carers to share information from the progress check with other relevant professionals, including their health visitor when any new children attend.
Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA)
The Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) is a short assessment, taken in the first six weeks in which a child starts reception. Information for parents around the RBA is set out here. The administration guidance covers all intakes in reception within an academic year including during autumn, spring and summer terms.
Statutory Testing
In Year One children complete a phonics screening check in June. Children who do not achieve the standard in Year 1 are expected to re-take the check in Year 2. The check consists of 40 words that children are expected to decode and read using their phonic skills.
For children in Year 2, statutory tests are designed to assess work from the National Curriculum in Reading, Writing and Mathematics. These are national tests which must be taken by all children in state schools and are informally known as Standard Assessment Tests or ‘SATs'. These test are marked by teachers and are used to support their teacher assessment judgements made against the Year 2 frameworks. From 2023-24 these tests will become optional for schools.
Year 4 children will take a multiplication test in May. This consists of 25 multiplication questions online where children have 6 seconds to type to answer each question up to the 12x table.
Year 6 children will take SATs test during a specified week in May. Reading, Mathematics, and Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling tests will be taken under test conditions and externally marked. Writing and Science are also assessed but this is based on teacher assessments. Results will be reported to schools and parents at the end of the year. Tests will be reported as a scaled score, with a score of 100 representing the expected level.
