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Assessment

Reading
  • Children are benchmarked in KS1 and KS2 to ensure that their books are matched to their reading level. 
  • In the Spring term, children in year two are assessed using the standardised PIRA test materials to provide additional assessment information. 
  • Children in Years 3 to 5 are assessed three times per year using the standardised PIRA test materials. 
  • In Year 6, past SATs papers are used to gather additional assessment information on children's reading.
  • In addition to standardised assessments, teachers will assess children's strengths and areas to improve in reading throughout the year during reading fluency lessons and novel/extended reading sessions. Children's ability to read fluently or to demonstrate understanding through responding to VIPERS questions will provide teachers with valuable assessment information. 
  • Children who are at risk of falling behind are assessed to identify the weaknesses that need addressing. This could include recognition of phonemes, ability to blend, an aspect of fluency or comprehension. 
  • Children are assessed and then an appropriate intervention is put into place with staff supported by the reading lead to identify the most effective intervention. 
Phonics 
  • Phoneme knowledge is assessed regularly throughout the Song of Sounds scheme. 
  • Tricky words are also taught and assessed throughout the scheme. 
  • For children who show gaps in phoneme or tricky word knowledge, provision is put in place to ensure they keep up. 
  • The phonics screening check takes place at the end of Year 1 and assesses children's ability to decode. This is a statutory assessment (meaning this is a national assessment requirement). 
  • Any children who do not pass the phonics screening check in Year 1 have the opportunity to retake the test in Year 2, providing accurate assessment information before the transition to KS2.
  • Children who do not pass the phonics screening check in Year 1 receive additional intervention to strive to ensure that they meet age-related expectations by end of Year 2. 
  • Phonics tracker is used to track children's attainment and progress, keep accurate records and provide activities and strategies to close gaps and address any misconceptions. 
Writing
  • Each unit of writing taught has an accompanying independent writing unit. 
  • This independent writing provides teachers with the opportunity to assess a child's current strengths and identify areas for improvement. 
  • The writing progression document details what the expected and greater depth standard of writing is across each year group. 
  • Writing moderation takes place in teams and across year groups to ensure that assessments are both accurate and consistent across phases. 
  • During the drafting process of writing, teachers have the opportunity to assess and give feedback to children in addition to post-lesson marking. This provides further assessment information and identifies children's strengths and next steps for children's writing. 
Maths 
  • Arithmetic sessions are taught daily and children regularly revisit concepts throughout the year. 
  • Teachers and TAs circulate during these arithmetic sessions and formatively assess children's ongoing ability to recall key semantic knowledge (facts and the meaning of information) and procedural knowledge (skills), checking whether children know and remember more. 
  • During maths lessons, children from years 1 to 6 engage in a daily flashback which covers previously taught concepts. Teachers and TAs are encouraged to use this an opportunity to check for understanding and assess children's retention of concepts. 
  • During the independent/'your turn' sections of the maths lesson, teachers are able to gain a snapshot of a child's in-lesson performance. Whilst this does not show whether a child has retained learning in the long-term memory, it does show whether they have understood the learning within the lesson. 
  • As we use the White Rose Maths scheme, children in Years 1 to 5 regularly engage with end of unit assessments which capture a summative view of children's understanding over a unit of learning. Children in Year 6 engage with these end of unit assessments at the end of each term. 
  • In addition to the end of unit assessments, children from years 1 to 6 also are assessed using standardised assessment materials linked to the White Rose Maths scheme of learning through arithmetic, reasoning and problem-solving tests. These tests assess content of semantic and procedural knowledge that the children have been taught. These tests take place 3 times per year and provide additional information to support teachers' accurate judgements about a child's attainment and progress. 
  • As with all assessment information, if a child is at risk of falling behind, appropriate action is to taken to ensure that they keep up. 
Wider Curriculum 
  • We use a variety of methods to assess learning within the wider curriculum. 
  • End of unit quizzes are a key feature across multiple subjects and assess key sticky knowledge and vocabulary taught within a unit. 
  • Flashback Fridays take place monthly and provide teachers with an opportunity to assess children's retention of key knowledge and vocabulary across a range of subjects. 
  • Make it stick summaries provide children with a chance to demonstrate their understanding within a lesson and provide the teacher with an overview of a child's in-lesson performance. 
  • Regular retrieval practice at the start of lessons allows teachers to formatively assess children and to check whether they know and remember more. 
  • In some subjects, observations are more crucial to teacher assessment. Subjects such as PE and music require a greater level of observation to check whether children have understood key concepts and can demonstrate the necessary procedural knowledge. Key assessment criteria within both of these subjects allows teachers to focus on the key semantic and procedural knowledge required and allows them to make a judgement on a child's progress and attainment. 
  • As with all subjects, assessment information within the wider curriculum should be used to support children in knowing and remembering more. If children struggle with a certain aspect, additional teaching input can be used to address gaps in learning. 

Please click on the button below to view our assessment matrix which outlines how we make judgements about where children are currently attaining in each wider curriculum subject, science and computing. 

Assessment information will be gathered and reported as shown in the table below:

Subject

Key Stage

Frequency

Format for reporting

Reading, writing, maths and SPAG

KS1 and KS2

End of Autumn, Spring and Summer term.

Proportion of children on track and proportion of children working below the expected standard.  

Computing and science  

KS1 and KS2

End of Autumn, Spring and Summer term.

Proportion of children on track and proportion of children working below the expected standard.  

All wider curriculum subjects except MFL

KS1 and KS2

End of Autumn, Spring and Summer term.

Proportion of children on track and proportion of children working below the expected standard.  

MFL

KS2

End of Autumn, Spring and Summer term.

Proportion of children on track and proportion of children working below the expected standard.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For information about how we assess in each subject, please view the 'Subject on a page' documents for all wider curriculum subjects and science and computing. 

Statutory assessments (those required to be administered by all schools nationally)

Please see the table below for details of statutory assessments that currently take place in school. 

Statutory assessment  Details
Reception baseline assessment The RBA is an age-appropriate assessment of early mathematics and literacy, communication and language. It is administered within the first six weeks of a pupil starting reception. This is not a test that the children take and is carried out through observations of children.
Year 1 Phonics screening check 

Completed in June to assess children's ability to decode.

The test consists of children segmenting and blending 20 nonsense and 20 real words with their teacher.

End of KS1 SATs 

Completed in May. Tests take place in the following subjects:

  • SPAG - spelling, punctuation and grammar
  • Reading
  • Maths - arithmetic and reasoning
Year 4 Multiplication tables check 

Tests children's recall of multiplication tables. The test is an online test where the pupils are asked 25 questions on times tables up to 12 x 12. For every question, children have 6 seconds to answer and in between the questions there is a 3-second rest.

End of KS2 SATs 

Completed in May. Tests take place in the following subjects:

  • SPAG - spelling, punctuation and grammar
  • Reading
  • Maths - arithmetic and reasoning