Assessment

At Glenmere we believe that effective assessment provides information to improve teaching and learning. We give learners regular feedback on their learning so that they understand what it is that they need to do better. This allows us to base our planning on detailed knowledge of the pupils’ learning. We give parents regular written and verbal reports on their child’s progress so that teachers, children and parents are all working together to raise standards for all our children.

Aims and Objectives

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 the children;
to provide regular information for parents that enables them to support their child’s learning;
to provide school leaders and governors with information that allows them to make judgements about the effectiveness of the school.

What assessments looks like

Assessment is not a singular activity; it is about measurement of performance at a given point in time and a way of gaining information to promote future learning. Our first point of principle should be to hold on to aspects of assessment that aim to measure what we value rather than simply valuing what we are able to measure. Secondly, we acknowledge that there are two distinct types of assessment used by the school.

These include:

Assessment for learning (Formative Assessment) helps to identify the next steps needed to make progress. It takes account of pupils’ strengths as well as weaknesses.
Assessment of learning (Summative Assessment) is more associated with judgements based on grades and ranks and with public accountability.

Formal summative assessment, measuring outcomes against all schools nationally:

End of EYFS: % of pupils achieving a “Good Level of Development”
Phonics Screening Test at the end of Year 1 % of pupils achieving the required screening check
End of KS1: % of pupils achieving Expected and above in reading, writing, maths ,speaking and listening and science.
End of KS2: % of pupils achieving Expected and above in reading, writing, maths and science.

Good assessment practice will:

raise standards of attainment and behaviour, and improve pupil attitudes and response
enable the active involvement of pupils in their own learning by providing effective feedback which closes the gap between present performance and future standards required
Enable continuous reflection on what pupils know and understand, and their next steps for improvement.
promote pupil self-esteem through a shared understanding of the learning processes and the routes to improvement
guide and support the teacher as planner, provider and evaluator
enable the teacher to adjust teaching to take account of assessment information and to focus on how pupils learn and draw upon as wide a range of evidence as possible using a variety of assessment activities.
enable us to discover whether we are providing appropriate learning opportunities and to find out if our teaching is effective.
enable the staff to collate and analyse the assessment data using the school assessment tracking system for each cohort of pupils.
track pupil performance and progress, and in particular identify those pupils and groups of pupils at risk of underachievement, diagnosing problems which need attention.
provide information which can be used by teachers and managers as they plan for individual pupils and cohorts
provide information which can be used by parents or carers to understand their pupils’ strengths, weaknesses and progress
provide evidence for referrals to external agencies, relating to S.E.N.
provide information which can be used to evaluate a school’s performance against its own previous attainment over time and against national standards.

Implications for teaching

The teacher will:

Provide continuous feedback which identifies strengths and the next step for improvement
Promote pupils’ reflections and self-assessment
Act on insights gained to inform personal targets
Plan against what children know/can do/understand
Provide opportunities for all pupils to demonstrate their achievements
Make standards and objectives explicit to pupils
Promote inclusion by attending to all pupils’ learning needs, particularly for pupils who are at risk of underachievement
Engage pupils in rich questioning with ‘wait’ time
Provide a periodic summary through teacher assessment and formal tests
Identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge and understanding
Implement strategies to accelerate pupil progress to meet expectations of attainment and progress.

The pupil will:

Reflect on their own learning
Know what to do to improve
Know what standards are required
Know what has been achieved and what to do next
Gain confidence, motivation and self-esteem as a learner
Improve own self-evaluation skills
Strive to make progress

Types of assessment Day to day:

Effective practice would include:

Sharing learning objectives and success criteria at various points of the lesson.
Using these objectives as the basis for questioning and feedback.
Evaluating this feedback in relation to achievement of the learning objectives to inform the next stages of planning.
Helping pupils to know and recognise the standards they are aiming for
Showing pupils’ work which has met criteria, with explanations of why.
Giving pupils clear success criteria then relate it to the learning objectives.
Modeling what it should look like, exemplifying good examples.
Ensuring that there are clear, shared expectations about the presentation of work.

Involving pupils in peer- and self-assessment

Give pupils clear opportunities to talk about what they have learned, and what they have found difficult, using the learning objectives as a focus.
Encourage pupils to work/discuss together, focusing on how to improve.
Ask pupils to explain the steps in their thinking. For example, ‘How did you get that answer?’
Give time for pupils to reflect on their learning.
Identify with pupils the next steps in learning and provide tasks to addresses these, to which pupils must respond.

Termly strategies: Effective practice would include

Monitoring of books

Provide time for all staff to review progress, coverage and marking and feedback in books.
Senior leader’s quality assuring the strengths and weaknesses identified by staff following their own reflection
During learning walks/lesson observations senior leaders review books and interview pupils about their learning and steps to improve.

Moderation

Moderation across the OWLS Academy Trust and in school moderation

Provide time for regular moderation of work linked to the National Curriculum

Provide time for EYFS/KS1 staff to moderate progress
Provide time for KS1/KS2 staff to moderate learning
Provide time for KS2/KS3 staff to moderate learning

Formal testing

Use a range of commercially produced materials to undertake a snap shot view of pupil attainment. This snap shot should confirm judgments made by the gathering of the above evidence

Pupil progress meetings

Termly meetings to look at pupil’s attainment and progress
Time provided for senior leaders, teachers and teaching assistants to review progress of learning
To identify groups of pupils making expected and exceeding progress
To use data to inform teaching and learning
Review the provision map for pupils and review support timetables.

Formal written reports for parents

Formal reports are given in the summer term.
Reports summarise the achievements and progress for pupils during the year.
Pupils write their own comments on their learning in the end of year report and what they need to focus on in the coming year
Parents/cares respond to comments