Christ Church Primary School, Moreton

Types of Assessment We Use

Statutory National Assessments

Statutory National Assessments are carried out at the three phases of the primary structure:

  • Phonics Testing in Year 1 (children who have not met the standards in Y1 are retested in Y2)
  • End of Key Stage 1 (Year 2, age 6-7)
  • End of Key Stage 2 (Year 6 age 10-11)

From Summer 2016, there will be more challenging SATs tests to reflect the new curriculum at the end of the Key Stages. Children will now receive a scaled score instead of a level. Their raw score - the actual number of marks they accrue - will be translated into a scaled score; this helps to allow for differences in the difficulty of the tests from year to year so that pupils' results can be compared accurately. You will be told your child's raw score, scaled score and whether they have reached the national standard for that subject. The score that equates to the national standard has yet to be announced.

More information about end of Key Stage tests can be found by clicking the links below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/standards-and-testing-agency

The schoolrun.com

http://www.theschoolrun.com/primary-school-grading-system-explained-for-parents

Assessments without levels (AWL)

The old system of levels used to report children’s attainment and progress has been removed as part of the reforms of the National Curriculum. At present, this has not been replaced by a National system. By removing levels, teachers are afforded greater flexibility in the way they plan and assess pupils’ learning. Schools are now expected to:

  • design a curriculum relevant to their pupils that teaches the content of the programmes of study within the new National Curriculum (NC)
  • include an assessment system within the curriculum which enables schools to check what pupils have learned and whether they are on track to meet expectations at the end of the key stage, and to report regularly to parents

At Christ Church, we track and monitor progress and attainment against age related expectations for the core National Curriculum subjects of Reading, Writing and Mathematics which are assessed on a half termly basis.

The following scale is used by teachers to assess children against age related expectations:

  • B - beginning of year band
  • W - within year band
  • S – secure within year band
  • S+ – Greater Depth / Mastery  

Assessment for learning (AFL) is an approach to teaching and learning that creates feedback which is then used to improve pupils’ performance. Pupils become more involved in the learning process and from this gain confidence in what they are expected to learn.

One way of thinking about AFL is that it aims to ‘close the gap’ between a learner’s current situation and where they want to be in their learning and achievement. Christ Church’s teachers plan tasks which help learners to do this.

AFL involves pupils becoming more active in their learning and starting to ‘think like a teacher’. They think more actively about where they are now, where they are going and how to get there.

Our teachers integrate AFL in their lessons as a natural part of what they do, choosing how much or how little to use the method. AFL can be adapted to suit the age and ability of the learners involved.

Here are the main processes that take place in assessment for learning:
(i) Questioning enables a pupil, with the help of their teacher, to find out what level they are at.

(ii) The teacher provides feedback to each pupil about how to improve their learning.

(iii) Pupils understand what successful work looks like for each task they are doing.

(iv) Pupils become more independent in their learning, taking part in peer assessment (checking each other’s work) and self-assessment (checking their own work) .

Part of the AFL work at Christ Church has included introducing the children to aspects of learning called learning skills or powers, that can help them become better learners. Using the learning powers in school helps to develop confidence and gives clear labels to help children develop their understanding of learning processes. At Christ Church, our school ethos is one of striving to be the best we can be, recognising that we all have different strengths and interests, and by helping the children become better learners, as can also nurture this ethos and boost the children’s learning.

 

The four main learning skills or dispositions are:

  • Resilience
  • Resourcefulness
  • Reflectiveness
  • Reciprocity

 

These dispositions are inherent in all of us. They are not fixed at birth, or when we leave school. They can be developed in everyone regardless of current ability or age. There are no limits to extending our learning power.

We have introduced these dispositions to the children as groups of learning muscles. Just as we can build our physical muscles by the right kind of exercise, we can also exercise our learning muscles to develop strength and stamina. Developing the

dispositions that make for success as a life-long learner equates to achieving a good level of all-round learning fitness. Each of the 4R’s is made up of a number of learning behaviours, summarised below.

 

Resilience is:

Being ready, willing and able to lock into learning. Knowing how to work through difficulties when the pressure mounts or going gets tough.

ï‚· Absorption – the pleasure of being engrossed in learning.

ï‚· Managing Distractions – recognising and reducing interruptions.

ï‚· Noticing – concentrating hard and really sensing what's out there in learning.

ï‚· Perseverance –not giving up when learning is hard, understanding the feelings of learning when things are a challenge.

 

Resourcefulness is:

Being ready, willing and ready to learn in different ways – using both internal and external resources effectively, calling on different ways of learning as appropriate:

ï‚· Questioning – asking questions of yourself and others. Being curious, playing with situations and delving beneath the surface of things.

ï‚· Making Links – making connections between consolidated and new learning – building patterns and weaving a web of understanding.

ï‚· Imagining – using the mind’s eye as a learning tool – using your imagination – wondering ‘what if’

ï‚· Reasoning – calling up your logical and rational skills to work things out methodically and rigorously. Constructing good arguments.

ï‚· Capitalising – Making good use of and drawing on a full range of resources from school and the wider world.

 

Reflectiveness is:

Being ready and willing to become more strategic about learning – taking a longer term view by planning, taking stock and drawing out your experiences as a learner to get the best out of yourself. Your reflectiveness is made up of:

ï‚· Planning – working out learning in advance. Planning learning.

ï‚· Revising – monitoring and adapting along the way. Being flexible, changing your plans, monitoring and reviewing your learning

ï‚· Distilling – drawing out the lessons from experience. Looking at what has been learned – pulling out essential features – carrying them forward to aid future learning. Being your own learning coach.

ï‚· Meta learning – knowing yourself as a learner – how you learn best. How to talk about the learning process

 

Reciprocity is:

ï‚· Interdependence – knowing when it’s appropriate to learn on your own or with others, and being able to put your view across in class discussions and circle times.

ï‚· Collaboration – the skills of learning with others. Respecting and recognising other points of view. Adding to and drawing from the strength of teams.

ï‚· Empathy and Listening – contributing to others’ experiences by listening to them to understand what they are really saying, and putting yourself in their shoes

ï‚· Imitation – constructively adopting methods of learning, picking up habits and values from other people whom you observe.

Christ Church Primary School, MoretonUpton Road, Moreton, Wirral, Merseyside, CH46 0PB