Assessment in school is about children’s learning and so the child must be at the center of the process at all times. It is a means by which:
· We know what the children understand and can do.
· We plan suitable work for them.
· We evaluate the effectiveness of our curriculum and how well we teach it.
We need the information to tell the children, their parents, and any others who need to know what progress they are making.
The assessment process begins with our:
Planning
When we plan we identify the key learning targets of our teaching, which may be different for different groups of children. We indicate what we want the children to achieve, in terms of what they will produce and what they will learn. We indicate how we are going to discover if the learning has taken place:
· By setting assessment tasks
· By focusing on particular groups
· By testing
· By examining work produced. Etc.
We plan to organize the teaching and the resources in a way which will help us to carry out the plans.
Recording
· We complete a baseline profile for children who enter our reception class.
· We maintain brief records of children’s progress through the National Curriculum, recording for each attainment target the level which is the best description for that child at the end of each year and any optional/statutory test results.
· We keep records of each child’s progress through our reading programmes.
· We make and keep any necessary brief notes identifying particular strengths, weaknesses significant issues/occurrences for each child.
· We keep a check of areas/modules of work at each level which the child has not yet achieved.
· We retain a copy of each child’s annual report.
· We keep a regular check on reading and spelling ages compared with each child’s chronological age.
· Teachers have a specific record file for this collective information.
Moderation
We share our assessment criteria and the work we have assessed at different National Curriculum levels in order to agree standards. The process for moderation is agreed between teachers of similar age-ranges and portfolios of moderated work have been kept. The co-ordinator uses the work samples and case studies to construct central reference folders of moderated work where appropriate. We attend cluster group meetings of local schools for the purpose of sharing assessment criteria.
Reporting
Our annual written report to parents fulfils all statutory requirements.
· Comments on each National Curriculum subject identifying strengths and weaknesses.
· Attendance data.
· National Curriculum statutory assessment data where required.
· Arrangements for discussing the report.
· We also invite parents and pupils to comment on the report.
As well as a meeting to discuss the report, we also invite parents into school in the autumn term to discuss progress. All children have a home-school reading journal. Whenever there is a particular problem or issue with a child, parents are informed and invited to discuss the matter.
Special Needs
Our school special needs policy involves full details of our assessment and identification policy in accordance with the SEN code of practice.
