Assessment is an ongoing process, which informs the child, teacher and parents of the child’s progress and identifies areas for future development. This is carried out in a variety of ways:
- Staff talk to children as positively as possible about their work and celebrate success as well as identifying areas of weakness.
- Work is marked for the benefit of the child’s learning and so constructive comments are fed back to children regularly.
- Regular parent/teacher consultations and annual report to parents.
- Formal and informal assessments and tests that inform the current as well as the next teacher of a child’s attainment and progress.
- Key Stage 1 and 2 SATs at the end of Year 2 and Year 6. The results of tests in English, Mathematics and Science will be reported to parents in July.
National Curriculum Assessments
At the end of each Key Stage, schools are required to make formal National Curriculum Assessments of each child’s progress and report the results to Parents and Governors.
Types of Assessment
Each child in Year 2 and Year 6 is assessed in the Summer Term according to the statutory National Curriculum Assessment Arrangements. These involve the child's teacher in making Teacher Assessments (TA) of their progress in the National Curriculum core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science. These Teacher Assessments are based on the classwork done by the child during their Key Stage.
In addition, the school administers the statutory National Curriculum Tasks and Tests (SATs) during May. Unlike Teacher Assessment, these Tests and Tasks cover only a small part of the whole curriculum that the child has been taught. As such, it is entirely possible that there may be a difference in the levels achieved for the Tests and Teacher Assessments.
National Curriculum Levels
To help measure pupil progress, the targets in most subjects have been divided into ten levels covering the ages 5-16. The targets at Level 1 are the easiest and should be reached by most 6 year olds. The targets at Level 10 are the most difficult and make harder demands than a current General Certificate of Secondary Education Grade A.
Most children will reach Level 2 by the end of Key Stage 1. This represents just two years of schooling within the National Curriculum. However, by the end of Key Stage 2, most children should reach Level 4. This represents only 2 levels in a further four years of schooling. Therefore, in Key Stage 2, each child will not progress steadily at a level per year.
Furthermore, each level is not the same as every other level, in what is required to attain it. Levels are broad bands, not precise points. As children progress through each level, they might be working at the lower end of a level, or almost have reached the next level. Hence, the National Curriculum levels provide only a broad, and somewhat imprecise gauge of attainment. Also, the SAT’s, unlike other standardised tests, make no allowance for age. In each school year there is an age range of almost one year.
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