How Do we Asses?
Every child in St Gregory’s will be formally assessed on an ongoing basis using the whole school assessment framework approach to monitor and track children’s progress against national expectations (called Age Related Expectations), which is then reported termly to the Headteacher, Senior Leadership Team, Governors and parents, as required. We do not want to assess everything we teach, as this is being done continuously as part of good classroom teaching. However, we have identified key programmes of study, which are significant for children to know and understand at the end of academic years in order for them to be able to move on to the following years programmes of study. At the end of Years 2 and 6 pupils will sit Statutory National Curriculum Tests (SATs); the results of which will be published to allow our school to celebrate the performance of our pupils’ against other schools nationally, locally and with a similar intake. Our school has a curriculum and assessment framework that meets a set of core principles which:
- Sets out steps so that pupils reach or exceed the end of key stage expectations in the new national curriculum;
- Enables them to measure whether pupils are on track to meet end of key stage expectations;
- Enables them to pinpoint the aspects of the curriculum in which pupils are falling behind, and recognise exceptional performance;
- Supports teaching planning for all pupils; and
- Enables them to report regularly to parents and, where pupils move to other schools, providing clear information about each pupil’s strengths, weaknesses and progress towards the end of key stage expectations.
Through rigorous and timely assessment of and feedback to our pupils, St Gregory’s will ensure that all pupils achieve their maximum potential. The attainment of each pupil will be measured against end of year Age Related Expectations and reported as falling within one of four categories:
Emerging: Working below the year group expectations
Developing: Working within the year group expectations but not yet secure in the end of year expectations.
Secure: Pupils have achieved the majority of the end of year expectations (most children will achieve this standard).
Greater Depth: Fully secure in almost all or all the end of year expectations and is able to use and apply their knowledge and skills confidently.
Under the old levels system, children who were secure in the age expectations might have moved into the next level. The DfE now want children who are in the secure bracket to add more depth and breadth to their knowledge, and to have more opportunities to develop their using and applying skills: they are calling this phase of learning Mastery and Depth. Similarly, children who are unlikely to be at least ‘developing’ at the end of the academic year will be working towards the year group expectations, with interventions and support offered to help them to begin to work at the age related curriculum objectives.
