Assessment Statement

Introduction

Every child has the right to an education which develops their personality, talents and ability to the full (Article 28 & 29). At Oakley Cross, we believe that effective assessment underpins high quality teaching and learning. We give children regular feedback on their learning so that they understand what it is that they have achieved and what they need to do better. This allows us to base our lesson plans on a detailed knowledge of each pupil. 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.

Since the removal of National Curriculum Level descriptors and the implementation of the New Curriculum in September 2014 schools have had autonomy to develop assessment systems which sit more comfortably within the school’s ethos and meet the needs of the children within the school.

Aims and Objectives

The aims and objectives of assessment in Oakley Cross Primary 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 each child;
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.

Assessment 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 helps to identify the next steps needed to make progress. It takes account of pupils’ strengths as well as weaknesses

Assessment of learning is more associated with judgements based on grades and ranks and with public accountability.

Statutory Assessment

The government continues to measure and compare the outcomes of children nationally; in their reception year, year one, year two, year four and year six. The following statutory, formal assessment takes place at Oakley Cross:

At the end of their Reception year children are assessed against the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile. The aim is that children will achieve age related expectations or the ‘Early Learning Goals’ (ELGs). To achieve the ELGs children need to be working at the ‘expected’ standard across the prime areas of learning (Communication and Language, Physical Development and Personal, Social and Emotional Development) as well as within the specific areas of Literacy and Mathematics.

In Y1 the children sit a phonics check and they must be able to read a certain number of words (both real words and pseudo words) to pass the check.

In Y2 children are assessed against the KS1 Assessment Frameworks for Reading, Writing, Maths and Science. Their attainment will be described as ‘working towards the expected standard’, ‘working at the expected standard’ and ‘working at greater depth within the expected standard’. Assessment consists of teacher assessment, where the class teacher will make judgements based on their knowledge of individual children against the criteria within the assessment frameworks, as well as the children’s outcomes from standardised attainment tests or SATs. SATs will take place in May in the summer term and must be attempted by all Year 2 children.

In Y4 all children sit the Multiplication Tables Check. It is expected that all children will achieve a pass by scoring 100% within the check.

In year 6 children are assessed against the Assessment Frameworks for Writing and Science. For Writing, children’s attainment will be described as ‘working towards the expected standard’, ‘working at the expected standard’ and ‘working at greater depth within the expected standard’. Fore Science, children will be assessed ‘at the expected standard’ or ‘has not met the expected standard’. Children are also required to sit their SATs in May in Reading, Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar and Maths. These tests are externally marked and returned in June. Pupils who have not yet completed the English reading, writing and mathematics programmes of study should be assessed using the pre-key stage standards.

Outcomes from statutory assessment are used by the Government to compare the attainment of our children against children in 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 mark in the screening check)
End of KS1
( % of pupils achieving the expected standard and above in reading, writing, maths and in science)
End of KS2
(% of pupils achieving a scaled score of 100 or the expected standard in reading, GPS and maths and the % of pupils working at or above the expected standard in writing and at the expected standard in science)
(% of pupils making good progress in reading, writing and maths)

*It is important to note that in summer 2020 (for the academic year 2019-2020) there were no statutory assessments undertaken by children in any of the mentioned year groups. This is due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. These cohorts will not have complete assessment records or statutory baselines from which to measure future progress.

*For the academic year 2020-2021, there is a duty for the Y2 cohort to sit the phonic screen in the autumn term. It is likely that all other statutory assessments will be undertaken in the summer term.

Whilst we continue to meet our statutory assessment requirements, we are also committed to our good assessment practice in school.

Good Assessment Practice at Oakley Cross 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
Promote pupil self-esteem through a shared understanding of the learning processes and the routes to improvement
Build on secure teacher knowledge
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
Track pupil performance and in particular identify those pupils at risk of underachievement
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 information which can be used by other interested parties
Provide information which can be used to evaluate a school’s performance against its own previous attainment over time and against national standards.

Special Educational Needs

The SENCO will liaise with all concerned to ensure assessment information on individual children with special educational needs is used to support teaching and learning. Children on the SEND register, have their own individual tracker. This tracks progress over time, as we believe children with SEND make progress at different rates. It also allows us to analyse what is good progress for each child. This tracker runs alongside support plans, which tracks progress against interventions based on a child’s main area of need.

Children with SEND will be given allowances during testing. This will be based on their individual needs. This may consist of a scribe, extra time or a reader. Evidence for this must be collected through trackers, SEND support plans and CIPs.

For further information on assessment at Oakley Cross please read our assessment Policy.Assessment Policy.