Curriculum and Ethos Categories

Assessment is an important part of children’s learning. We believe that effective assessment provides on-going information to improve teaching and learning and that it should be embedded as an essential part of our teaching. Children’s learning is assessed throughout their lessons with regular questioning as well as live marking and feedback during the lesson. In Religious Education, Reading, Writing and Maths, children in KS1 and KS2 have Learning Journeys in the front of their books. These contain objectives for each year group and are marked off when a child can confidently achieve this. You can see the Learning Journeys for your child’s year group on their website page.

Throughout the year, we have 3 Assessment Weeks that enable us to track the children’s progress and to respond with any support or challenge that children need to reach their expectations at the end of the year. At the end of the year, the teachers assess each child, using their assessments throughout the year and their learning journeys to come to a teacher assessment for each subject. These are:

  • WTS: Working towards the expected standard of their year group
  • EXS: Working at the expected standard of their year group
  • GDS: Working at greater depth of the expected standard of their year group

There are also some statutory assessments that take place in specific year groups.

Statutory Assessments

Reception Baseline

The Reception Baseline Assessments take place within the first 6 weeks of your child starting in Reception. It is a short, interactive and practical assessment of your child’s early literacy, communication, language and mathematics skills when they begin school, using materials that most children of your child’s age will be familiar with. It is not a pass/fail assessment, instead the baseline create a starting point to measure the progress your child makes throughout their school career. The Department for Education has produced some information for parents about the 2022 assessments for children in Reception: DfE Information for Parents: 2022 Reception Baseline Assessment

Phonics Screening Check

The Phonics Screening Check takes place in June for Year 1 children. If any children aren’t at school to take it or don’t pass it, the will have another chance to take the Phonics Screening Check in Year 2. This is a simple way for us to check whether children have made the expected progress in their phonics knowledge and understanding. It contains a mixture of real and alien words that children will sound out. Each word contains graphemes that the children will have been taught and helps us to identify if children need more support. Phonics is an important skill that will help your children for their future reading. All children sitting the Phonics Screening Check will have been well prepared by their teachers and we have been able to have some practise before the check.

Multiplication Tables Check

If your child is in Year 4, they will be sitting the Multiplication Tables Check in June. This check is used to determine whether your child can fluently recall their times tables up to 12, which is essential for future success in mathematics. It will also help us to identify if your child may need additional support. It is an on-screen check consisting of 25 times table questions. Your child will be able to answer 3 practice questions before taking the actual check. They will then have 6 seconds to answer each question. At school we will be preparing children for this check and practising their times tables with them and sharing suitable websites for the children to practise at home.

The Department for Education has produced some information for parents about the Multiplication Tables Check: Information for parents: 2025 Multiplication Tables Check

 

KS2 SATs

If your child is in Year 6 they will be taking national curriculum tests (SATs) in May 2023. These tests consist of:

  • Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar test
  • Reading Comprehension test
  • Maths paper 1: Arithmetic
  • Maths paper 2: Reasoning
  • Maths paper 3: Reasoning

Teachers will also give a Teacher Assessment for Writing and Science. Children complete these papers under test conditions and they are marked externally from the school. A scaled score is created from the number of marks your child scores in a particular test. Scaled scores are used to report the results of these tests to ensure there is accurate comparisons of performance over time. At KS2 the range of scaled scores is 80 to 120, with 100 or above showing that your child is working at the expected level for Year 6. Children are well prepared for these tests in school, with many opportunities to practise throughout the year and receive support where needed.

The Department for Education produced some information to give more information about these assessments: