Assessment

Staff continuously assess children, and this helps them to plan lessons that meet the needs of individual children. Assessments may be a formal test, like times tables, or may be observations made while working alongside a child in class. There are standards which children are expected to meet in each year group, and we assess children against these standards, and generate data which shows how our children have progressed. Teacher assessment gives an accurate picture of what children can do, and also helps children to see what they need to do to improve their work. Assessment data is collected every term, and staff attend half-termly pupil progress meetings where individuals are discussed.

The assessment system that we use may not be similar to that in other schools as we have had to develop our own way of recording attainment. If you would like more information about our scoring system, please do contact the office.

There are national tests for children in Y2 and Y6, commonly called SATs, which are devised by the DfE. These take a snapshot of a child's performance on a particular day, and in Y2 feed into teacher assessment. In Y6, they are used to measure the progress of children and to hold schools to account. Y6 tests this year were testing children's understanding of the new curriculum which came out in September 2014. Y1 also sit national tests in phonics, which involves reading a mixture of real and made up words. If they fail to meet the expected standard in Y1, they have to re-sit the test in Y2. Some children may not sit these national tests, if they are working below the level of the test.