St Dominics Catholic Primary School
Marking Policy
Our Vision
“as children of God we love one another”
(School Mission Statement)
Rationale
The provision of effective feedback to pupils who need to be able to assess
themselves and understand how to improve is fundamental to improving learning
through assessment. This was recognised in the Sutton Trust report as having
the biggest impact on pupil’s progress and ultimately their achievement. The
marking of pupil’s work is therefore a vital part of teacher assessment. This
policy sets out how staff at St Dominic’s ensures that marking is an integral part
of our assessment for learning and enables children to make visible progress.
Effective marking
The purpose of marking is ultimately to provide opportunities for assessment
for learning and to have a positive impact on pupil’s attitudes, motivation and
self-esteem. This is achieved by
 providing clear feedback to pupils about the strengths and areas for
development in their work.
 relating to the learning objective of the lesson and giving direction towards
the next step in learning.
 using feedback from marking to inform future targets and planning providing
effective assessment for learning.
 actively involving pupils in moving their learning forward through self and peer
assessment.
 reflecting the distinctive Christian nature of the school by being positive and
recognising, encouraging and rewarding pupil’s effort and progress.
 celebrating success whenever possible in order to raise self esteem and
encourage children to work to their potential.
Marking Procedures
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Green ink is used, ensuring that it is distinctive from the pupil’s writing.
Marking in all books should make regular reference to children’s targets.
Appropriate comments, prompt questions or direct instructions for
improvement are written in a language that the child understands and for
younger children verbal feedback is given.
A particularly successful piece of work may be rewarded with stampers = a
merit, head teachers awards or praise stickers in line with the school’s
system of rewards.
As pupils become able to fix their work ‘Fix it Time’ is given to ensure time
is set a side for children to complete this. It is noted that in Key Stage
One this may be supported by a teaching assistant. Written work is marked
in green with the following codes to indicate an error in that line. The
children are expected to make the necessary changes prior to starting
their next task. These corrections or ‘Fix Its’ are completed by the
children in purple pen or pencil where appropriate.
Comments that pupils are unable to read or understand do not possess any
value and therefore shall not be used. Marking symbols may be used when
deemed appropriate.
Marking Codes
Literacy and Topic
I
Independent work
Maths
Correct
T
Teacher guided
Incorrect
TA
VF
Teaching Assistant
Supported
Verbal feedback
Completed
correction
Verbal
feedback
Sp
C
^
P
OA (next to WALT)
WT (next to WALT)
NA (next to WALT)
Spelling mistake
Capital letter missing
Word missing
punctuation
Objective achieved
Working towards
Not achieved
.
.
VF
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Note is is expected that number/ letter formation and handwriting is
corrected as necessary.
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Spelling corrections. Should focus on spellings that the individual child has
previously been taught; should be spelling correct for their ability or
phonetic words that are of the child’s capability. Where spellings are
identified (sp) children in Key Stage 2 should find the correct spelling and
write it out 3 times during fix-it time. Where appropriate the correct
spelling could be written by the teacher and practiced by the child three
times using an appropriate strategy.
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Teaching assistants. When TAs work with a group, their marking should
relate to the learning objective, steps to success and specify areas of
difficulty. This will be used by teachers to inform future planning. It is
expected that this feedback should be of the same quality as the class
teachers.
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Closing the Gap marking is used in writing
double ticks are
placed on the child’s work to indicate examples of where the child has
achieved the learning objective. ‘A wish’ or a ‘try this ‘, can be written in a
space at the bottom of the work, as a written target prompt which the
child can respond to or be encouraged to have a go at. Fix it time is then
given for the child to answer the wish’ or a ‘try this in a purple pen below
the teacher marking, thus enabling them to ‘close the gap’ and improve
their work further. Fix this and try this is to be adopted for the marking
of writing. It is noted that on final outcome pieces of writing where
children are expected to use the skills taught over a course of a unit ,it
may be inappropriate to set targets which relate to a specific genre
particularly if a new genre is to be taught in the following lessons.
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This marking procedure will be implemented across the curriculum and
should be consistent in all children’s work.
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Target marking is employed to focus on a particular group/s of children
during a lesson. Whilst other members of the class receive a minimum
amount of marking intervention, one group will receive a more thorough
verbal or written marking experience. The focus of marking will rotate
evenly between all class members and will often be the planned guided
teaching group in Literacy and Numeracy.
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Peer marking is used for children to edit and improve each other’s work –
particularly in extended pieces of writing. E.g 3 Stars and a Wish may be
completed by a peer.
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Self-assessment in the form of smiley/straight faces, traffic lights or a
comment to record how they individually accessed and achieved in activities
which are recorded in photographic evidence
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In Mathematics, marking will include ticks and written comments with
errors clearly indicated by placing a green dot. Written targets related to
the key objectives in the framework and children’s individual targets
including class targets being used will be given. Close the gap marking may
also be used to address misconceptions or move learning on. E.g. The Fix it
and Try This method. The traffic light system for self- assessment is used
in mathematics . . . Fix it time is to be used for children to complete
corrections in maths.
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Marking Corrections Corrections will be ruled through with a pencil line by
the child and then corrected above/by the side. Erasers will be used as a
“teacher managed tool” where the teacher decides it would be more useful
to erase something.
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Termly writing assessments will be completed in purple writing assessment
books these will be assessed against the writing grids which will be
highlighted to show the skills a child has used in their work. This will be
used to gain a picture of where a child is working at and will inform future
writing targets which will be shared with the children.
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When marking theme work, the objective should be marked in green using
the following codes, giving next steps where possible.
OA – Objective achieved
WT- Working towards
NA – not achieved
This policy was agreed by staff on 16.9.15
This policy was approved by the Curriculum Committee on 3.12.15
This policy will be reviewed by the Curriculum committee on December 2016