GROW, LEARN, SUCCEED TOGETHER!
LLANRHIDIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL
ASSESSMENT POLICY
ENDORSED BY GOVERNING BODY SPRING 2015
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is at the heart of our school’s
planning, policies, practice and ethos. As a rights-respecting school we not only teach about
children’s rights but also model rights and respect in all relationships. Our belief in “restorative
approaches” ensures that every child is listened to.
Within all subjects the teaching of numeracy and literacy is promoted. Using the Literacy and
Numeracy Framework (LNF) teachers are expected to plan and deliver objectives pitched
appropriately to the learners. Lessons have success criteria which include numeracy and/or literacy
objectives to ensure the learners are aware of the particular skills they are looking to develop within
that lesson. Monitoring of books, lessons and listening to learners will ensure all staff are planning
effectively to ensure the “every child can be the best they can be!”
Introduction
We believe that effective assessment provides information to improve teaching and learning. We give
our children regular feedback on their learning so that they understand what it is that they need to do
better. This allows us to base our lesson plans on a detailed knowledge of each pupil. We give
parents regular reports on their child’s progress so that teachers, children and parents are all working
together to raise standards for all our children.
Aims
The aims and objectives of assessment in our 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 enable them to support their child’s learning;
 To provide the headteacher and governors with information that allows them to make
judgements about the effectiveness of the school.
Organisation
We use the National Curriculum, Subject Skills Continuums, the Literacy and Numeracy Framework
and Cornerstones Curriculum as a focus for planning. These provide class teachers with a guide to
the range and skills that need to be taught. Short term planning outlines the success criteria and
gives details of what is to be learnt in each lesson. We base these upon the teacher’s knowledge of
each child. We strive to ensure that all tasks set are appropriate to each child’s level of ability.
We use a combination of assessment styles:
- Formative – daily to inform Sims
- Summative – tests and specific assessments
- Diagnostic – National numeracy/literacy tests
Opportunities for assessment are identified during the planning stage. Pupils’ written work is marked
regularly, and wherever possible work is marked alongside the pupil. Foundation Phase pupils are
“Inspiring our children to be the best they can be!”
Vision Statement 2012
GROW, LEARN, SUCCEED TOGETHER!
LLANRHIDIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL
ASSESSMENT POLICY
ENDORSED BY GOVERNING BODY SPRING 2015
encouraged to evaluate their own work using the traffic light system of green, amber and
red to indicate level of confidence. As ability increases, pupils are expected to comment upon their
own work, and eventually evaluate their learning against success criteria.
Each teacher records assessment on an electronic sheet via SIMS pupil tracking system. (All
subjects) Core subjects are collected on an analysis sheet for two purposes:1. Track half termly progress
2. Track pupil progress against end of year cohort target.
NB The school has allocated an end of year “ambitious target” for each year group. Sims
Assessment analyses each pupil’s progress against this target and colour codes the child. This is
monitored by the head teacher every half term. This form of summative assessment provides
snapshots of achievement and attainment at particular times throughout any key stage and at the end
of the key stage when a best fit level is awarded.
Assessment for Learning is built into practice. It is based on well thought out learning objectives and
success criteria that are shared with the children. Peer and self-evaluation form an important part of
this method of assessment.
Standardised tests provide snapshots of attainment and ability at particular times. These are useful to
help to inform planning and an aid to target setting.
Special Education Needs Assessment
For the majority of children who have special education needs it is not necessary to keep alternative
records, but in most cases, it will be necessary to keep more detailed and more frequent records in
order to show progress which must be linked, in particular, to Individual Learning Plans.
In order to ensure continuity, the Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinator meets with all teaching staff
to discuss progress of individuals.
Target Setting
We set targets in Mathematics, Science and English for all our children during each academic year.
We discuss individual targets as a staff using previous knowledge of the child from all class teachers.
Every child is carefully tracked and individual data is used. Pupil progress meetings, between the
teacher and SMT, are timetabled to discuss each pupil’s progress.
Recording
We recognise various methods of assessing a child’s learning. The type of assessment that we make
varies from subject to subject.
We plan our lessons with clear learning objectives. On our planning sheets we record only those
pupils who fail to meet the leaning objective, or who achieve more than was planned, so that we can
take the needs of these pupils into account when planning for the next lesson. Where the majority of
“Inspiring our children to be the best they can be!”
Vision Statement 2012
GROW, LEARN, SUCCEED TOGETHER!
LLANRHIDIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL
ASSESSMENT POLICY
ENDORSED BY GOVERNING BODY SPRING 2015
the class makes the planned progress, of course, there is no need to record this. We
use our annotated plans as a record of progress measured against learning objectives.
Specific skills are assessed and recorded on Sims. Teachers use formative assessment to provide
much of the information for the Sims spreadsheets.
Reporting to Parents
We have a range of strategies that keep parents fully informed of their child’s progress in school. We
encourage parents to contact the school if they have concerns about any aspect of their child’s work.
Twice a year we offer parents the opportunity to meet their child’s teacher.
During the summer term we give all parents a written report of their child’s progress and
achievements during the year. In this report we also identify target areas for the next school year. We
write individual comments on all subjects of the National Curriculum and on religious education. We
include a space for parental feedback. In reports for pupils in Year 2 and Year 6 we provide details of
the levels/outcomes achieved, which are determined by teacher assessment and NFER tests. Each
of our teachers gives parents a termly update that identifies the main areas of study for that particular
class. Results from National Tests, and assessments against the LNF are also shared with parents.
Feedback to Pupils
We believe that feedback to pupils is very important, as it tells them how well they have done and
what they need to do next in order to improve their work.
We give children verbal feedback on their work whenever possible. We usually do this when the
children are working during the lesson although we sometimes give feedback on a particular lesson
at the beginning of the next one. Teachers write comments on the children’s work during the lessons
whenever possible to inform the learner of how to improve.
When we give written feedback to a child, we relate this to success criteria for lessons linked to a unit
of work. By so doing we make clear whether the overall learning objective has been met. If we
consider that the objective has not been met, we make clear why this was the case, and link to future
targets. In both cases we identify what the child needs to do next in order to improve their work.
Teachers produce marking labels as part of their planning for each unit of work. These outline the
skills necessary to be successful and provide an opportunity for children to self/peer assess
commensurate to the age and ability of the child. Teachers also provide feedback against the criteria
which feed into next steps for children’s learning.
We encourage the children to make comments about their own work and the work of fellow pupils.
When appropriate we allow time at the beginning of each lesson for the children to absorb any
comments written on their work. We do this to ensure that the time that our teachers spend marking
really has an impact on the children’s work.
“Inspiring our children to be the best they can be!”
Vision Statement 2012
GROW, LEARN, SUCCEED TOGETHER!
LLANRHIDIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL
ASSESSMENT POLICY
ENDORSED BY GOVERNING BODY SPRING 2015
Moderation and Standardisation
The school has robust and embedded systems of standardising pupils’ work, ensuring staff
understanding of outcomes and levels. Standardisation and moderation activities are undertaken by
all teachers in order to agree best fit levels, to talk about activities undertaken by pupils, assessment,
tracking and the curriculum. Standardised examples of pupils work are saved in an accessible drive
for all staff. (This is currently being migrated to the Hwb) Examples of recent pupil profiles at a
variety of levels for each core subject and W2L are also retained. Effective cluster working ensures
pupil profiles are moderated at the cluster meeting. A shared cluster portfolio is currently being
developed using the Hwb.
Consistency
The school regularly monitors the systems and processes of Assessment across the school against
the ERW Teacher Assessment Checklist (See Appendix 1).
Reviewed by D Caswell & P Jenkins June 2015
Appendix 1
This checklist is based on effective practice from across the ERW region. It can be used as a self evaluation
tool for demonstrating how our school and cluster fulfil the expectations of the national categorisation system.
Question
Commentary
Is your policy a
strength or an
area for
improvement?
Planning:
Does the core
curriculum
planning contain
details of all
assessment
opportunities?
Policy is robust and up to
date. Reviewed annually
by staff and governors
Tracking :
Are the core
curriculum
All assessments should be
Sims,
recorded and tracked so
Coasties
that by the end of the key
Spelling
“Inspiring our children to be the best they can be!”
Vision Statement 2012
All assessment should be
planned and go hand in
hand with the success
criteria for an activity/piece
of work. Planned
assessment opportunities
are easy to track and help
to ensure coverage of the
curriculum giving pupils
opportunities to develop
skills to the highest level
possible.
RAYG
Evidence
Policy staff and
GB minutes
Reviewed
Summer 2015
Planning folders
and “data
sandwiches”
Marking labels
Comments/ Way
Forward
Consistently updated
and reviewed
GROW, LEARN, SUCCEED TOGETHER!
LLANRHIDIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL
ASSESSMENT POLICY
ENDORSED BY GOVERNING BODY SPRING 2015
assessment
activities tracked
on a regular
basis?
Is your tracking
system effective?
stage assessments give a
clear picture of the best fit
level at which a pupil is
operating.
Results of planned,
assessed pieces of work
should be recorded in
order to be able to track
pupil progress throughout
the key stage. Best
practice is showing that by
using ‘skills ladders’,
schools are able to track
individual parts of level
descriptors and gradually
build up a complete profile
of skill development for
each pupil showing the
progress being made
throughout the key stage.
National Tests
RWI
Marking labels
Annotating:
Is assessed work
annotated?
Sets the scene or context
of the work and gives
details of how much help
the pupil received in order
to produce the work. 1st
draft work is needed. If all
support
materials/resources are
included in the profile,
annotation can be added
to these along with
assessment criteria in the
planning and preparation
stage rather than when
marking work.
Standardisation
and moderation
files
Marking Policy
Enhance using J2E
Marking:
Are teachers’
comments helpful
in moving learning
forward for
individual pupils?
AFL – every lesson, based
on carefully planned
learning objectives and
success criteria shared
with pupils. Moving
learning forward in small
steps through a variety of
strategies.
Comments - Highlighting
good features and giving
Books
Marking labels
Embed marking labels
“Inspiring our children to be the best they can be!”
Vision Statement 2012
GROW, LEARN, SUCCEED TOGETHER!
LLANRHIDIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL
ASSESSMENT POLICY
ENDORSED BY GOVERNING BODY SPRING 2015
an activity to improve an
aspect of work or a skill.
Targets – Are pupils’
individual targets referred
to when work is marked?
Assessing:
How do you come
to a best-fit
judgement in each
core subject for
every pupil at the
end of the key
stage?
When assessments are
carefully planned and
carried out effectively
teachers are able to see
the results of a set of
‘standardised’ pieces of
work that literally ‘add-up’
to the ‘best fit’ judgement
and create the pupil profile.
If carried out in this way it
could be possible to say
what percentage of a
learner’s work is at which
level.
Standardisation
and moderation
files
Marking labels
Within school
Standardisation activities
should be undertaken
regularly by all teachers
and support assistants, in
order that everyone within
the school has a shared
understanding of the
requirements of the
national curriculum with
regard to assessment
against the learning
outcomes and level
descriptors.
Within the cluster
It is good practice for
colleagues from key stages
2 and 3 should meet to
standardise pieces of work
for each of the core
subjects for pupils in years
6 and 9 on a regular basis
– especially if there are
Standardisation
and moderation
files
Meetings held
monthly on
rolling
programme
Find way to upload
videos more
effectively
Standardisation:
Does the school
hold regular
standardisation
meetings involving
all of the staff?
How often?
Do you meet with
cluster colleagues
to standardise
pieces of work for
all core subjects?
Cluster book
celebration
Development of
cluster electronic
pupil profiles
using Hwb
“Inspiring our children to be the best they can be!”
Vision Statement 2012
Include TAs
Cross Cluster/Family
of schools
Continue termly book
celebrations
Establish consistent
use of Hwb profiles
GROW, LEARN, SUCCEED TOGETHER!
LLANRHIDIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL
ASSESSMENT POLICY
ENDORSED BY GOVERNING BODY SPRING 2015
difficulties in reaching
agreed best fit levels
during moderation
meetings. This process
helps to ensure
consistency of assessment
within and between key
stages and enables
teachers to share their
ideas, expertise and good
practice.
Have you carried
out any
standardisation
work with
colleagues in your
family of schools?
Cross cluster or within
families of schools
Standardisation activities
carried out across clusters
and within families of
schools are considered to
be good practice and help
to ensure consistency in
teacher assessment.
Make contact with
family schools
Pupil profiles:
What evidence do
you provide to
support the
outcomes and
levels awarded for
oracy and
reading?
A pupil profile should
contain a variety of
annotated, assessed
pieces of work that are
sufficient in number to
enable someone other
than a pupil’s class
teacher, to come to a best
fit judgement.
Language profiles should
contain evidence that
supports the judgements
made regarding oracy,
reading and writing.
Activities may be taken
from a variety of subjects
e.g. extended writing from
history or geography;
number work from DT.
Pupil profiles on
Hwb
Within school
Moderation activities
should be undertaken by
Standardisation
and moderation
meeting held on
J2E
Moderation:
Do you hold
internal
moderation
“Inspiring our children to be the best they can be!”
Vision Statement 2012
Encourage TA
attendance
GROW, LEARN, SUCCEED TOGETHER!
LLANRHIDIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL
ASSESSMENT POLICY
ENDORSED BY GOVERNING BODY SPRING 2015
meetings involving
all members of
staff?
all teaching and support
staff in order to agree best
fit levels, to talk about
activities undertaken by
pupils, assessment,
tracking and the
curriculum.
Within the cluster
Does your school
Currently, moderation
attend all cluster
activities are undertaken in
meetings where
order to ensure
pupil profiles for all consistency of teacher
core subjects are
assessment across a
moderated at a
number of schools at the
variety of levels?
end of key stages 2 and 3
and at the end of
Foundation Phase.
monthly rolling
programme
Evidence:
Have you
compiled a
reference portfolio
of standardised
work at
Foundation Phase
and Key Stages 1
and 2 for each
core subject (+
W2L at KS2)?
See
standardisation
and moderation
files
Is your portfolio up
to date, i.e.
reflecting the
activities currently
undertaken within
the classroom?
Do you have
access to cluster
moderated, recent
pupil profiles for
each core subject
and W2L at KS2?
Within each school.
Standardised examples of
pupils work in a file or
portfolio for each core
subject.
Well established
system of cluster
meetings
Examples of recent pupil
profiles at a variety of
levels for each core subject
and W2L remembering that
language profiles should
contain evidence for oracy,
reading and writing.
Within the cluster.
It is good practice for the
cluster to have details of
the pupil profiles
moderated at the cluster
meeting. It is not
necessary for cluster to
produce a portfolio of
profiles however, this
would be considered as
good practice if used as a
source of reference.
“Inspiring our children to be the best they can be!”
Vision Statement 2012
GROW, LEARN, SUCCEED TOGETHER!
LLANRHIDIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL
ASSESSMENT POLICY
ENDORSED BY GOVERNING BODY SPRING 2015
Features of a ‘good’ moderation meeting
Question
Has your cluster
elected an
assessment coordinator who is
able to work in
partnership with
your ChADs in
organising
effective
moderation
meetings?
What are the good
features and areas
for improvement?
What do the
outcomes tell you
about the
standards attained
by learners within
the cluster?
What do the
outcomes tell you
about the quality
of assessment
within the cluster?
What actions are
taken as a result
of the cluster
moderation
meetings?
Commentary
RAYG
Evidence
Comments/ Way
Forward
FP & KS2 assessment
coordinators chosen
That there is sufficient
time to carry out the
exercise effectively.
Moderation files
That the activity is
organised efficiently so
that everyone who
attends knows what to
bring and the details of
their role at the meeting.
Moderation files
Clear within primary
schools Secondary
departments not
always consistent
Cluster meetings require
the attendance of
members of staff from
the secondary school
and each cluster primary
school.
Moderation files
All partners attend
meetings
That evidence for the
exercise is requested in
advance.
Moderation files
Always requested lack
of consistency with
secondary
departments
That National Curriculum
documents are available
for reference.
Moderation files
That there are sufficient
copies of ‘outcome’ and
‘level descriptor’
statements.
Moderation files
Each pupil profile
presented at an internal
moderation meeting
should be ‘moderated’ by
at least one member of
staff other than the class
teacher. At cluster
moderation meetings at
least 3 members of staff
from different schools
should moderate each
Moderation files
“Inspiring our children to be the best they can be!”
Vision Statement 2012
GROW, LEARN, SUCCEED TOGETHER!
LLANRHIDIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL
ASSESSMENT POLICY
ENDORSED BY GOVERNING BODY SPRING 2015
profile.
Each school represented
at a cluster meeting
should moderate at least
3 profiles that are not
their own.
Moderation files
Activities to be undertaken:
Go through the profile(s)
reading the context and
checking the
standardised judgements
against the outcomes
and level descriptors.
Moderation files
Pupil profiles
established
‘Add-up’ the judgements to
obtain the best-fit level.
Check the sufficiency of
evidence, is your
judgement secure?
Moderation files
Highlighted against
NC level descriptors
Discussions during
moderation
Each moderator should
provide feedback on
their findings as
evidence that the
exercise has been
completed (a simple proforma is available for this
purpose).
Moderation files
Pupil profiles
The outcomes of cluster
meetings should be sent
to the cluster ChAD.
Moderation files
The cluster should meet
to discuss the findings
and plan improvements
in preparation for the
next meeting.
Moderation files
LA are present in
meetings and
coordinator sends
information
This is done at the
moderation meeting
and at NGP HT
metings
Individual schools should
use moderator’s
comments to help them
improve assessment
procedures and
Moderation files
Moderation files
“Inspiring our children to be the best they can be!”
Vision Statement 2012
GROW, LEARN, SUCCEED TOGETHER!
LLANRHIDIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL
ASSESSMENT POLICY
ENDORSED BY GOVERNING BODY SPRING 2015
outcomes.
Cluster evidence should
be available for cross
cluster moderation
carried out by the Hub
team.
Moderation files
“Inspiring our children to be the best they can be!”
Vision Statement 2012