Marking & Feedback Policy Written by: Alison Forster/Gary Wright Chair of Governors: Alison Logan 1 RATIONALE At Usworth Colliery Primary School we will provide consistency in quality of marking and feedback throughout the school. Marking and feedback are used as an integral part of daily teaching to support pupils’ learning. There are three main purposes to marking and feedback for pupils: 1. To understand what has been done well 2. To understand how to improve 3. To make visible signs of improvement as a result of feedback Marking and Feedback also aids assessment and matches quality of work against standards and expectations shows the pupils and parents/carers that work is valued. recognises, encourages and rewards pupils’ achievement, and celebrates their success provides an ongoing dialogue between teacher and pupil, which tracks progress and gives clear, constructive and appropriate information about strengths and areas for development enables pupils to have the necessary confidence and skills to be able to review their own work against learning intentions and success criteria enables pupils to correct or improve a piece of work against success criteria supports pupils in identifying their next steps in learning METHODOLOGY Marking against the Learning Objective Teachers regularly feedback on how well pupils have achieved the learning objective by indicating with two ticks against the title (learning objective) when an objective has been successfully met and one tick where it is partially met. Where the learning objectives have not been met the teacher makes a comment or prompt, to inform and support the pupils to make improvements. However, for this system to be successful learning objectives must be specific and achievable. Success Criteria Children need to know how to succeed and in the majority of lessons, teachers provide the children with steps, in order to do this (success criteria). Each teacher may approach this differently but the success criteria must be appropriate to the task, consider basic skills and where possible be differentiated to individual needs within the class (see ‘Assessment for Learning’ below). Celebrating Achievement Each piece of work must celebrate what the child has done successfully. This is matched to the success criteria, learning objective or child’s personal targets. This is at the discretion of the teacher, usually in the form of ticks, double ticks or highlighting. It is encouraged, as best practice, on large pieces of writing, that staff highlight achievements according to VCOP (Vocabulary, Connectives, Openers & Punctuation). Points to improve To ensure all pupils understand how to improve, different types of prompts should be used. We use a mixture of challenge, reminder, process and example prompts, as appropriate. This may be done through comments, questions, discussions or diagrams that help pupils to understand. Points to improve are indicated in books with a *. Examples of guidance prompts Challenge: Now can you tell me more about the atmosphere in the forest? Reminder: What should you have included in the setting of your story? Can you think about this and add a little more? Steps: First go and check you have included a sentence about the setting Then see if you can add a little more detail about what you can see Example: Put this sentence into your story here* to improve the description of the setting. 2 The different prompts are effective when used at different times during a teaching sequence and to support differing abilities of learner. The challenge prompt: this extends learning through a simple question and is often used for more able pupils or at a point towards the end of a teaching sequence when some knowledge has already been established. The reminder prompt: this is used if a child has forgotten to do something, but not if they do not know how to do it, it is a support to remind pupils to use a skill they have previously learned. The steps or instruction prompt: this helps the child through a process to achieve an objective, but to be effective, should be kept to a maximum of 3 steps. The example prompt is used when the child does not understand as it gives lots of detail and support. This is more often used with the less able pupils or at the early stages of a teaching sequence when new knowledge is being learned. Where these prompts are given, the teachers provide time in the next lesson to act upon the advice given and improve the previous piece of work. When the child has completed the improvement, they put a circle around the * to indicate they have read and acted upon the advice. At least one piece of writing each week will be marked in depth. This may not be from a literacy lesson. Marking for Basic Skills Teachers consistently mark basic skills within all pieces of work. If a pupil makes a basic skill, spelling or punctuation error that is inappropriate for their age or ability level, the teacher signposts the error but the pupil is expected to find and correct the mistake themselves. The teacher does not correct these, as the child is capable of doing so. This develops pupils’ independence and ability to self-mark and edit. Quality of presentation is also a focus for marking and feedback and pupils are expected to make improvements in this area subject to teacher prompts. The presentation of all marking by the teacher must be of a high standard and model good practice, using the taught handwriting style. Without visible signs of progress emerging from marking and feedback, there is no evidence of effectiveness. Therefore teachers and assistants must therefore ensure time is allocated to act upon the guidance so that pupils have the opportunity to improve their knowledge, skills and understanding on a regular basis. Early Years The majority of the feedback in Early Years is via verbal feedback, however, this is noted in learning logs or on the Orbit software along with the next step, in order to track progress. We have an expectation that evidence is clearly logged to show that the child is provided with activities/support in order to reach their next step and their relative success. This procedure is ongoing throughout the academic year, forming a picture of their development. Consistency The three purposes of marking and feedback should be evident in all classes and in all subjects across the whole school, however approaches may differ. Sometimes it is appropriate to give feedback verbally and sometimes it is more effective to give written feedback. Each time any style of feedback is used the three purposes of marking should be developed. Marking and feedback are most effective when done during or immediately after a task. However this is not always possible, therefore teachers mark ‘process work’ as soon as possible after it is completed and mark only the ‘product work’ at a later date. Verbal Feedback Verbal feedback is the most effective marking tool when used correctly as it supports the pupils learning at the point that the learning is taking place. When giving verbal feedback during a written task, ‘key word marking’ is used. This is where the teacher, after speaking with the pupil, notes on the piece of work, in key words, the main point of the discussion, thus indicating the feedback that has 3 been given. This is to help the teacher and pupil remember what was discussed so that work can be checked later for visible signs of improvement. Targets Every child has their current targets in the front of their literacy, numeracy, science/topic books. This target card also has their current level of attainment, the level they are aiming for and the level they are expected to achieve at the end of the year. These targets are used by the child when working, in order to ensure that they know what is expected of them. They are also used by the teacher while marking. The teacher stars the key target that the child is working on, ticks when they have seen evidence in their work of achieving that target and when they are sure that the child is meeting the target consistently they put the date next to the target. This builds up evidence of achievement throughout the year. Each time the child moves levels, then a new target card is place on top of the previous one. The children need to know their targets in order to achieve them. Assessment for Learning It is highly important that the children are part of their assessment. Regularly, the children will be asked to assess their piece of work against the success criteria. This can be in the form of selfassessment or peer assessment. This doesn't replace the teacher’s marking, but enhances the process for the child and the teacher. MONITORING AND EVALUATION Frequent work scrutiny and discussions with pupils are routinely undertaken by senior leaders (in line with the annual school monitoring timetable). The focus of all scrutiny is to ensure the three purposes of marking and feedback are of consistently high quality throughout the school and that marking leads to improved standards. Scrutiny always recognises the positives, but also gives points to improve (which froms the focus for the next scrutiny). Feedback is given to individual staff and general feedback to all staff, in order to share good practice. Other relevant policies/guidance: · Previously agreed: Agreed Date: Monitoring & Evaluation Policy All individual subject policies June 2013 February 2014 Review Date: Signed…………………………………………………………. Head Teacher Date……………………………… Signed…………………………………………………………. Chair of Governors Date………………………………. 4