Marking and Feedback Policy
HILLSIDE INFANT SCHOOL
MARKING AND FEEDBACK POLICY
This policy recognises the following Articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
(UNCRC):
Article 13 : Children have a right to information
Article 29: Children have the right to become the best that they can be
The marking of children’s work is undertaken to promote and assess children’s learning and to provide
them with motivation and encouragement. Our aim is to enable children to become reflective learners
and help them to close the gap between current and desired attainment.
Children should be encouraged to assess their own work whenever possible as we believe this is a vital
part of the teaching and learning process.
All teachers, Teaching Assistants and Supply Teachers will mark work and give feedback. It will be
indicated when work has been marked by a supply teacher.
This policy is consistent with the teacher’s standards.
Aims
We mark children’s work and offer feedback in order to:
 Show that we value their work and encourage them to do the same.
 Boost their self-esteem and aspirations through the use of praise and encouragement.
 Give them a clear picture of how far they have come in their learning and what their next steps are.
 Offer them specific information on the extent to which they have met the lesson objective and/or
the individual targets set for them.
 Promote self-assessment so that children recognise their own achievements.
 Share expectations
 Gauge their understanding and identify any misconceptions.
 Provide a basis for both summative and formative assessment
 Provide ongoing assessment which will inform our future lesson planning.
Principles of Marking and Feedback
Marking and feedback should:
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Provide recognition and appropriate praise for effort and achievement, thus making it a positive
process.
Relate to the lesson objective, which is shared with the children at the start of the lesson.
Alternatively, marking and feedback will relate to individual learning targets. Children should know
what their individual targets are and it should be made clear to them when the focus of the lesson is
on individual targets rather than one overall lesson objective.
Make comments appropriate to the age and ability of the child.
Provide children with opportunities to become aware of and reflect on their learning needs.
Give clear strategies for improvement.
Focus on only 1 or 2 areas for improvement at any one time.
Promote children’s self-assessment by linking marking and feedback into the wider process of
engaging the child in his or her own learning.
Involve the child directly in process.
Marking and Feedback Policy
Inform future planning and individual target setting.
Use agreed marking symbols and systems throughout the school. (see appendix)
Comment on the presentation of work to ensure high standards of presentation in work across the
school. (see appendix)
 Be reviewed in each subject as part of the school’s programme of curriculum monitoring.
Our Approach to Oral Feedback
 This should occur whilst the work is being carried out or is fresh in the child’s mind.
 Oral feedback must always be given when an adult is working with a small group or individual children.
 Comments to the children should concentrate on issues relating to the learning objective of the
lesson or individual targets if this is the focus of the lesson.
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Our Approach to Marking
 All work will be marked in a green pen and must be consistent with the school handwriting script.
 It is also acceptable for assessment notes to be made by the teacher but these should be in black
pen.
 Teachers must ensure that children understand the school’s marking and feedback systems including
marking symbols. Time should be given to explain systems and symbols to the children.
 All work should be marked. (see frequency of marking below).
 Marking should focus on successes against the learning objective and improvement needs against the
learning objective (or individual targets when this is the lesson focus).
 Aspects of work which demonstrate progress made against the learning objective (or individual
targets) should be highlighted with ‘ticks’ within the children’s work, along with indicated prompts
which identify where improvements against the learning objective could be made.
 Spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc. should not be marked in every piece of writing unless this is the
objective of the lesson. This is because children cannot effectively focus on too many things in one
space of time. It is appropriate to ask children to read and edit their work when work is finished,
particularly with extended writing.
 Work should not be over marked as this confuses children and can have a negative impact on their
self-esteem and motivation.
 If a member of staff has difficulty reading or understanding parts of a child’s work, the work needs
to be discussed face to face with the child.
 Where it is necessary to annotate children’s work i.e. because it is difficult to read, this should be
done sensitively. Full transcriptions of children’s work must be done in black pen or pencil at the
bottom of the page or on a post-it note.
 Children must be given specific time to read, reflect and respond to marking, in particular following
extended pieces of writing. When planning lessons, teachers need to consider the time implications
of this approach.
 If a large proportion of children have made similar mistakes, the next session may be designed to
address these misconceptions, rather than carrying on with lots of individual marking and feedback.
This is particularly relevant to misconceptions in numeracy.
Frequency of Marking
 As stated above, all work should be marked.
 Teachers must decide whether work will simply be acknowledged using the smiley face marking
system or given more detailed attention as not all pieces of work can be ‘quality marked’.
 By selecting samples of mixed ability work on a rotating basis, teachers can ensure that all children’s
work is responded to regularly and in detail.
Marking and Feedback Policy
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In KS1 a minimum of one piece of extended writing per child must be ‘quality’ marked every fortnight
against personal targets. As stated above, children must be given time to read, reflect and respond
to this ‘quality’ marking in order for it to be effective.
Individual Writing Targets
 All pupils in KS1 must have individual writing targets. A writing target sheet must be attached to
each child’s writing book to ensure children have access to them.
 Year 1 pupils should have at least one writing target available to them from the start of autumn term
1. Able children should have 2 targets.
 Year 2 pupils should have 2 targets in place from the first few weeks of the autumn term.
 Teachers must plan regular opportunities for children to progress with their individual targets.
 Where individual targets are a lesson focus, teachers need to mark work against the targets.
 Marking should indicate where children are making progress with targets and praise and rewards
should be given as an incentive.
 School writing target sheets will be used so that there is consistency across the school.
 Targets must be child-friendly and relate to next steps in writing and APP criteria
 Dates should indicate when each target was set and met.
 Once a child has met their target, they must be given a new one.
 Children must demonstrate progress towards a target in 3 pieces of work. The teacher will tick one
of the 3 columns each time that progress is demonstrated. (See appendix 2)
 Children should be making regular progress with their writing targets. If regular progress is not
being made teachers should consider the following indicators:
i) Have teaching opportunities been provided for the child e.g. explicit modelling of skills involved
ii) Have opportunities been provided for the child to demonstrate progress towards their target?
iii) Does the child understand their target?
iv) Is the target too challenging for the child? Does the target need to be more manageable?
Or does the target need to be completely revised?
Self-Assessment Marking
 Children should be given the opportunity to self-evaluate when applicable. Children can record this or
it can be achieved orally. Any of the following methods can be used:
i) Traffic lights – red (R), amber (A), green (G)
ii) Two stars and a wish
iii) Traffic light smiley face cards
Peer and Paired Marking
 Children should have the opportunity to discuss and review their work with other children. They
should be encouraged to identify successes in other children’s work and also look for improvement
points.
 A number of points need to be considered:
i) Children need to be trained in this process, through the teacher modelling with the whole class.
ii) Ground rules should be established (listening, confidentiality, etc.) so that all work is evaluated
with sensitivity.
iii) Pairings should be ability based
iv) Children should be aware of the learning objective , otherwise they will talk about punctuation
and neatness.
Marking and Feedback Policy
Supply Teachers
 Supply teachers are expected to use the smiley face system to mark books against the learning
objective. A summary of these expectations will be available in the class information folder.
Teaching assistants should refer supply teachers to this summary.
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Approved by staff: January 2014
Approved by GB committee: 2014
Approved by full governing body:
Review date: January 2017
Marking and Feedback Policy
Hillside Infant School
Marking and Feedback Policy
Appendix 1
Marking Symbols
S – with support
It will be assumed that any work that is not marked with an “S” has been carried out independently.
OF/VF – oral/verbal feedback has been given
Next steps/remember
Where children are supported by an adult, the work will be marked as above but with the addition of any
of the following self-assessment or peer assessment opportunities:
Traffic lights – red (R), amber (A), green (G)
Two stars and a wish
Traffic light smiley face cards
In Key Stage 1 all marking will use these symbols to show whether the learning objective has been met.
Fully achieved:
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Partially achieved: 
Not achieved: 
Date
All work should be dated.
In Reception, this will be done by staff. Where appropriate children will be encouraged to write the
date.
In Year 1, children should write the short date on their work. Where appropriate children will be
encouraged to write the long date.
In Year 2, children will write the short date for numeracy and the long date for all other subjects.
Title
Children in Year 1 will write a title for their work when they are able to do so.
In Year 2, all written work should have a title.
Marking and Feedback Policy
Hillside Infant School
Marking and Feedback Policy
Appendix 2