Westwood Primary School

Assessment Policy 2023-2024

Implementation

Every child will be assessed in every national curriculum subject.

• In Years 2-6 Reading, Writing and Maths are assessed three times a year
• In Year 6 Maths, Reading and Writing are assessed four times throughout the year including end of key stage assessments.
• All other subjects are assessed at the end of each unit taught

Role and Responsibilities

At Westwood both teachers and leaders have a responsibility to ensure that accurate assessments are carried out in a way that is purposeful to each individual child’s learning. It is through these daily, weekly and termly assessments that individual targets can be identified and in turn progress can be maximised.

At Westwood:

• Teachers are responsible for ensuring that they are familiar with standards
• Subject leaders are responsible for ensuring that assessments are carried out accurately and to deadlines
• Senior leaders are responsible for ensuring that staff are sufficiently trained, subject leaders are monitoring quality and accuracy, and tracking data agrees with outcomes in formal assessments

In Reading, Writing and Maths the children will be assessed on whether they are working below, at or above the expected standard at different points in the year. For children working below the expected standard teachers will further categorise the children into below and well below. Similarly, for children working at the expected standard children will be categorised into at and above. It is important to see which children are working above the expected standard but not quite yet at a greater depth level.   

Children are tracked based on a ‘c’ ‘b’ ‘a’ and ‘a+’ system. The children will be expected to be working at these certain levels at different points in the year.

The table below shows the assessment criteria for the school at each point in the year for Years 1-5

The table below shows the assessment criteria for the school at each point in the year for Year 6

Progress

Children who remain static (in the same box throughout the year) are seen to be making expected progress. More than expected progress can be shown by children moving across to the right and less than expected progress can be identified by children moving to the left.  A huge focus is ensuring as many children as possible are working at the expected standard or higher.

Some children working at the below or well below standard may be assessed on a previous years curriculum objectives or B Squared.

Nationally standardised assessments

These are used to provide information on how children are performing in comparison to children nationally. They provide parents with information on how the school is performing in comparison to schools nationally. Teachers

have a clear understanding of national expectations and assess their own performance in the broader national context. Nationally standardised summative assessment enables the school leadership team to benchmark the school’s performance against other schools locally and nationally, and make judgements about the school’s

effectiveness. The government and OFSTED will also make use of nationally standardised summative assessment to provide a starting point for Ofsted’s discussions, when making judgements about the school’s performance.

A range of ‘Nationally standardised summative assessments’ will be used:

• A Baseline Assessment in Reception

• A phonics test in Year 1
• A times Tables check at the end of Year 4
• National Curriculum tests at the end of Key Stage 2

Reading

Year 1

All children in Key Stage 1 who are still receiving Red, Write Inc lessons are assessed on their phonics knowledge by the Read, Write Inc Leader every three weeks. This is to ensure rapid progress can be made and interventions can be put in place. As children are regularly checked assessments are being constantly made on these children to ensure targets are met.

During an assessment period the teacher will make an assessment judgement based on their RWI group (word reading) and their comprehension skills. As every child has a 1:1 10 minute reading lesson with the teacher every week they use this to inform their comprehension skills by asking carefully tailored questions.

Every child in Key Stage 1 takes home a Read, Write Inc reading book, which is matched to their phonic reading ability. When children are working confidently within blue group they are then able to access the whole school Oxford Reading Tree reading scheme.

Any children who are working below a national curriculum standard will be assessed against the Pre-Key Stage  standards.

Years 2-6

Every child in the school reads the Oxford Reading Tree scheme.  During each assessment period the class teacher will record which stage each child is on.  Stages are equated to year group levels.

During assessment periods children will also complete a reading comprehension test to help inform teacher assessments. Test scores have been designed to show progress throughout the year. As every child has a 1:1 10 minute reading lesson with the teacher every week, carefully tailored questions are used to help inform the overall assessment of each child. An outcome for each child can then be made based on the Oxford Reading Tree Stage, the test score and what the teacher knows about the child from their day to day work and 1:1 reading lessons.

Any children in years 4-6 who are working below a key stage 2 level and Year 3 children working below a year 1 curriculum will be assessed using B squared to form part of their assessment.

The table below show the Read, Write Inc and Oxford Reading Tree books with equivalent levels that children should be reading at different times of the year.

Writing

An assessment criteria has been created for every year group based on the National Curriculum and End of Key Stage standards. These criteria’s incorporate all elements outlined it the national curriculum: transcription, handwriting, composition, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and spelling. The assessment tracker has been designed to show progression throughout each year group and allow a smooth transition from year group to year group by building on previous learning. Teachers can use this assessment to set personalised targets and inform their teaching.  Every half term the children will produce two pieces of independent writing. These will be levelled using the Assessment Criteria the level achieved will be written at the bottom of the piece of work as well as on the Assessment Writing Tracker.  These pieces of writing will be used, along with the teacher’s knowledge of other work produced, for the teacher to make an overall assessment for each child.  During each assessment period the children in KS2 will also complete a GPS test to help inform the teacher assessment and identify any gaps.  Any children who are working below a national curriculum standard will be assessed against the Pre-Key Stage standards.

Maths

In Years 1-5 Maths no problem is taught across school. During each assessment period the children will complete a Maths No Problem test, based on the subject knowledge that has been taught to help inform teacher assessment. Year 6 children will complete previous end of year test papers. These assessments will be used alongside teacher’s knowledge of how children work on a day to day basis to make an overall assessment. Children are also tested weekly on their times tables. A times table tracker is to be completed as a working document filling in as the children move up through the mountain and the number slaloms.

Pupil Progress meetings

All year groups will have a minimum of two pupil progress meetings with the SLT. Year 6 have half termly catchups to set and review targets. From December onwards Year 1 teachers have half termly phonic catchup meetings to review targets and interventions needed. Pupil progress meetings are used to set and review targets and discuss individual and groups of children with the outcome in mind that all children will reach their potential by the end of the year. Staff meeting time may be given to teachers throughout the year to look at certain groups of children, look at their class as whole or reflect on current practice. These sessions will often fall before of just after a pupil progress meeting.

Reporting to parents

Parent meetings are held twice yearly to discuss each child’s progress. Termly meetings are held with parents of children on an SEND plan. This is time to review previous targets and go through current ones. Every half term parents are invited in the their child’s class to find out about their learning. During this time there is often an opportunity for parents to look through their child’s books and discuss the learning with the child. In early tapestry is used to share with parents their child’s learning

Annual reports are sent home once a year in July. This will outline in detail what their child has achieved throughout the year and what their end of year assessment is. All children who have sat National Tests will receive their scores and assessment within this end of year report.

Target setting

All children will be set an end of year target to achieve. These will be set alongside the SLT during a pupil progress meeting and are regularly reviewed throughout the year. All children are set realistic achievable targets that will ensue the children achieve the best they can. During pupil progress meeting discussions are held around what support children need to reach these targets and how they will be achieved.

All other subjects

‘Nothing new, just review’

Subject leaders identify a time period during a unit where children complete a ‘nothing new, just review’ task. This involves the children recapping on their learning so far. From this, teachers can identify any already pre-taught learning that may need to be re-taught before the end of the unit. If the unit of learning for a subject goes over a half term, two ‘nothing new, just reviews’ may take place.

End of unit assessment

At the end of each unit, teachers assess the children as being at the age related expectation or not in their learning. Teachers use the subjects end of unit assessment and formative assessment to help inform their judgements. The data collected is broken down by subject leaders into class, cohort, disadvantaged and SEND. Subject leaders use these assessments to identify strengths and areas for development within their subject across the school.