Writing is an on-going assessment; the children’s independent work is assessed against criteria for each year group and when a child is secure with a criterion, it is ticked off. At the end of each term, the number of criterion that the children are secure with is recorded and converted to a points score. Half-termly assessments are carried out in Reading, Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling and Maths through short testing of what has been taught throughout the previous weeks.

Rising Stars is used to test Reading and Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling. Abacus Assessment tests are used for Maths. We also use Rising Stars for Science, although are used at the end of a topic rather than half-termly. Each of these tests give us an indication of whether the children are emerging, at expected attainment or exceeding current expectations. They are all time specific i.e. they indicate whether a child is where they should be at the end of that half-term, rather than against end of year expectations.

Using these test papers, along with what we see on a day-by-day basis in the classroom, we then use an assessment package called ASSESSMENT WITHOUT LEVELS to record attainment. At the end of a term, the percentage attainment is recorded for each child in each subject area. These percentages are then converted to a points score; these points scores relate to 5 indicators: working below, working towards, working at, working above and mastery.

YEAR GROUP WORKING ATAWL %POINTS YEAR 3 YEAR 3 BELOW 1 - 2% % % %44 YEAR 3 WORKING TOWARDS % % % % % % % %52 YEAR 3 EXPECTED STANDARD % % % %56 YEAR 3 ABOVE % %58 YEAR 3 MASTERY % %60

MASTERY Children are no longer moved up to a higher year group’s work; they go ‘wider’ and apply their learning in different, more challenging scenarios through investigations and problem solving. “Once you have learnt to ride a bike, you need to be Chris Froome before you move on to learning how to drive a car; then you need to be Lewis Hamilton before learning how to fly a plane….”

The majority of children should be making 6 or 7 points progress per term in order to maintain satisfactory progress. Most children will be challenged to make more than 6 or 7 points in a term in order to show accelerated progress. There are 20 points per year, meaning that a child will be progressing up a 120 point scale throughout their time in school; the assessment starts at the end of Reception year. Baselines were set at the end of the Autumn term. At the end of the Spring term, we will begin to measure progress.

These points scores are a means of the school monitoring progress; it is not our intention to share these with the children or parents. We will use the scores to identify those individuals or groups who may require additional support, as well as those who can be challenged to make accelerated progress. Specific concerns will be discussed with parents either at parents’ evening or earlier if your support is required to help solve the issues.

SATs Reading paper – 60 minutes duration. Children will be given 3 unrelated texts to read, increasing in difficulty. They will then answer questions on each of the texts. Grammar and Punctuation – 45 minutes duration. Children will be tested on grammar, punctuation and vocabulary. Maths – The children will sit three papers: the first is a 30 minute arithmetic test; the second and third are 40 minute, non-calculator, reasoning tests where children are expected to apply their knowledge to problems.

For 2016 Only Teacher Assessment will be against an interim assessment framework. Children must be secure in all statements to be given a particular level of attainment.