 A New School System A Guide for Parents and Carers

Provide parents and carers with an overview of;  The requirements of the new National Curriculum.  How the school will be assessing children within the new National Curriculum.  The language and terminology being used in relation to the assessment of pupils.

 From September 2014  Sets out Programmes of Study in English, Maths and Science  for Year Groups in Key Stage 1  for Years 3 and 4; and Years 5 and 6 in Key Stage 2  Sets out Programmes of Study for other subjects for each Key Stage  Is more challenging and rigorous.  Teachers plan and teach the objectives for their year group.  Those working beyond their Year Group objectives will explore the curriculum in greater depth.

 Teachers will assess children against these Year Group objectives – or Age Related Expectations (ARE).  There is no prescribed style or system for assessment, schools have been left to design their own.  Old National Curriculum Levels do not correspond to the ARE and have no relevance in the new curriculum.  For this academic year only, Year 2 and Year 6 are still being assessed and taught from the previous National Curriculum in English and mathematics. This will change from September 2015

As part of our reforms to the national curriculum, the current system of levels used to report children’s attainment and progress will be removed from September Levels are not being banned, but will not be updated to reflect the new national curriculum and will not be used to report the results of national curriculum tests. Key stage 1 and key stage 2 tests taken in the 2014 to 2015 academic year will be against the previous national curriculum, and will continue to use levels for reporting purposes.

Schools will be expected to have in place approaches to formative assessment that support pupil attainment and progression. The assessment framework should be built into the school curriculum, so that schools can check what pupils have learned and whether they are on track to meet expectations at the end of the key stage so that they can report regularly to parents. Schools will have the flexibility to use approaches that work for their pupils and circumstances, without being constrained by a single national approach.

 Continue to use the Old National Curriculum, levels, and assessment and report procedures for Year 2 and 6.  Create and implement a new assessment and reporting system for the new National Curriculum for Years 1,3, 4 and 5.  We need to: o Ensure that the school’s high standards and expectations continue to be met. o Ensure accurate and smooth transition from old to new assessment systems – children are placed accurately on the new system. o Keep parents, Governors and all other stakeholders informed

 Give an accurate and reliable judgement of children’s attainment  Shows what children are able to do.  Shows what children need to do to improve.  Enable targets to be set for; o Children o Groups/Classes/Year Groups o Whole school  Shows the progress individual pupils have made.  Can track pupils and quickly identify those who are causing concern

 Speaks to children and parents in a language that is clear and understandable.  Can be used by governors to hold Senior Leaders to account and to monitor the effectiveness of school improvement plans.  Can be used by outside agencies including Ofsted to make judgements about the effectiveness of the School.  Highlights excellence in both the attainment and progress (for individuals, groups and whole school) so these can be celebrated.

 Against Age Related Expectations o In line with the new National Curriculum  Individual children will be either o Emerging o Developing o Secure at their Age Related Expectation

For Example: A child in Year 3 who has attained all or the vast majority of the objectives for their year group will be described as being:  SECURE at Year 3 Expectations This would be the expectation for the majority of children at the end of the year.

A child in Year 3 who is not yet able to demonstrate they have attained all objectives for their year group could be…  EMERGING at Year 3 Expectations  DEVELOPING at Year 3 Expectations

 Over the course of the year we would expect a child to cover all the objectives and go through each of the different stages from emerging to developing to secure.  Emerging developing secure

 Over the course of the year we would expect a child to cover all the objectives and go through each of the different stages from emerging to developing to secure.  Emerging developing secure Autumn Spring Summer

In some cases it may be that a child in Year 3 is working on a previous years set of objectives. This child would then be:  Secure at Year 2 Expectations (or developing at Year 2 or 1) These children will usually be targeted for early interventions or more sustained SEN support when they will have an Individual Education Plan  P Scales remain unchanged for children who are unable to access the National curriculum for Years 1 to 6

A child in Year 3 who is exceeding their A.R.E. will be given the opportunity to explore the curriculum in greater depth and build on the breadth of their knowledge and skills. This may involve using and applying the skills they have learned during the year or exploring the curriculum from subsequent Year(s) where appropriate.

 Age Related Expectations have been broken down into individual statements. For example, here is a selection of maths statements… To count from 0 in multiples of 4, 8, 50 and 100. To recognise the value of each digit in a 3-digit number. To understand and can count in tenths, and find the fractional value of a given set. To add and subtract fractions with a common denominator. To derive and recall multiplication facts for 3, 4 and 8x tables.

 Children will be assessed against each of these and staff will decide if children are o Emerging – can complete ‘the statement’ following input and practise. o Developing – can complete the statement independently (with ‘reminding’). o Secure – use and apply the statement confidently without prompting or ‘reminding’.  Staff will take into account the number and significance of all the judgements and their knowledge of each child to arrive at an overall assessment for the subject.

 As well as teacher assessment, using evidence from their daily activities and staff knowledge of your child, we will be administering standardised termly tests.  These termly assessments will give us a standardised score for your child (which takes into account their chronological age) and will allow us to track small increments of progress and set realistic targets.  These tests will support our overall teacher assessments.

 In order to give parents an overview of the objectives which will be covered throughout the year we have created ‘A Guide for Parents’.  Please take a booklet for your child’s year group.  These will also be available in school during Parents Evenings.