YEAR 6

Assessing Without Levels

Stronger emphasis on vocabulary development, grammar, punctuation and spelling (for example, the use of commas and apostrophes will be taught in KS1) A greater focus on phonics in FS-YR3 in reading and writing. Handwriting (not currently assessed under the national curriculum) is expected to be fluent, legible and speedy. Spoken English has a greater emphasis, with children to be taught debating, reciting poetry by heart and presenting skills.

Five-year-olds will be expected to learn to count up to 100 and beyond (compared to 20 under the current curriculum) and learn number bonds to 20 (currently up to 10) Simple fractions (1/4, 1/3 and 1/2) will be taught from KS1, and by the end of primary school, children should be able to convert decimal fractions to simple fractions (e.g. 0.375 = 3/8) and be able to multiply and divide them. By the age of nine, children will be expected to know times tables up to 12×12 (currently 10×10 by the end of primary school)

Other Changes Modern foreign language is mandatory in KS2. (At St Marie’s the children are taught Spanish) Children will be expected to master basic grammar and accurate pronunciation and to converse, present, read and write in the language.

BRITISH VALUES Schools should promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs

Foundation subjects (Science, history, geography, ICT) These have been slimmed down considerably and elements removed. A Parents’ Guide is available on the school website.

ASSESSMENT without levels St Marie’s Catholic Primary

The programmes of study within the new National Curriculum (NC2014) set out expectations at the end of each key stage, and all maintained schools will be free to develop a curriculum relevant to their pupils that teaches this content. The curriculum must include an assessment system which enables schools to check what pupils have learned and whether they are on track to meet expectations at the end of the key stage, and to report regularly to parents.

The first new key stage 1 and key stage 2 tests in reading, writing, SPAG and mathematics, based on the new national curriculum, will be sat by pupils for the first time in the summer of 2016.

What have we been told The message we are being given is that we are not helping the children by pushing them to far too quickly, as we need to “Teach wider, not higher” The end of KS1 test will ONLY assess content from the KS1 curriculum and similarly the end of KS2 test will ONLY assess content from the KS2 curriculum as “mastery” of the curriculum is what is required. Carl and I are going on courses for KS1 and 2

So what do we use to assess? We use a combination of an online assessment system School Pupil Tracker that allows day to day inputting of children’s progress against the NC statements. Assertive mentoring grids (assessing pupil progress) are used to track progress in reading, writing and maths Marking and feedback in the children’s books Writing journey books, Guided reading records and maths checks also inform assessments Phonics check in June (YR1 and some YR2 children) SATs at YR2 and YR6 (May-June) All assessments are moderated internally and across the family of schools.

Outcomes As teachers assess children against this more rigorous National Curriculum, we may see a slight dip in attainment. This is to be expected as they are now being assessed against a wholly new framework; one for which they have not been taught the previous years' objectives and content, and so there will be a time of transition between the old and the new sets of data.

SATs 9th May 2016 Key Stage 2 Reading The reading test will be a single paper with questions based on three passages of text. Your child will have one hour, including reading time, to complete the test. There will be a selection of question types, including: Ranking/ordering, e.g. ‘Number the events below to show the order in which they happen in the story’ Labelling, e.g. ‘Label the text to show the title of the story’ Find and copy, e.g. ‘Find and copy one word that suggests what the weather is like in the story’ Short constructed response, e.g. ‘What does the bear eat?’ Open-ended response, e.g. ‘Look at the sentence that begins Once upon a time. How does the writer increase the tension throughout this paragraph? Explain fully, referring to the text in your answer.’

Key Stage 2 Writing Writing is continuously assessed and means every piece of writing in all books is just as important as the next one. Both Reading and Writing is assessed throughout the year by the class teachers.

SATs 9th May 2016 Key Stage 2 grammar, punctuation and spelling test The grammar, punctuation and spelling test will consist of two parts: a grammar and punctuation paper requiring short answers, lasting 45 minutes, and a spelling test of 20 words, lasting around 15 minutes. The grammar and punctuation test will include two sub-types of questions: Selected response, e.g. ‘Identify the adjectives in the sentence below’ Constructed response, e.g. ‘Correct/complete/rewrite the sentence below,’ or, ‘The sentence below has an apostrophe missing. Explain why it needs an apostrophe.’

SATs 9th May 2016 Key Stage 2 maths Children will sit three papers in maths: Paper 1: arithmetic, 30 minutes Papers 2 and 3: reasoning, 40 minutes per paper Paper 1 will consist of fixed response questions, where children have to give the correct answer to calculations, including long multiplication and division. Papers 2 and 3 will involve a number of question types, including: Multiple choice True or false Constrained questions, e.g. giving the answer to a calculation, drawing a shape or completing a table or chart Less constrained questions, where children will have to explain their approach for solving a problem

How will Key Stage 2 SATs be marked? The previous national curriculum levels have been discontinued. You will be given your child’s raw score (the actual number of marks they get) and whether they have reached the national average. The score needed to reach the national average has yet to be announced.

From summer 2016, there will be more challenging SATs tests to reflect the new curriculum at the end of the Key Stages. Children will now receive a scaled score instead of a level. Their raw score - the actual number of marks they accrue - will be translated into a scaled score; this helps to allow for differences in the difficulty of the tests from year to year so that pupils' results can be compared accurately. You will be told your child's raw score, scaled score and whether they have reached the national standard for that subject. The score that equates to the national standard has yet to be announced. Children will also be matched against ‘performance descriptors’ (in other words what pupils are expected to know and be able to do at the time of testing) when being assessed by their teachers in non-SATs subjects at the end of Key Stage 1 and 2 to see if they’ve achieved the expected standard.

THE MANOR ADVENTURE – YEAR SIX RESIDENTIAL 13TH – 15TH June 2015 http://www.manoradventure.com/culmington-manor.php

Any questions…..?