Assessment without Levels Ambergate Primary School

The Background Until July 2015, Ambergate Primary School, used a combination of ‘formative’ and mainly ‘summative’ assessment to decide how much a child understood of a particular area of learning. (FORMATIVE means ongoing observations which enable an opinion to be gradually formed. SUMMATIVE means a summary of what a child can do in that moment of time; usually a test). When an assessment of understanding had been made using a combination of these methods, the teacher would then agree which description best identified their current attainment. The description method used was ‘levels’. Each level description would have a set of objectives which the child would need to complete. For example, to achieve a 2b in writing, a child would need to be able to sequence ideas, make writing interesting with some connectives, be more accurate with capital letters and full stops and so forth. This ‘level’ information was input into a School Pupil Tracking system, which enabled us to ‘track’ (follow) progress over time. It also enabled us to set targets for learning.* In September 2014, these level descriptions were removed by the government as a valid method to describe attainment EXCEPT FOR YEAR 2 AND 6; 2015 SATs tests. So why the change? oates-expert-presentation/ oates-expert-presentation/

PREVIOUS EXPECTATIONS: AVERAGE POINT SCORES (APS) & LEVELS APS NC level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 Academic Expectations For All  Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2): Expectation between 5 and 6 APS each year  Key Stage 2 (Years 3,4,5,6) : Expectation 4 APS each year 14 APS – Expected 16 APS – Good

Appropriate CurriculumStepsAnnual report to parents at the end of the year Year 1BeginningBelow year group expectations EmergingWorking within year group expectations ExpectedMeeting year group expectations ExceedingExceeding year group expectations Year 2BeginningBelow year group expectations EmergingWorking within year group expectations ExpectedMeeting year group expectations ExceedingExceeding year group expectations Year 3BeginningBelow year group expectations EmergingWorking within year group expectations ExpectedMeeting year group expectations ExceedingExceeding year group expectations Year 4BeginningBelow year group expectations EmergingWorking within year group expectations ExpectedMeeting year group expectations ExceedingExceeding year group expectations Year 5BeginningBelow year group expectations EmergingWorking within year group expectations ExpectedMeeting year group expectations ExceedingExceeding year group expectations Year 6BeginningBelow year group expectations EmergingWorking within year group expectations ExpectedMeeting year group expectations ExceedingExceeding year group expectations Children begin, work within & then become secure Steps across year groups

We assess our children because… We need to understand what a child knows (REVIEW or ASSESS) We need to share this information with you, the children, with others AND we need to track progress We need to set targets which move learning on for that child (PLAN) We need to use these targets as part of our teaching (DO)

So what will change at Ambergate now that level descriptors have been removed? What will remain the same? We will continue to set challenging targets and plan according to the children’s needs. We will continue to deliver a curriculum which incorporates (do) these targets. We will continue to assess and review using both formative and summative assessment. We will continue to report to parents / carers, the children and ‘others’ on a regular basis. We will continue to track progress using and respond appropriately. We will continue to develop a long term ‘picture’ of how your child is developing across time. What will change? We will simply change how we describe the learning attainment. We will begin to engage the children more in the target setting process. More emphasis will be upon formative assessment and teachers using this to inform their planning

End of Key Stage assessment KS1 Maths: Children will sit two papers that will be used to inform teacher assessment Paper 1: arithmetic, Papers 2: reasoning SPAG: grammar, punctuation and spelling test Paper 1 – Spelling Paper 2 – Punctuation and spelling Reading test: Two question papers to help form teacher judgment Writing: Teacher assessed and moderated locally KS2 Maths: Children will sit three papers in maths Paper 1: arithmetic, 30 minutes Papers 2 and 3: mathematical fluency, solving problems and reasoning, 40 minutes per paper SPAG: grammar, punctuation and spelling test Reading test: provisionally be a single paper with questions based on one 800-word text and two passages of 300 words. Your child will have one hour, including reading time, to complete the test Writing: Teacher assessed and moderated locally The DfE have intimated that reports to parents will have to feature the rank order of the child against others in the school and against local and national norms.