Why has this change happened? Which children in school are affected? What will replace the levels? How will teachers decide how my child is progressing? What information will I receive about how my child is progressing? What is mastery?

Schools are expected to demonstrate their assessment of pupils’ attainment and progress and share this with parents. At Manadon, we have continued to assess attainment and progress through: Observations of the children learning Looking at learning in the children’s books Talking with the children about their learning Formal assessments of learning The new curriculum encourages teachers and children to look at what the children can do and what the children need to do next, identifying strengths and areas for development.

“… the current system of national curriculum levels and level descriptions will be removed and not replaced.” Department for Education (July 2013) “Schools need to be conscious that the new curriculum is not in alignment with the old national curriculum levels.” NAHT Commission on Assessment (February 2014) A new National Curriculum was introduced in September The new curriculum is more challenging, therefore expectations are higher. The existing levels don’t work as a way of assessing children’s attainment against the new curriculum. The Government have not replaced levels and have left it up to schools to design their own assessment framework.

Children in Foundation Stage are not affected by these changes. Children in Y2 and Y6 have remained on the old curriculum and have been assessed by levels in Summer 2015 Children in Y1, Y3, Y4 & Y5 are being assessed using a new system based on Age Related Expectations (ARE). From September 2015, all children from Y1 to Y6 will be assessed using age related expectations.

The Curriculum has been split up in to Schemes of Work. Each scheme of work sets out the objectives which must be achieved at each year group. Teachers at Manadon assess which objectives each child has grasped and which objectives they still need to master. They form a judgement of where the child sits according to age related expectations and assess whether they are: Low in a Year group: child has mastered up to 1/3 of objectives Mid in a Year group: child has mastered up to 2/3 of objectives High in a Year group: child has mastered over 2/3 of objectives If a child is working at a High level at the end of the year, that child is said to be working At Age Related Expectations

With the changes to the National Curriculum, expectations at each year group have changed. Children are expected to be working at a higher level. Objectives have moved to younger year groups. Due to this, many children are currently learning objectives which are in a lower year group to that of their age. These children will be assessed at being Low, Mid or High in the appropriate year group.

Summer 2015 Autumn 2015 Spring 2016 Summer 2016 High Y3Low Y4Mid Y4High Y4 1 point2 points3 points Low Y3High Y3Low Y4Mid Y4 2 points3 points4 points Low Y3 Mid Y3High Y3 0 points1 point2 points

Reports in Spring term: Strengths Areas for development according to year group objectives Progress Effort Attainment report at the end of the Summer term: At Age Related Expectations Below Age Related Expectations Comment Reading Writing Maths

The new National Curriculum is called a Mastery Curriculum. Teachers have to teach the objectives of the year group. If your child is achieving well and has achieved the objectives for their year group, rather than moving on to the following year group’s objectives, we have to encourage more in-depth and investigative work to allow a greater mastery and understanding of concepts and ideas. We need to teach the children to demonstrate a breadth and depth to their understanding, using their skills in flexible and complex ways through problem solving, reasoning and real life situations. If a child can demonstrate a comprehensive and broad application of their understanding (a mastery), then we are able to push them in to the objectives of the next year, although very small number

Do not worry! This is a positive move for children and their learning. This will take time.