1. Information for Parents Statutory Assessment Arrangements
Key Stages 1 and 2
Statutory Assessment Arrangements
[Suggested notes for presentation. Begin with a school introduction and welcome to parents by the principal or another member of staff.]
The aim of this presentation is to help you understand how your child will be assessed at school. It focuses on requirements that apply to children in Years 3–7 in our school and throughout Northern Ireland.

2. The Curriculum and Learning
The Northern Ireland Curriculum (Primary) includes:
Foundation Stage: Years 1 and 2
Key Stage 1: Years 3 and 4
Key Stage 2: Years 5, 6 and 7.
It sets out:
Areas of Learning
Cross-Curricular Skills
Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities.
First, I’d like to set assessment in the context of what your child is learning. The Northern Ireland Curriculum for primary schools was revised in It has three stages:
Foundation Stage covers Years 1 and 2.
Key Stage 1 covers Years 3 and 4.
Key Stage 2 covers Years 5, 6 and 7.
The curriculum sets out what your child should be learning at school in terms of:
Areas of Learning;
Cross-Curricular Skills; and
Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities.
One of the main changes when the curriculum was revised in 2007 was the introduction of the Cross-Curricular Skills and Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities.
We’ll look at each of these now in turn.

3. The Curriculum and Learning
The six Areas of Learning are:
Language and Literacy
Mathematics and Numeracy
The Arts
The World Around Us
Personal Development and Mutual Understanding
Physical Education.
At Key Stages 1 and 2, children are taught through these six Areas of Learning:
Language and Literacy;
Mathematics and Numeracy;
The Arts;
The World Around Us;
Personal Development and Mutual Understanding; and
Physical Education, called Physical Development and Movement at Foundation Stage.
Religious Education is also a statutory element of the curriculum.
In each Area of Learning, the children learn to develop their knowledge and understanding about the subject.

4. The Curriculum and Learning
Children engage in active learning contexts
across all areas of the curriculum to develop:
Cross-Curricular Skills
Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities.
It’s also through these Areas of Learning that pupils have the opportunity to acquire and develop the Cross-Curricular Skills and Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities.

5. The Curriculum and Learning
The three Cross-Curricular Skills are:
Communication
Talking and Listening
Reading
Writing
Using Mathematics
Using ICT.
The three Cross-Curricular Skills are:
Communication, which includes Talking and Listening, Reading, and Writing;
Using Mathematics; and
Using Information and Communications Technology, usually called Using ICT.
The emphasis is on teachers providing pupils with opportunities to acquire, develop, transfer and apply skills in different contexts, including everyday, ‘real-life’ situations.

6. The Curriculum and Learning
The Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities are:
Thinking Skills
Managing Information
Thinking, Problem-Solving and Decision-Making
Being Creative
Personal Capabilities
Working with Others
Self-Management.
The Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities encourage children to manage information; to think, solve problems and make decisions; to be creative; to work with others; and to manage their own work.
They enable children to take more responsibility for their own learning and become more independent learners.
Together, the Cross-Curricular Skills and the Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities are essential for progression through the primary and post-primary education system, and for lifelong learning.
These skills aren’t taught in isolation. Children have opportunities to acquire and develop them through different topics in the Areas of Learning we’ve looked at.
[Give examples based on practice in your school, for example ‘In our school, in Year 4…’]

7. Assessment To improve your child’s learning, we need to know:
what stage they are at in their learning
how well they are doing
how we can help them do better.
As we’ve seen, the Northern Ireland Curriculum includes Areas of Learning, Cross-Curricular Skills, and Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities.
Thinking about assessment, then, it’s important that teachers can gauge not only your child’s knowledge and understanding in the Areas of Learning but also their progress in the skills and capabilities – so we can work with your child to improve their learning.
We need to know and understand what stage your child is at in their learning, how well they are doing, and how we can help them to do better.

8. Assessment
Teachers will assess your child’s progress in different ways, for example:
classroom observation
discussion and asking questions
classwork
homework
class tests
assessment activities.
This means assessing your child’s progress regularly.
Teachers do this in different ways, for example through classroom observation, discussion and asking questions, classwork, homework, class tests, and assessment activities.
We gather, record and use information from assessment to gain an understanding of each child’s progress, their strengths and areas for development.

9. Assessment Your child will be assessed each year in:
the Areas of Learning
the Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities and
the Cross-Curricular Skills.
Assessing the Cross-Curricular Skills
In Years 3–7, schools must use the Levels of Progression
for assessing and reporting pupils’ progress.
In Year 4 and Year 7, the numerical level your child has achieved will be reported to you.
It’s a statutory requirement to assess your child’s learning each year at primary school. Schools must carry out assessment in all aspects of the curriculum:
the Areas of Learning;
the Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities; and
the Cross-Curricular Skills.
Each school is free to choose how they will assess pupils in the Areas of Learning and the Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities, but there are some specific requirements for assessing the Cross-Curricular Skills that we have to meet:
in Years 3–7 – that’s every year in Key Stages 1 and 2 – schools must use Levels of Progression for assessing and reporting pupils’ progress; and
in Year 4 and Year 7 – the final year of each Key Stage – the actual level your child has achieved will be reported to you.
We’re going to look now at what the Levels of Progression are, and what they mean for you and your child.

10. Assessment of the Cross-Curricular Skills
The Levels of Progression:
apply to Communication, Using Mathematics and Using ICT
range from Level 1 to Level 5 in Key Stages 1 and 2
describe what ‘pupils can’ do
indicate the knowledge, understanding and skills your child needs to demonstrate to achieve each level.
See
What are the Levels of Progression?
There are levels for Communication, Using Mathematics and Using ICT – all three of the Cross-Curricular Skills.
They range from Level 1 – the lowest – to Level 7 – the highest (although we only use Levels 1–5 at primary school, with Levels 1–3 applying in Key Stage 1).
They are set out as a series of statements that describe what ‘pupils can’ do at each level.
They indicate the knowledge, understanding and skills your child needs to demonstrate in order to achieve each level.
You can view the Levels of Progression on the Northern Ireland Curriculum website at

11. Levels of Progression
As an example, here you can see Levels 1 to 3 of the Levels of Progression for Communication.
On the left are the three modes of Communication – Talking and Listening, Reading, and Writing – and the basic Requirements for Communication. The levels to the right elaborate on these Requirements.
Now we’ll take a closer look at one small section of the levels, to see the sort of language they use. 11

12. Reading Level 2
This slide shows the progression statements for Reading at Level 2.
This describes what a child who is reading at Level 2 is able to do.
For example, ‘use basic alphabetical knowledge and visual clues to locate information’ means that at Level 2 children can use the first letter to locate information in simple reference material, where items are arranged in alphabetical order. [Show an example of a book the children use.]
The next statement, ‘recognise some forms and features of texts’, means for example recognising that a dictionary has a collection of words in alphabetical order, and a non-fiction text has words and pictures that give factual information.

13. Assessment of the Cross-Curricular Skills
Teachers assess your child’s progress in an ongoing way through:
classroom observation
discussion and asking questions
monitoring their work and progress.
This helps them understand:
the level at which your child is working
how best to help your child improve their learning.
How do teachers assess the level your child is working at in each of the Cross-Curricular Skills?
At school, day to day, your child will be taking part in activities and tasks that allow them to demonstrate their skills in Communication,
Using Mathematics and Using ICT.
As part of their daily practice, teachers will be assessing each child’s progress in an ongoing way through observation, discussion and monitoring their work.
This helps teachers gain an understanding of:
the level your child is working at in each skill; and
how best to help your child improve their learning.

14. End of Key Stage Assessment
At the end of Key Stages 1 and 2, teachers will decide the level your child has achieved in each skill, based on:
their knowledge of your child
assessment information they have gathered and
your child’s performance in planned assessment activities/tasks.
At the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 (in Year 4 and Year 7), teachers will use the Levels of Progression to make an overall judgement about the level that your child is working at in each skill: Communication, Using Mathematics and Using ICT.
They’ll base this on:
their knowledge of your child and assessment information they have gathered; and
your child’s overall performance in a number of planned assessment activities or tasks.
You will then be told which level your child has achieved – Level 2, Level 4 etc.

15. Range of Levels for the Cross-Curricular Skills
The Levels through the Key Stages
Key Stage
Levels of Progression 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 (Years 3–4)
2 (Years 5–7)
3 (Years 8–10)
The Department of Education has specified the levels it expects most pupils to attain for each of the Cross-Curricular Skills by the end of each Key Stage.
First, as you can see from this table:
children at Key Stage 1 should be working between Levels 1 and 3 in Communication, Using Mathematics and Using ICT – and at the end of Key Stage 1, they can achieve between Level 1 (the lowest) and Level 3 (the highest);
at the end of Key Stage 2, children can achieve between Level 1 and Level 5; and
at the end of Key Stage 3, they can achieve between Level 1 and Level 7.

16. Expected Levels for the Cross-Curricular Skills
Expected Levels at the End of Each Key Stage
End of Key Stage 1 (Year 4)
Level 2
End of Key Stage 2 (Year 7)
Level 4
End of Key Stage 3 (Year 10)
Level 5
You can see here that by the end of Key Stage 1 most pupils are expected to achieve Level 2 in Communication, Using Mathematics and Using ICT.
At the end of Key Stage 2 most pupils are expected to achieve Level 4 in Communication, Using Mathematics and Using ICT.

17. Expected Levels for the Cross-Curricular Skills
Expected Levels at the End of Each Key Stage
End of Key Stage 1 (Year 4)
Level 2
End of Key Stage 2 (Year 7)
Level 4
End of Key Stage 3 (Year 10)
Level 5
There is also:
‘a very clear expectation that individual pupils
should progress at least one level between each
Key Stage.’
(Department of Education, May 2010)
There is also ‘a very clear expectation’ from the Department of Education ‘that individual pupils should progress at least one level between Key Stages’.
So, for example, if a child is working at Level 3 in Communication in Year 7 – not the expected Level 4 – we would expect that child to progress at least one level and achieve Level 4 by the end of Key Stage 3.
There’s a focus on every child making progress.

18. Levels of Progression and Levels of Attainment
Note
The Levels of Progression replace Levels of Attainment.
The new levels place greater emphasis on skills
(not only knowledge and understanding) –
so they are expected to be more challenging.
This note will be especially relevant if you have an older child who has already gone through end of Key Stage assessment.
The Levels of Progression replace an older framework called Levels of Attainment. The new levels place a greater emphasis on pupils’ skills, rather than just knowledge and understanding.
Children may have a good grasp of knowledge and understanding but not yet have developed the skills to apply them in different situations.
Because of this focus on skills, you might notice that the new levels seem to be more challenging for children. There might be a difference between the level that an older child achieved (following the old criteria) and the level your child will achieve this year.

19. Quality Assurance and Quality Control
The Moderation Process
This will involve:
teachers in each school working together to agree standards
schools providing samples of pupil work to CCEA for external moderation.
There’s a moderation process in place for this assessment, so you can be confident that – no matter what school your child attends – all schools are following the same process and working to the same standards.
First, teachers in each school will work together to agree standards – to make sure that, for example, if one teacher decides that a piece of work would be at Level 4, other teachers in the school agree that the work is Level 4 standard.
Schools will also provide samples of pupil work to the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) for review, or ‘external moderation’, to make sure the levels they have awarded are consistent with those awarded by other schools.

20. Annual Reports
The Annual Report will give you information about your child's progress in every aspect of the curriculum.
In Years 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6
Annual Reports will include a comment only about progress in Communication, Using Mathematics and Using ICT.
In Years 4 and 7
The Annual Report will include a numerical level and a teacher’s comment:
for Communication, Using Mathematics and Using ICT.
At the end of each school year, the Annual Report that the school sends to you will give you information about your child's progress in every aspect of the curriculum. This includes the Cross-Curricular Skills of Communication, Using Mathematics and Using ICT.
For children in Years 1, 2 3, 5 and 6 the report will include a comment only about your child’s progress in each skill – Communication, Using Mathematics and Using ICT.
In Years 4 and 7, you’ll receive more details. The Annual Report will include a numerical level, as well as a teacher’s comment for Communication, Using Mathematics and Using ICT.

21. Annual Reports For pupils in Years 4 and 7
The Annual Report will tell you the percentage of pupils in your school who:
attained each level
attained the expected level or above
are working towards the expected level
are exempt from assessment.
In Years 4 and 7 these Annual Reports will also give you information about the performance of other children in the school. They will tell you the percentage of pupils who:
attained the same level as your child;
attained the expected level or above (at least Level 2 at Key Stage 1, or Level 4 at Key Stage 2);
are working towards the expected level (2 or 4); and
are exempt from assessment.
This will allow you and your child's teacher to consider your child’s performance in relation to other children in the same year group.
[The principal or another member of staff closes the presentation.]