1. Higher Walton C of E Primary School Assessment changes

2. What has changed? In September 2014, a new National Curriculum was introduced for years 1, 3, 4 and 5. National Curriculum levels were also being phased out. From September 2015 the new National Curriculum is statutory for years 1-6.

3. Why the change? The government abolished the use of levels as they felt they were too vague and imprecise, not giving details about what children could actually do. Children were not given the opportunity to embed skills learnt before pushing on for the next level.

4. What are the benefits… Assessment without levels gives schools the opportunity to develop their own approaches to assessment that focus on teaching and learning and are tailored to the curriculum followed by the school. Assessment of pupils’ attainment and progress should be directly linked to the school curriculum – our new assessment system is provided by Cornerstones, which is the creative curriculum we follow. Final report of the Commission on Assessment without Levels

5. This means our assessment systems may differ to what other schools are doing. Our assessment method links directly to our curriculum, which will identify the needs of all our pupils and promote a higher quality of teaching, learning and assessment.

6. Age Related Expectations The government have stated that children should work towards their Age Related Expectation (ARE) Objectives have been set out in the National Curriculum and relate to the year group of children.

7. What will be reported to me? This year, rather than your child being given a level to show their ability, you will be told whether your child is working: Towards age related expectations At age related expectations or Above age related expectations.

8. Our school assessment strategies will provide you with a broad picture of where your child’s strengths and weaknesses lie and what you can do to improve.

9. What does ARE mean to me? You may find that this year your child’s attainment may appear to change in relation to age related expectations. You may also find that they are working below their Age Related Expectation. This is nothing to worry about and can be explained….

10. Why the change in attainment? The ‘apparent’ drop in ability can be attributed to 3 reasons: 1.The new National Curriculum has higher expectations. Objectives which were previously taught in one year group have moved down to the year group below. For example: round decimals with 1 decimal place to the nearest whole number. This was previously year 5 and is now a year 4 objective.

11. Comparing levels Year GroupPrevious average levelComparative average level using ARE Year 11A2C Year 22B2A Year 33C3B Year 43B4C Year 54C4A Year 64B5B As you can see the expectations have risen immensely, especially in Key Stage 2, showing why your child may not be working at the ARE, as they previously were.

12. Why the change in attainment? 2. More objectives have been added to the National Curriculum, which had previously not been taught, For example: Roman Numerals Year 4: read Roman Numerals to 100 and know that over time the numerals system changed to include the concept of 0 and place value.

13. Why the change in attainment? 3. Years 1,3,4 and 5 have been taught using the new curriculum for 1 year and therefore have not covered all the necessary objectives (through previous years) to be at age related expectations. Year 2 and 6 are only moving onto the new curriculum this year, therefore year 6 only have a year to cover all new objectives added, and catch up with objectives not previously taught.

14. The government do expect a drop in the number of children reaching Age Related Expectations, at the end of year 6. They do understand it will steady improve over the next few years as the children will have been taught more from the new National Curriculum, year on year.

15. NICHOLA PLOWMAN Assessment Leader: Any Questions?