Assessment
Below you will find an overview of key assessment systems and procedures at Wellington.
To ensure that our systems are robust, matched to our needs and rigorous we will continue with our range of partnership work across the local authority (including the Poplar Partnership), maintain external CPD and follow updates from our data management provider - Target Tracker.
Assessment at different stages
We will continue to be judged formally on our children’s achievement at different stages of their time with us.
Foundation Stage
- From September 2021, children in Reception will complete the new baseline assessment:
- Children complete the assessment within the first 6 weeks of starting school
- It is carried out with each child by a teacher and takes 20 minutes per child to complete.
- Children will take part in a series of practical tasks
- Staff will record the assessment online and the assessment will adapt depending on the child's responses
- There is no pass mark
- At the end of Reception, the teacher will complete the EYFS profile and report the results to you in their annual report
- Staff will assess each child against the seventeen Early Learning Goals (ELGs)
- Children's development will be assessed as:
- Expected - working at the level of development expected for their age
- Emerging - not yet at the level of development for their age
- The teacher will also give a commentary about how each child demonstrated the characteristics of effective learning:
- Playing and exploring
- Active learning
- Creating and thinking critically
Key Stage 1
- Children in Y1 complete a phonics screening check
- The phonics check takes place in the summer term in Y1
- Children in Y2 who have not taken the test before, or did not meet the expected standard also take the test in the summer term
- Because of the pandemic, this year children in Y2 will take the test in the autumn term
- Parent receive the results of the phonics screening check
- Information from the phonics screening is used by teachers to support their planning
Key Stage 2
- Children in Y4 complete the multiplication tables check:
- Children complete the test online in June
- The check tests knowledge of times tables form 2 to 12
- There is an emphasis on the 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 times tables because these are more difficult
- There are 25 questions
- The test is on screen
- Children have six seconds to answer each question
- There are multiple versions of the test - the version each child gets is selected at random
- The test should take no longer than five minutes to complete
- Children in Y6 take part in National Curriculum tests (SATs):
- These take place in May
- There are tests for:
- English - grammar, punctuation and spelling
- English - reading
- Maths - arithmetic
- Maths - reasoning
- Teachers receive scaled scores and confirmation of whether children are
- working towards the national standard
- working at the national standard
- working at greater depth within the national standard
- These results will be reported to parents
- Teachers will also complete a teacher assessment for English - writing and Science
Statutory assessments in Y1, Y2, Y4 and Y6 will enable us to compare our attainment and progress against other children locally and nationally.
Wellington’s in-house assessment procedures
In Y1-Y6, children will be assessed by their teacher throughout the year, using their class work, quizzes and tests. These will help us to track progress and plan to support each child in their learning.
We use Target Tracker to track progress:
- Year group ‘bandings’ specify the expected curriculum for each year group from Y1 to Y6
- Each band specifies key learning in reading, writing (including grammar, punctuation and spelling), maths, science and spoken language for children during that academic year
- Children are assessed as working at a step within the band for their year group (beginning, working within or secure
- We track children’s attainment against their expected year group’s learning
- This allows us to see where we need to close the gaps in children’s learning to help them meet the expected national standard
- This information supports teacher’s planning and children’s learning
- To be meeting the expected standard, children should be securely meeting the majority of the expected learning statements for their year group
Children with SEN who are not yet able to access their year group’s curriculum will be tracked against learning personalised to meet their needs. This process will be done in consultation with the AHT for inclusion. Higher-achieving children will be expected to be working at greater depth (secure+) within their year group’s expectations.
Assessment information is gathered and discussed in termly Pupil Progress meetings attended by the class teacher and senior leaders, including the AHT - Inclusion. These termly data snapshots enable us to:
- Gather information about the performance of our individual children, groups and cohorts to monitor attainment and progress
- Provide information to inform our strategic planning, including planning interventions and deployment of staff
- Inform the Governing Body of the school’s standards and achievement
- Systematically record the overall achievements of each child
- Meet our legal requirements for record keeping, assessing and reporting
It is important that parents understand how well their children are performing. Our reporting to parents will inform them if their child is:
- Working towards the expected standard for their year group
- Meeting the expected standard for their year group
- Working at greater depth within their year group’s standards
As a school, we are data informed and not data driven. We believe that the most effective assessment is formative and supports us on a day-to-day basis. We follow Dylan Wiliam’s philosophy that a good teacher:
- Establishes where the students are in their learning
- Identifies the learning destination
- Carefully plans a route
- Begins the learning journey
- Makes regular checks on progress on the way
- Makes adjustments to the learning as conditions dictate
This will be where we focus the majority of our time. Teachers will be trained and supported in using a number of strategies to help us do this, including sharing our learning intentions (LI’s) with pupils and discussing success criteria. We will continue to develop best practice in questioning and feedback.
Scaffolding will be key in helping us pitch the learning at appropriate levels for children within our classes – providing them with the support/challenge needed to move their learning to the expected standard.
Peer and self-assessment is encouraged throughout the school and we will work with our children to skill them up on how best to do this.
Progress will be measured through:
- Observation of learning (both formal and informal observations)
- Regular book monitoring by subject leaders, phase AHTs, other members of SLT
- Discussions with children about their learning
- Feedback gathered from parents and other agencies working with the child
Where children are not working in line with the expected standard or showing evidence of making rapid progress, we will work to identify what the barriers to learning are and what needs to be done to overcome these barriers and accelerate learning.
Collecting assessment information - the teacher assessment toolkit
Teachers will collect assessment information in a variety of ways:
- pupil self and peer evaluation
- feedback in books
- ongoing reading records
- PM benchmarking
- practice tests and quizzes
- teacher assessment against Target Tracker statements
- Star tests
- NFER tests