Assessment at Cheetwood

When the revised curriculum was introduced into schools in September 2014 the way that pupils’ learning is assessed was also changed. The Government no longer requires schools to use a single system for ongoing assessment so it is the responsibility of the individual school to implement its own assessment method as long as it:

• Gives reliable information to parents about how their child and their child’s school is performing
• Helps to drive improvements for pupils and teachers
• Makes sure that the school is keeping up with external best practice and innovation

Assessment is the process by which we know how well pupils are doing. It is also used to help ensure that the pupils who need targeted intervention are quickly identified, appropriately supported and monitored so that they can fully achieve their potential.

Different Types of Assessment

Formative Assessment

This is also referred to as assessment for learning (AFL) and it is used by teachers to inform planning and coverage of the curriculum. Pupils are given feedback on their learning so they can reflect on their progress and identify where they need to improve. At Cheetwood AFL is an integral part of effective teaching as it identifies strengths and gaps in pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the programme of study. The school’s feedback and marking policy outlines the range of AFL strategies that are used to evaluate learning and assess the needs of each individual.

Summative Assessment

Summative assessment enables teachers to evaluate pupils at the end of a set period of time or at the end of a unit of work. This type of assessment activity usually takes the form of a test, quiz or an observation. It provides pupils with information about how well they have learned and understood a topic or unit of work and can be used to give feedback on how they can continue to improve. Summative assessments are also reported to parents to inform them about the achievement, progress and wider outcomes of their children over a period of time. These assessments are reported on in assertive mentoring reports and in the end of year report.

Assertive Mentoring

Assertive Mentoring is a focused, pupil centred, collaborative approach to raising standards. It is based on a dialogue about the pupil’s present and future learning needs.

The Aims of Assertive Mentoring are:

• to raise standards for all
• to motivate and involve pupils
• to inform and involve parents/carers

Assertive Mentoring was introduced at Cheetwood Community Primary School in November 2012 in maths and literacy. It’s about each pupil knowing where they are with their learning and knowing what they have to do to get to the next level of attainment.

Each pupil has their own Assertive Mentoring File that holds all the information about their progress. This stays with them throughout their time at Cheetwood.

Parents and carers are invited to a ‘Meet the Classteacher’ meeting within the first 3 weeks of the autumn term. This is a 1:1 meeting so that parents can be provided with information on teaching and learning expectations within the year group and to discuss priorities for their child. In the second half of the autumn and spring terms pupils meet with their  mentor (class teacher) to celebrate what is going well and to identify what they need to focus on to improve their work. Together pupil and mentor agree targets  to work on and then the assertive mentoring reports and home learning materials to support homework activities are shared with parents.

At the end of the summer year parents and carers are provided with an end of year report for their child and are able to make individual appointments with class teachers.

Consultations were held with parents and carers when the assertive mentoring programme was introduced and more recently in 2016 when parents were asked their views on the way that school reports pupil progress and attainment. A full analysis of the 2016 consultation is in the Parents and Carers Area on the website but the following data demonstrated how much parents value the assertive mentoring programme:

 What do you think of our assertive mentoring programme?

Assessment Information for Parents

Assessment within Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

When children enter the nursery at Cheetwood Community Primary School baseline data is collected to show where they are functioning within the EYFS framework.

EYFS Baseline

Children are assessed on entry to Cheetwood’s nursery across all areas of learning to give a baseline for their progress. This baseline is collated using a variety of sources including observations of the children from Stay and Play sessions before they start school, home visits, information from previous settings and staff observations from the first two weeks in school.

Baseline assessments are also completed in reception and this involves using standardised materials to assess pupils within the first 6 weeks of entry into reception. This is in line with the new Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework that was introduced in September 2021.

The reception baseline assessment (RBA) is a short, task-based assessment of your child’s early literacy, communication, language and mathematics skills when they begin school. It is statutory for all schools from September 2021.

The assessment can take place at any point in the first 6 weeks of a child starting reception. The assessment will form the start of a new measure of how schools are helping their pupils to progress between Reception and Year 6.

At the end of the EYFS, when children are about to finish in the reception class, they are assessed on the EYFS profile. Teachers will make a judgement against each Early Learning Goal to assess whether the child’s learning and development is best described as:

Emerging – Not yet at the level of development expected at the end of the EYFSExpected – Working at the expected level at the end of the EYFS

Cheetwood outcomes in 2020-2021

Due to school closures during the Covid 19 pandemic, statutory testing in primary schools was suspended in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, so Cheetwood’s most recent externally validated data is from the academic year 2018-2019. To explore this data along with school’s own internal data from 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 please click on the individual tabs for EYFS, KS1 and KS2.