Our assessment policy is based on a research review of the most effective assessment approaches and identifies the best ways to use assessment for the implementation of a high-quality curriculum that ensures pupils know more, remember more and develop fluency.

A summary review of our research review is provided at the end of this policy.

Key principles that inform our assessment policy are:

purpose

validity

reliability

value

KIldwick Primary School’s belief is that assessment permeates all aspects of a quality first curriculum and pupils’ progress is an alteration to long term memory and is more than test results and progress scores.

We will only have an impact on pupils’ learning if we have practical approaches and systems that continuously focus on securing and deepening all groups of pupils’ learning.

How assessment operates in our school?

  • Formative assessment through continuous feedback is at the heart of our assessment and is the golden thread across the school’s curriculum that ensures all children receive a high-quality education. This is continuous feedback between pupil and teacher that quickly identifies if a child is not keeping up with their curricular goals and end points. This enables teachers to quickly provide either adaptations, additional support or extra practice, particularly for the lowest 20% and SEND pupils. Formative assessment (AFL) feedback is used by the teacher to make sure the planned curriculum is in the right order and focuses on small steps that builds knowledge systematically and cumulatively through the school. Talk for learning and talk about how we learn and remember is an integral part of our formative assessment. We follow the EEF “Six recommendations for using teacher feedback to improve pupils learning, June 2021 to support our feedback.
  • Our first step is always identifying gaps in pupils’ knowledge and skills before they begin new units of work. This is through knowledge check assessments to recognise specific gaps in knowledge. This is through low stakes quizzes and is not through standardised tests.
  • Pupils progress is an alteration to long term memory and we check pupils have remembered all subject end points by spaced assessment quizzes at 2, 6 and 12 weeks from the end of the unit. These low stakes assessments ensure teachers and pupils know that the intended taught curriculum has been remembered in core and foundation subjects. The quizzes are in a knowledge check book and teachers pass on information about children not secure in remembering their end points to the pupils’ next teacher. Simple summary notes are taken by the subject leader during their monitoring.
  • Our assessment also includes teachers and subject leaders holding discussions with groups of pupils to check if pupils are explicit about their learning and are remembering their intended curriculum end points. This happens in the first half of the year for all subjects and is led by the subject leader.
  • Our assessment also includes work book scrutiny by teachers and subject leaders that checks pupils improve their fluency and ability to “draw on” previous learning and connect knowledge across the curriculum. This follows the discussions with pupils and takes place in the second half of the academic year.
  • Monitoring by leaders and subject leaders assures the reliability of assessment throughout the school and ensures pupils know and remember their specific taught curriculum and develop greater fluency as they move through the school. This includes workbook scrutiny; lesson drop ins and pupil discussion groups. Curriculum leaders meet with and review the subject leader monitoring reports termly.  The knowledge check books are also monitored termly by the curriculum leaders.
  • We further validate the standards of attainment in maths and English at the end of each term for each age group from a range of national assessments, standardised tests, summative assessments and quizzes. White Rose Maths tests are used at the end of each term and NFER tests are used to inform the teacher's judgment of reading. Year 6 also use past SATs papers.
  • In addition to LA moderation of writing we further ensure and assure the reliability and validity of our assessment of writing by using a standardised format for writing assessment across school and moderating internally.
  • At the end of each year, we review the effectiveness of assessment considering what is working well? and what could be improved? There is a specific review of assessment for SEND pupils to identify ways to further improve the assessment of small steps within a lesson and across a unit of work.