From September 2015 levels have been removed from the National curriculum. We are now implementing a system of assessing pupil achievement without levels. New national tests for reading, spelling, grammar & punctuation and maths will be carried out during the summer term (2016) for pupils in Year 2 (end of Key Stage one) and Year 6 (end of Key Stage two). The tests will give each child a summative judgement set against a national expected standard.

At St John’s, we have been working as a staff on our own system of assessment without levels that allows us to track and maximise children’s progress across the school.

Our system of assessment aims to support high quality, in-depth teaching by focusing on curriculum content and the extent to which children have mastered key knowledge and skills. Children are encouraged to take more responsibility for their achievements through opportunities given to reflect on their own progress and through being involved in discussions enabling them to understand what their strengths are and next steps for improvement.

Aims and objectives

The aims and objectives of assessment in our school are:

• to enable our children to demonstrate what they know, understand and can do in their work;
• to help our children understand what they need to do next to improve their work;
• to allow teachers to plan work that accurately reflects the needs of each child;
• to provide regular information for parents that enables them to support their child’s learning;
• to provide school leaders and governors with information that allows them to make judgement about the effectiveness of the school.

Assessment is not a singular activity; it is about measurement of performance at a given point in time and a way of gaining information to promote future learning. We acknowledge that there are two distinct types of assessment used by the school. These include:

Assessment for learning which helps teachers and pupils identify the next steps needed to make progress. It takes account of pupils’ strengths and areas for improvement and provides pupils and teachers with an insight into the learning that promotes success for all.

Assessment of learning is a judgement as to where children are at a specific point in time in relation to both their cohort and nationally.
Assessment of learning shows what children can do without support and holds the school to public account.

We use the following formal assessment procedures to measure outcomes against all schools nationally:

2022-2023 Assessment

End of EYFS

• 63% of pupils achieving a “Good Level of Development”

Phonics Screening Test at the end of Year 1

• 87% of pupils achieving the required screening check

End of KS1

• 64% of pupils achieving expected national standards in reading
• 29% of pupils achieving greater depth standards in reading
• 75% of pupils achieving expected national standards in maths
• 43% of pupils achieving greater depth standards in maths
• Teacher assessment for writing and science

End of KS2

• 86% of pupils achieving expected national standards in reading
• 48% of pupils achieving greater depth standards in reading
• 86% of pupils achieving expected national standards in maths
• 38% of pupils achieving greater depth standards in maths
• 100% of pupils achieving expected national standards in spelling, punctuation and grammar
• 66% of pupils achieving greater depth standards in spelling, punctuation and grammar

Good assessment practice will:

• Raise standards of attainment
• Actively involve pupils in their own learning; providing effective feedback which promotes progress
• Helps raise pupil self-esteem through a shared understanding of the learning processes and the routes to improvement
• Build on secure teacher knowledge of the diverse linguistic and cultural background of pupils
• Support effective planning within the curriculum
• Enable the teacher to adjust teaching to meet the needs of all pupils
• Track pupil performance and in particular identify those pupils at risk of underachievement
• Provide information which can be used by teachers and managers as they plan for individual pupils and cohorts
• Provide information which can be used by parents or carers to understand their pupils’ strengths, weaknesses and progress
• Provide information which can be used by other interested parties
• Provide information which can be used to evaluate a school’s performance against its own previous attainment over time and against national standards.