Assessment

Assessment is integral to high quality teaching and learning and lies at the heart of supporting pupils to improve.

Aims of assessment:

• To provide information to identify and support the next steps in learning and inform planning for improvement or progression.
• To track individual progress.
• To gather information about the attainment of individual children, groups and cohorts so that it can be used to inform future learning targets.
• To analyse the performance of groups and cohorts of pupils to identify priorities for school development

Assessment consists of two main areas:

Assessment for learning

This is an integral part of the teaching and learning process at Hatfield Heath Primary School. It includes:

• Formative assessment - the information gained ‘forms’ or affects the next learning experience.
• Diagnostic assessment - finding out what attitudes, knowledge, understanding or skills are not properly learned or acquired and therefore preventing pupils making the expected progress.
• Evaluative assessment - informing the strategic planning and direction of the whole school by evaluating the impact of planning, teaching and the curriculum on pupils' achievements.
• Assessment of learning
• Summative - systematic recording of information, which leads towards a summary of where the pupils have reached at a point in time. This is an essential tool for identifying what has been learned in terms of both attainment and achievement.
• This includes all formal tests and examinations and enables teachers, subject leaders and senior leaders to identify the needs of pupils, set realistic targets and identify trends.

Statutory Assessments: The school undertakes all statutory assessments as set out by the Department for Education. These include

• Reception Baseline Assessment (takes place within the first 6 weeks of children starting school)
• Early Years Foundation Stage Profile by end of June
• Year 1 Phonics Screen in June
• Year 2 Optional KS1 Tests in June
• Year 4 Multiplication Check in June
• Year 6 KS2 Tests in May

School Assessment Cycle:

We undertake three assessment weeks within each school year. We assess using a range of standardised assessment papers which contribute to teachers’ knowledge of pupil attainment and progress against age related expectations.

Other assessments

KS2 Spelling assessments

Cold and hot assessment tasks:

Teachers use ‘cold’ tasks to help inform their judgement of what children can do independently at the start of a unit, drawing on their prior learning. Assessment of their work helps the teacher plan and adapt the learning sequence as needed. By the end of the unit, pupils complete a ‘hot’ task, which is an independent task. Progress should be evident which encourages pupils and helps schools track the impact of teaching.

In Maths, tasks are taken from The White Rose Maths scheme that is used in school. At the start of a unit of learning, the children will undertake a task from the same maths strand e.g., fractions from the previous year group. This helps teachers identify any gaps in knowledge and plan their teaching sequence in response. At the end of the unit of learning, the children undertake a ‘hot’ task which assesses the taught content. This shows what learning has become secure and what may need further focus. A second ‘hot’ task is taken after a gap of time has taken place to ascertain whether learning has been retained.

In English, cold tasks will be used as a baseline of pupil’s writing when starting a new year group. This will assess previously taught skills and if children are able to confidently apply them. Cold tasks will also be used, when necessary, to identify areas in need of focus as well as support the planning of lesson sequences and prioritisation of content. Hot tasks must be used to assess pupil’s writing at the end of a unit of work to ensure that expectations and success criteria have been embedded.

Foundation Subject Assessments:

Prior knowledge is assessed at the beginning of a unit of learning. This is to help teachers ascertain the extent to which previous learning has been embedded and what pupils are able to confidently recall. This may take the form of quizzes, multiple choice questionnaires, cloze procedures using knowledge organisers and modelled misconceptions. The content will be taken from previously taught units of learning which may not be directly from the prior year group.

Assessment of each foundation subject takes place each term. Teachers complete the end of unit assessment sheets, recording which children have not met age related expectations and which children have exceeded these. They make reflective comments on attainment and progress of their class, which will assist future planning and teaching. This also provides useful information for the children’s next teacher and subject leaders. Examples of tasks pupils undertake to inform teacher assessment include ‘double page spreads’, pupil conferencing and low stakes quizzes.