In September 2014, the DfE removed assessing with levels for children in primary schools. Children are no longer assessed using Levels like, 2a, 3c or 4b.

Schools are now responsible for choosing their own system of assessment which should:

• Give reliable information to parents about how their child and their child’s school is performing.
• Help drive improvement for pupils and teachers.
• Make sure the school is keeping up with external best practice and innovation.

Early Years Foundation Stage Unit (EYFS)

Children in the EYFS are assessed at two separate stages during their time in FS2. The first is an online baseline assessment which each child completes with an adult during their first 6 weeks of school. The secind is at the end of the year where children are assessed against the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP for short). This consists of assessing children against the 7 areas of learning; 3 prime areas (Communication and Language, Physical Development and Personal, Social and Emotional Development) and 4 Specific areas (Literacy, Mathematics, Expressive arts and Design and Understanding the World). Using this information and knowledge about each child we report this as Working Towards (WTS) a Good Level of Development (GLD) or Expected standard (EXS) which is where a child should typically be developmentally by the end of Reception. 
 

The evidence is gathered from the year using formative and summative assessments for all children in EYFS and we value all contributions from parents and carers to support this. 

Assessment in EYFS is gathered through observations of learners, samples of learning, photographs and conversations which demonstrate the child’s understanding of a given concept.

In addition to this, staff identify the learning behaviours of children and plan lessons and activities to develop a wide range of learning skills in preparation for the next stage in their education in Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2).

Assessment of Core Subjects at KS1 and KS2

Whilst our curriculum has been tailored to our setting, Lawn staff are teaching from the National Curriculum and covering all requirements for the specific year groups. These are called ‘Year End Expectations’.

The ‘Year End Expectations’ have been taken from the National Curriculum 2014 and state the minimum requirements a learner must meet in order to ensure continued progress throughout the year in line with age expected standards. Whilst formative assessment strategies are used daily, there are three summative assessment points throughout the year which are reported to parents. Each child is given a judgment as to whether they are 'working towards' (WTS), 'working at' (EXS), or working at 'greater depth' (GDS) to age related expectation in Reading, Writing, Maths and SPAG. Children who are on the SEND register might be judged as 'working below' (WBS) the expected standard in one or more of the core subjects, but they will have formalised individual targets which will have been shared with parents and reviewed frequently throughout the year. The 'working below' judgment is only made when a child is working two or more year groups below the expectation for their current year group. For this, we use the B Squared system to take a more forensic approach in identifying gaps in children's learning and set specific targets to accelerate progress. 

In line with the other schools within our Trust, for summative assessment in Maths and Reading, we use the NTS assessment papers from Rising Stars as well as the Rising Stars termly tests for SPAG. 

The curriculum focuses very much on ensuring children have a breadth of understanding of the concepts and skills they learn. The application of skills and understanding across a wide range of curriculum areas is key. Rather than moving ‘up’ the stages, the focus is on moving ‘outwards’ and developing a deeper understanding.

Staff continue to differentiate activities to ensure that the needs of all learners are met. Gathering evidence of progress and development will continue with a wide range of formative assessment strategies: day to day assessment through learning completed; live marking and feedback; observations; conversations and guided sessions; spaced retrieval activities and interventions. These will inform planning and also summative assessment (more formal assessment/tests) which will play a part in the overall assessment and progress checks for learners at set times in the year.

Assessment of Foundation Subjects

We use a wide variety of strategies and systems formative and summative assessment of other subjects across the curriculum. You can find an overview of these in the following document: 

Information on how we formatively and summatively assess specific foundation subjects can also be found via the ‘Subjects’ tab, within our subject ‘on a page’ documents. 

Year 2 / Year 6 SATS and Year 1 Phonics Screening Check

From Summer 2022, statutory SATs tests and the phonics screening check for Year 1 have been reinstated in the United Kingdom following the Covid 19 pandemic. Information about these are communicated to parents through annual meetings that we hold in school. 

For additional information, please read the guidance from the DFE following the link below.