Stillness Assessment

Assessment is a vital part of teaching and learning as it is used to inform teachers’ planning and where further work might need to be undertaken to consolidate understanding.

There are a number of different forms of assessment that are undertaken during your child’s journey here. Formative assessment happens each day, during each lesson. This kind of assessment is where the teacher is using their professional judgement of each child’s understanding of the lesson. This might take the form of verbal feedback and whiteboard work during the lesson or marking work after the lesson. Summative assessment is more formal assessment that is usually made up of tests in Reading; Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG); and Mathematics. Writing is assessed using the National Curriculum standards for each year group.

Summative assessment

The Y3 children are tested early in the Autumn term to establish their starting point for the Junior School. These are called baseline tests and normally use the KS1 SATs papers.

Then the Y3 children follow the same assessment path as children in Y4 and Y5, which is to use the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) papers for Reading and SPaG and White Rose termly assessments for Mathematics. Children are also assessed termly in Writing against National Curriculum standards for their year group.

Y4: In the June of Y4, children will sit the statutory Multiplication Tables Check (MTC). These tests are sat on the Chrome Books and children will have the opportunity to practise during a window of time before the actual check opens. Teachers will guide the children through the test. The check comprises of 25 questions and children will have 6 seconds to answer each question.

Y6: The Y6 children are tested early in the Autumn term to establish their starting point against the end of KS2 SATs (Statutory Assessment Tests). This early baseline testing enables the Y6 team to focus on any gaps in children’s learning. Throughout Y6 the children are tested termly using past SATs papers. In the May of Y6 the children sit the KS2 SATs. A teacher assessment of their writing is also submitted as part of the statutory assessment. Each year, a number of schools within each Local Authority will be visited by Local Authority moderators to quality assure the writing judgements.

Assessment judgements

Throughout their time here, children in Years 3-5 will be assessed using the following terminology:

WT: This means that the child is working towards age-related expectations for their year group.

EXP: This means that the child is working at age-related expectations for their year group.

In Y6 there is an additional judgement of GDS: this means that the child is working above age-related expectations – at a greater depth standard.

In September 2023, following consultation with the Assessment Lead for Lewisham we moved to the model of only two judgements for children in Years 3, 4 and 5. This decision was taken as it is only at the end of a keystage (Year 2 and Year 6 for primary aged children) that there is a definition of GDS in the Teacher Assessment Frameworks.

Some children will be working outside of their chronological age group and receiving additional support. These children will be assessed using the standards and expectations for the year group within which they are achieving.

To achieve at EXP, a child will have worked extremely hard and will be making good progress in their learning journey.

Our target for children is EXP which is the expected standard and is an excellent achievement. It is of course a range of attainment and there will be children who are at the lower part of this range and children who are at the highest point of this range. Work is adapted so that children working at all points of this range are sufficiently challenged and supported as appropriate.

Reports

Parent reports are issued at the end of each term.

The autumn report will show the children’s attainment for the first term of their current year group. This report can be discussed at Parents’ Evening appointments and copies of the assessment papers will be made available should parents wish to take them.

The spring report will show attainment for the spring term and progress from the autumn term to the spring term. Expected progress is indicated by a zero (0). A positive (+) number indicates accelerated progress. A negative (-) number shows less than expected progress. The child will have made progress just not quite as much as is expected. Teachers will discuss these reports at Parents’ Evenings.

The summer report will show attainment for the summer term and progress from the autumn term to the summer term. This report will also include teacher development comments for the core subjects and attainment in the wider curriculum.

When assessing the children for the reports, teachers use the results of both summative and formative assessments and how children are getting on in class to come to their overall judgements. Children in Y4 and Y6 will have the results of their statutory assessments printed in their end of year report as well.