Brooke Weston Trust Primary Schools

Assessment Statement

Assessment at PPS includes ongoing evaluation of learning by teachers on a day to day basis which allows them to tailor their teaching accordingly – commonly referred to as ‘Responsive Teaching’. 

The rationale to reviewing and amending our assessment and data management system reflects the advice published in “Eliminating unnecessary workload associated with data management” (March 2016)

1. be streamlined: eliminate duplication – ‘collect once, use many times’
2. be ruthless: only collect what is needed to support outcomes for children. The amount of data collected should be proportionate to its usefulness. Always ask why the data is needed.
3. be prepared to stop activity: do not assume that collection or analysis must continue just because it always has
4. be aware of workload issues: consider not just how long it will take, but whether that time could be better spent on other tasks

 

The Language of Assessment used at PPS

EYFS	Early Years/Foundation Stage
	ELG	Early Learning Goal
	GLD	Good Level of Development.  Pupils will be defined as having a GLD if they achieve at least the expected level in the three prime areas of learning and the specific areas of literacy and mathematics.
Statutory assessment
	GDS	Working at a greater depth of expected standard
	EXS	Expected standard
	WTS	Working towards expected standard
	BLW	Below expected standard
	PKS	Pre-key stage
In-school language of assessment derived from PiXL approach
	PiXL	‘Partners in Excellence’ – a non-profit organisation which is a collaboration of schools focussed on improving outcomes
	A1	Based on current rate of progress, will secure Above Expected Standard
	A2	Based on current rate of progress, will securely achieve Expected Standard.  With the right forensic support, has the potential to achieve Above Expected Standard
	E1	Based on current rate of progress, will secure Expected Standard
	E2	Based on current rate of progress is likely to achieve Expected Standard but may require some additional support
	B1	Based on current rate of progress, will not achieve Expected Standard but with the right forensic support, has the potential to do so.
	B2	Requires specialist support
	Key Marginals	The specific B1 pupils targeted to attain the expected standard. Above Key Marginals are pupils targeted to reach a Greater Depth.
	Combined	Describes pupil working at/above expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths
	WIG	‘Wildly Important Goal’
	QLA	Question level analysis
	ASP	Analyse School Performance
	PITA	Point in time assessments Learning is assessed against what has been taught to date and learner's achievements are compared against the expected levels of understanding and competencies relative to that 'point in time'.
	FFT	Fischer Family Trust
	Symphony	Assessment system used for Foundation subjects

 

 

The correlation of the different language terms are:

EYFS	Statutory assessment	PiXL language (Core subjects)	Symphony language (Foundation subjects)
ELG3	GDS	A1	Exceeding
ELG2	EXS	A2	Expected
		E1
		E2
ELG1	WTS	B1	Emerging
	BEL	B2	Below
	PKS

 

 

‘Development Matters in the EYFS’ is used to track and assess pupils across our Pre-school and Reception years.  The ‘EYFS profile’ is used to make accurate judgements about each pupil’s attainment at the end of EYFS.

In Y1-6 PiXL tests and past SATs papers in Reading, Maths and GaPS take place periodically and gives teachers indicators of how well specific knowledge and skills have been retained and informs teachers of patterns and trends to tailor future curriculum planning and provision.

The tracking of foundation subjects is bespoke and moderated across other Trust schools. Bespoke materials are used for Phonics and Science.

Statutory assessments are completed at the end of EYFS, KS1 and KS2.  Phonics assessments are initially completed at the end of Year 1 and statutory times-tables tests introduced in Year 4.

 Attainment

EYFS:

The attainment of pupils in EYFS is assessed and tracked against the Trust Early Years Milestones.  Observations and evidence are continually gathered to make recorded judgements at the end of the Autumn, Spring and Summer term.

During the final term of EYFS a summative assessment is made for pupils using the Early Learning Goal statement for each strand.  Pupils achieving at least the expected level in the prime areas of learning and in the specific areas of literacy and mathematics are reported as gaining a ‘Good Level of Development” (GLD)

 

Y1-6:

Teacher ‘point in time’ judgements of a pupil’s attainment are made at the end of each term. 

The schedule of diagnostic tests in Reading, Maths and GaPS are used by teachers and leaders to identify pupils who may be at risk of falling behind and so may require more focussed intervention.  The information from both tests and teacher assessment is used to inform pupil progress discussion and to quality assure accurate judgements are made.  Nationally comparable benchmarking including FFT and PiXL is used to check that individual pupils, cohorts and groups are on track to meet end of key stage predictions.

Teachers will refer to:

• Observations
• Discussions with the pupil
• Performance and engagement in lessons
• Pupil’s books
• Marking and feedback
• Curriculum coverage tracker
• Impact of ‘Same Day Intervention’
• Impact of targeted intervention
• Reading records
• Writing Indicators
• QLAs
• PiXL test outcomes and summary reports
• Pupil trackers e.g. phonics, spelling, reading speed.
• Accelerated Reader outcomes

 

Progress

 At PPS the monitoring of progress is represented using progress matrices, plotting the pupil’s current attainment from a chosen starting point (e.g. EYFS or KS1 outcomes).  We do not attempt to measure or quantify individual pupil progress other than at the end of KS2 using national progress measures.

‘Sustained progress’ follows a linear flightpath model.  This is where pupils at least maintain their flightpath, with targeted intervention for those working below to meet the standards of their peers.

The progress of pupils working below the year group’s curriculum will be monitored and evidenced in personal curriculum plans and/or Individual Education plans.  Within whole school data, the national curriculum year that the pupil can access will be denoted by the preceding figure e.g. 3B2.

The progress of gifted pupils working at a Greater Depth will also be monitored and evidenced on personal curriculum plans when accessing the curriculum of a higher year group.

 

 

Reliability and Validity

The reliability of any assessment is a measure of consistency.  It is understood that test marks can fluctuate on any given day, this is why PiXL test outcomes and SATs paper practises are just one of the many tools which teachers use to formulate their judgements. 

PiXL outcomes are used primarily to assess the cohort’s attainment.  Making comparisons with the PiXL cohort (for example 22890 pupils in the most recent Y6 assessments) makes the data more reliable.

Discussions are also important about the validity of any assessment.  Is it actually assessing the knowledge or skill it is intended to?

 

 

Predictions/WIG

 

WIG                       ‘Wildly Important Goal’

This figure is our reasonable ambitious goal.  It is set for each year group within the first term and represents the sum attainment of each pupil’s performance on their best day.    

 

Prediction           The predictions we make are our opinions of the cohort’s outcomes based upon evidence of assessment and a range of information gathering.

 

 

Reliability of predictions

Each term predictions are reviewed by classteachers about a pupil’s end of year outcome.

Senior leaders in consultation with teachers make predictions of cohort outcomes and end of keystage results.

 

Last year the end of keystage predictions were proved to be accurate and reliable.

 

We can ensure this reliability by:

• A shared language of assessment across the BWT
• Quality Assurance model including lesson observations, drop-ins and book walks.
• Pupil Progress meetings
• Shared formatted data points across the Trust
• Internal moderation within and across year groups
• Moderation across the Trust (including a high attaining primary school and another making substantial progress)
• Moderation with local cluster schools
• A trained county moderator (within PPS)
• SATs Marker within the Trust.
• An Executive Principal supporting and challenging the five primaries within BWT.
• Director of Subjects supporting and quality assuring English and Maths within the Trust
• Subject network meeting held termly (English, Maths, EYFS, PiXL, SEN  and Pupil premium
• External visitors

  PiXL Associate

  DfE Advisor and Education Standards committee member at BWT.