Assessment
At Astley C of E Primary School, we use assessment as a means of working out what the children know and what skills they have, to help them along their learning journey by planning the right next steps for them. The children are assessed in an informal way (formative) throughout the school day and are also assessed more formally (summative) at various times during their time at Astley C of E Primary School, in line with national assessments.
- Entry to Reception – baseline assessment using the Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA), this involves assessing the children’s personal knowledge of mathematics, literacy, communication and language
- Exit from Reception – end of Foundation Stage assessment using the national criteria for Early Years, which assesses if the 7 areas of learning including personal and social development have been met or not.
- End of Year 1 – national phonic check to assess children’s ability to read phonetically.
- End of Year 2 - a further opportunity for those yet to meet the standard of the national phonic check.
- End of year 4 – times tables check
- End of year 6 - national tests in Reading, Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar and Mathematics to establish whether children are meeting the expected level for their age
In Years 1, 2, 3 and 5, the children do not undertake national tests. The school uses internal systems to assess children’s progress, this includes twice yearly NFER assessments for Mathematics, Reading, Grammar and Spelling as reference and to support teacher judgments.
From the end of Reception to the end of Year 6 the school uses adopted assessment systems from local schools’ network. The children are assessed informally through their everyday performance in school and then judged to be at one of the following stages:
- Working Towards (WTS) – this means that they are working towards national age expectations
- Expected- (EXP) this means that they are comfortably working at national age expectations
- Greater Depth (GDS) - this means that they are exceeding national age expectations
These assessments are in place to ensure that children are making good progress in school. The progress is rigorously monitored by teachers in school. Teachers will have their judgements moderated across schools’ network and local authority at regular points throughout the year. The children’s school reports inform parents about both the standards that they are working at and the progress that they are making. This helps the school to monitor the progress that the pupils make.
