Assessment in the New National CurriculumLife Without Levels

A New School System A Guide for Parents and Carers

AIMS

Provide parents and carers with an overview of;

The requirements of the new National Curriculum.

How the school will be assessing children within the new

National Curriculum.

The language and terminology being used in relation to

the assessment of pupils.

The New National Curriculum

From September 2014

Sets out Programmes of Study in English, Maths and

Science

for Year Groups in Key Stage 1

for Years 3 and 4; and Years 5 and 6 in Key Stage

2

Sets out Programmes of Study for other subjects for each

Key Stage

Is more challenging and rigorous.

Teachers plan and teach the objectives for their year

group.

Those working beyond their Year Group objectives will

explore the curriculum in greater depth.

The New National Curriculum

Teachers will assess children against these Year Group

objectives – or Age Related Expectations (ARE).

There is no prescribed style or system for assessment,

schools have been left to design their own.

Old National Curriculum Levels do not correspond to the

ARE and have no relevance in the new curriculum.

For this academic year only, Year 2 and Year 6 are still

being assessed and taught from the previous National

Curriculum in English and mathematics. This will change

from September 2015

What have the Government said?

As part of our reforms to the national curriculum, the

current system of levels used to report children’s

attainment and progress will be removed from September

2014. Levels are not being banned, but will not be updated

to reflect the new national curriculum and will not be used

to report the results of national curriculum tests.

Key stage 1 and key stage 2 tests taken in the 2014 to

2015 academic year will be against the previous national

curriculum, and will continue to use levels for reporting

purposes.

What have the Government said?

Schools will be expected to have in place approaches to

formative assessment that support pupil attainment and

progression. The assessment framework should be built into

the school curriculum, so that schools can check what pupils

have learned and whether they are on track to meet

expectations at the end of the key stage so that they can

report regularly to parents.

Schools will have the flexibility to use approaches that work

for their pupils and circumstances, without being constrained

by a single national approach.

What do we need to do now?

Continue to use the Old National Curriculum, levels, and

assessment and report procedures for Year 2 and 6.

Create and implement a new assessment and reporting

system for the new National Curriculum for Years 1,3, 4

and 5.

We need to:

o Ensure that the school’s high standards and expectations

continue to be met.

o Ensure accurate and smooth transition from old to new

assessment systems – children are placed accurately on the new

system.

o Keep parents, Governors and all other stakeholders informed

What has the new system got to do?

Give an accurate and reliable judgement of children’s

attainment

Shows what children are able to do.

Shows what children need to do to improve.

Enable targets to be set for;

o Children

o Groups/Classes/Year Groups

o Whole school

Shows the progress individual pupils have made.

Can track pupils and quickly identify those who are

causing concern

What has the new system got to do?

Speaks to children and parents in a language that is clear

and understandable.

Can be used by governors to hold Senior Leaders to

account and to monitor the effectiveness of school

improvement plans.

Can be used by outside agencies including Ofsted to make

judgements about the effectiveness of the School.

Highlights excellence in both the attainment and progress

(for individuals, groups and whole school) so these can be

celebrated.

How Will We Be Assessing Pupils?

Against Age Related Expectations

o In line with the new National Curriculum

Individual children will be either

o Emerging

o Developing

o Secure

at their Age Related Expectation.

How Will We Be Assessing Pupils?

For Example:

A child in Year 3 who has attained all or the vast

majority of the objectives for their year group will

be described as being:

SECURE at Year 3 Expectations

This would be the expectation for the majority of

children at the end of the year.

How Will We Be Assessing Pupils?

A child in Year 3 who is not yet able to

demonstrate they have attained all

objectives for their year group could be…

EMERGING at Year 3 Expectations

DEVELOPING at Year 3 Expectations

How Will We Be Assessing Pupils?

In some cases it may be that a child in Year 3 is

working on a previous years set of objectives. This

child would then be:

Secure at Year 2 Expectations (or developing at

Year 2 or 1)

These children will usually be targeted for early

interventions or more sustained SEN support when

they will have an Individual Education Plan

P Scales remain unchanged for children who are

unable to access the National curriculum for Years

1 to 6

How Will We Be Assessing Pupils?

A child in Year 3 who is exceeding their A.R.E. will

be given the opportunity to explore the curriculum

in greater depth and build on the breadth of their

knowledge and skills.

This may involve using and applying the skills they

have learned during the year or exploring the

curriculum from subsequent Year(s) where

appropriate.

How do we arrive at our judgements?

Age Related Expectations have been broken down

into individual statements.

Children will be assessed against these. o Emerging – can complete ‘the statement’ following input and practise.

o Developing – can complete the statement independently (with

‘reminding’).

o Secure – use and apply the statement confidently without prompting or

‘reminding’.

Staff will take into account the number and

significance of all the judgements and their

knowledge of your child to arrive at an overall

assessment for the subject.

How Will We Be Assessing Pupils?

As well as teacher assessment, using evidence

from their daily activities and staff knowledge of

your child, we will be administering standardised

termly tests.

These termly assessments will give us a

standardised score for your child (which takes

into account their chronological age) and will

allow us to track small increments of progress

and set realistic targets.

These tests will support our overall teacher

assessments.

Guidelines for Parents and Carers

In order to give parents an overview of the

objectives which will be covered throughout the

year we have created ‘A Guide for Parents’.

Please take a booklet for your child’s year group.

These will also be available in school during

Parents Evenings.

Any Questions

?