• Introduction of New National Curriculum • Assessment without Levels • SEN Reforms • Introduction of Universal Infant Free School Meals • Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions • Introduction of Early Years Pupil Premium • Reception Baseline to Measure Children’s Progress • New Ofsted Framework for School Inspections • Statutory Requirements for Schools’ Website • Implementation of the EYFS Framework (2014) • Reconstitution of the Governing Body

• To raise standards, particularly as the UK is slipping down international pupil assessment league tables.

• To focus on excellence and core skills inspired by what is taught in the world’s most successful school systems, including Hong Kong, Singapore and Finland as well as in the best UK schools.

• The need for greater challenge

The revised National Curriculum came into effect from September 2014 and at Bladon CE Primary School we have been gradually transitioning to the new curriculum since its publication in 2013.

When revising the National Curriculum, the DFE put forward the following reasons for change:

The New National Curriculum is built on the premise that pupils should study fewer things in greater depth. Key changes include:

ENGLISH: • Stronger emphasis on vocabulary development, grammar, punctuation and spelling • Handwriting is expected to be fluent, legible and speedy • Spoken English has a greater emphasis, with children to be taught debating and

presenting skills

MATHS: • Five-year-olds are expected to learn to count up to 100 (compared to 20 under the current

curriculum) and learn number bonds to 20 (currently up to 10) • Simple fractions (1/4 and 1/2) are taught from KS1, and by the end of primary school,

children should be able to convert decimal fractions to simple fractions (e.g. 0.375 = 3/8) • By the age of nine, children are expected to know times tables up to 12x12 (currently

10x10 by the end of primary school) • Calculators are not introduced until near the end of KS2, to encourage mental arithmetic

SCIENCE: • Strong focus on scientific knowledge and language, rather than understanding the nature

and methods of science in abstract terms • Evolution is taught in primary schools for the first time

COMPUTING:

• Computing replaces Information and Communication Technology (ICT), with a greater focus on programming rather than on operating programs

• From age five, children learn to write and test simple programs, and to organise, store and retrieve data

• Internet safety – previously only taught from 11-16, is taught in primary schools

LANGUAGES: • A modern foreign language is mandatory in KS2 • Children are expected to master basic grammar and accurate pronunciation and to

converse, present, read and write in the language

PSHE remains non-statutory

Every state-funded school must offer a curriculum which is balanced and broadly based, and which:

• Promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society.

• Prepares pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life in modern Britain.

• Actively promotes the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

Schools are free to choose how they organise their curriculum, as long as the content of the National Curriculum programmes of study is taught to all pupils.

The national curriculum provides an outline of core knowledge around which teachers can develop exciting and stimulating lessons to promote the development of pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills as part of the wider school curriculum. It is organised on the basis of four key stages and twelve subjects, classified in legal terms as ‘core’ and ‘other foundation’ subjects. Core: English, Maths, Science Foundation - Key Stage 1 & Key Stage 2: Art and Design, Design Technology, Computing, History, Geography, Music, PE, Languages Primary schools are required to teach Religious Education, and Sex and Relationship Education. Whilst PSHE is non-statutory, at Woodstock Primary it is considered to underpin children’s development and is taught weekly across the school.

• Our curriculum is planned in themes, with topics chosen to capture the interests and imaginations of our children.

• Skills-based learning is developed by linking subjects such as history, geography, art, design technology and music to the topic being studying. This allows children to make purposeful links in their learning. We also use every opportunity to make further links through reading, writing, maths, science and computing where relevant.

• PE, RE and PSHE & Citizenship are taught as discreet subjects to allow coverage of the main objectives and age appropriate skill development.

In addition to exciting and stimulating themes further opportunities to enhance children’s learning include: theme days/weeks, Big Write, Forest School activities, Jackanory Days, trips and visits, workshops from outside specialists and after-school clubs.

• From September 2014, level descriptors have been removed from the National Curriculum.

• During 2014-2015 schools had to develop their own methods of assessing pupil progress towards end of Key Stage expectations.

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When revising the National Curriculum, the Expert Panel put forward four compelling reasons for the removal of levels:

• An Undue Emphasis on Pace

The rate of progress, or how fast pupils moved through the levels, had become more important that pupils’ understanding of the curriculum.

This led to pupils being expected to exceed the national age-related expectation.

• Unsuitability of Using ‘Best Fit’ Descriptors

Many pupils were moved on because they best fitted a descriptor but may have had some significant gaps in their understanding

• Problem with Determining Levels by Average Marks on a Test

A high number of marks could be gained from, for example, Level 2 questions and some Level 4 questions, and yet, when averaged out, a pupil may have been awarded a Level 3. The pupils weren’t really a Level 3 but the marks may have declared them so.

• High Academically Ranking Countries have Never Used a System of Levels

In these countries assessment is based on ‘depth’ of understanding or ‘mastery’ of all key concepts of the curriculum.

• Pupils will be assessed against the content from the National Curriculum on a year-by-year basis.

• Schools have been given the autonomy to decide their own approaches to assessment.

• This change is intended to provide parents, children and their teachers with a more understandable assessment procedure which will give clear information and identify what your child can do, how this compares to what is expected in their year group and what else they need to do to improve.

Bladon CE Primary School has been working with a number of local schools, including The Marlborough Academy, to explore how the new changes can be implemented to ensure cohesion across schools, and more importantly, to ensure that children know exactly what it is they need to do to improve and succeed. We have grasped the opportunity to provide parents, children and their teachers with a more understandable assessment procedure which will give clear information and identify what your child can do, how this compares to what is expected in their year group and what else they need to do to improve.

This has presented us with an exciting opportunity to carefully redesign the curriculum and challenge our approach to teaching. Simply put, Mastery learning is an approach to teaching that requires pupils to reach a certain, pre-determined level of proficiency. The most effective learning has always occurred when a pupil has the chance to build on prior learning, making connections to previous understanding and learning in small ‘chunks’ or units. The intention of this approach is to provide our children with full access to the Curriculum, enabling them to deepen their level of fluency, ability to apply, and their level of understanding.

Within all our work on assessment we are guided by these agreed principles:

• All assessment is a true reflection of where children are in their learning. • Everything we do as part of the assessment process has an impact on

learning and progress. • Children, parents and staff are actively engaged in the assessment process. • Assessment processes are accessible to all: everyone understands the

system and its purpose.

High Quality Formative Assessment

• Teachers and classroom-based staff will be continually assessing children’s progress through thorough marking, observation and discussion against year group expectations.

Informative Summative Assessment

• Assessment is also informed by tests and other diagnostic assessments

This combined and detailed information is then put on the school’s Tracking System where the teachers will make a robust judgement about how

well children are doing against age-related expectations.

Children’s ongoing progress will be assessed and formally recorded at three points in the year in relation to the expectations for their year group as detailed in the National Curriculum. The large majority of pupils will progress through the curriculum content at the same pace with the expectation that most achieve the attainment expected for their age group and are supported to move to the embedded stage by the end of the school year.