Purpose of Assessment
Assessment within and through the Primary Years Programme (PYP) has four dimensions; monitoring, documenting, measuring and reporting learning. All aim to provide evidence to inform teaching and learning. Each dimension has its own value, however we place a greater emphasis on monitoring and documenting learning as these are critical in providing actionable feedback for the learner.
- Assessment for learning
- Formative assessment
- Questioning
- Observations
- Peer and self assessment
- PYP learning journals
- Wall displays
- Google Classrooms
- Showbie app
- Assessment of learning
- Teacher assessment
- Summative assessment
- National Statutory assessments
- Self and Peer assessment
- SOLO taxonomy to measure conceptual understanding.
- Pupil progress meetings
- Internal Data gathering to inform planning , learning and teaching
- Parent/ Teacher/ Student Conferences
- End of year progress reports
- Trust monitoring procedures
Units of Inquiry
Purpose
Each unit of inquiry will include a range of assessment techniques that are deliberately planned (in the unit planners) to be consistent and developmentally appropriate. Feedback enables all learners to move forwards in their learning. The purpose and means of assessment are clearly explained to students during the learning process.
Formative Assessment
Assessment is interwoven throughout each unit of inquiry. A pre-assessment at the start of each unit determines the students’ prior knowledge, allowing teachers to plan future learning within the context of the lines of inquiry. Formative assessment and learning and teaching are directly linked. Strategies of formative assessment can be but are not limited to:
- Observations
- Checklists
- Low-stakes testing
- Understanding check-ups
- Self & peer-assessment
- Open-ended tasks
Summative Assessment
Summative Assessment is used to meet the requirements of National testing.
Solo Taxonomy
As learning progresses, it becomes more complex.
SOLO Taxonomy (Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome) is a means of classifying learning outcomes in terms of their complexity, enabling us to assess student work in terms of its quality, not the quantity of correct learning.
At first, we pick up only one or few aspects of the task (uni-structural), then several aspects, but they are unrelated (multi-structural, which we term Many Ideas), then we learn how to integrate them into a whole (relational, which we term Building links), and finally, we are able to generalise that whole to as yet untaught applications (extended abstract, which we term Going further).
SOLO can be used in assessment and curriculum design in terms of the level of learning outcomes intended, which is helpful in implementing constructive alignment.
PYP Books
The purpose of our PYP books is to help students reflect on their learning, to show growth over time and to show development of the unit of inquiry. It allows all those involved in the learning process to see a true picture of the child. It can also aid teachers in reflecting, assessing and teaching.
Feedback and Marking
It is vital that teachers evaluate the learning that children undertake in lessons, and use information obtained from this to allow them to adjust their teaching and move learning forwards. Effective marking and feedback aims to:
- Inform the pupil what they have done well and what they need to do to improve.
- Support pupil confidence and self-esteem by learning, and contributes to accelerated learning.
- Support teachers’ assessment knowledge of each pupil as part of thorough formative assessment (assessment for learning), in order to plan and refine next steps in learning.
- Teach pupils to respond to feedback, self-assess and evaluate their own learning in order to move from self-assessors to self-adjusters.
Our academy feedback and marking policy details the expectations of teachers and students with regards to marking and feedback in all areas of school life.
Learner Profile Attributes
While at Eastcote Primary Academy, all stakeholders in the learning process are expected to model the attributes of the Learner Profile. Students will learn how to self reflect and set goals on their development of the attributes. They will do this via peer conferencing.
- Assessment of the attributes are student driven. Parents are encouraged to discuss reflections and targets at home and at conferences.
- Each unit of inquiry will have 2-3 focus attributes that are referred to during the learning journey.
- Students, parents, teachers and wider school staff are expected to model the learner profile.
- Students are encouraged to show evidence of modelling and understanding the characteristics of all profile attributes through behaviour, the behaviour and rewards policy and reflections.
- Learner profile attributes are continuously referred to in assemblies. A special assembly takes place on a Wednesday where children share how they have demonstrated behaviour that reflects an attribute.
Statutory Assessments
- SATs is the acronym for Standard Assessment Tests or they are sometimes called National Curriculum Tests.
- SATs are tests which are given in Primary Schools in year 2 and year 6.
- The purpose of SATs is to measure the children’s attainment in maths, reading, and grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS).
- In Key Stage 2:
- the children are tested on curriculum content from Years 3-6 across six test papers.
- they will achieve a ‘scaled score’ from 80 – 120, with a score of 100 or more meaning they have met the ‘expected standard’.
- The SATs are used to hold the academy to account for the effectiveness of teaching and show how well children individually have learnt.
- Although KS2 SATs are used by secondary schools, EPA realise the importance of providing assessments within a broad and balanced curriculum.
The Multiplication Tables Check is a statutory assessment that is being introduced in 2022 to all year four pupils.
The purpose is to confirm that all children can fluently recall their time tables.
The National Phonics Screening Check is a statutory assessment that was introduced in 2012 to all year one pupils (and those in year two who do not pass in year one) and is check of a child’s phonics knowledge.
The purpose is to confirm that all children have learned phonic decoding to an age-appropriate standard.
Children who have not reached this level will receive extra support from teaching teams through intervention to ensure they can improve their decoding skills, and will then have the opportunity to retake the phonics screening check.
- This is a statutory test that is used by the DFE.
- The RBA is task-based assessment.
- Pupils will use practical resources to complete these tasks and teachers will record the results on a laptop, computer or tablet.
- It will not be used to label or track individual pupils.
- Schools are required to carry out the assessment within the first 6 weeks of pupils starting reception.
- No numerical score will be shared and the data will only be used at the end of year 6 to form the school-level progress measure.