Assessment at Hoole St Michael is an ongoing process and takes place in many forms. We assess children informally and formally during their learning in order to inform teaching. Children at Hoole St Michael are also actively involved in assessing themselves during lessons and units of work.We track each individual child’s progress through school using teacher assessment and Pips data. The data is inputted onto the Lancashire tracker termly and analysed by each teacher during termly pupil progress meetings.

FURTHER INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND IN OUR ASSESSMENT AND RECORDING POLICY

How we report attainment

The national curriculum emphasises key concepts, key ideas and is full of skills. It includes wide reading, practical work in science and application of maths. At Hoole St Michael our teachers have worked very hard to deliver the curriculum. We have a two year cycle of cross-curricular topics which cover all the objectives within the National Curriculum.

How do you know how your child is progressing?

There is no national requirement from the government in how schools should assess and record progress. It is therefore up to each school to develop its own system. At Hoole St Michael we use the system developed by Lancashire authority – KLIPS (Key learning indicators of progress). Using KLIPS, we assess each pupil through on-going teacher assessment which guides our teaching (formative assessment)

At the end of each term we judge whether a child is working at age-related expectations for that point in the year (summative assessment).

We expect that a child who is working at age-related expectations will be:

Entering age-related expectations by the end of the autumn term
Developing age-related expectations by the end of the spring term
Secure within age-related expectations by the end of the summer term

What does this mean for you?

We will share with you whether your child is entering, developing or secure and whether they are on track to reach their end of year expectation. This will be discussed at parent evenings and reflected in our interim/end-of year reports. Under the new National Curriculum, children should only work on the objectives for their year group. For those pupils who have reached their end of year expectations, the teachers will provide a range of learning opportunities that offer a greater depth and breadth of understanding specific to their year group. If your child is gifted and talented, they may be taught skills from a higher year group, however this will be the exception rather than the norm. Children who are working below age-related expectations may not be secure by the end of the year, and some pupils may need to be taught skills from a lower year group.

Reporting attainment.

It is vitally important to note, that due to the higher standards and increased expectations of this National Curriculum, a child who may have previously been assessed to be working at age-related expectations using the old National Curriculum (i.e. a 2b at the end of Year 2/KS1) may now be assessed to be working below age-related; likewise, a child who was originally judged to be working above age-related under the old system, may now only be assessed to be working at age-related. This does not mean that your child is no longer making progress. Your child will be working hard and making progress but they are now required to attain a higher standard in order to achieve age-related expectations. You may will have the opportunity to discuss this with your child’s class teacher during parents’ evening.

End of KS2 SATS

At the end of Year 6, children will sit tests in:

Reading
Maths
Spelling, punctuation and grammar

These tests will be both set and marked externally, and the results will be used to measure the school’s performance (for example, through reporting to Ofsted and published league tables). Your child’s marks will be used in conjunction with teacher assessment to give a broader picture of their attainment.

KS2 Reading

The reading test is a single paper with questions based on three passages of text. Your child will have one hour, including reading time, to complete the test.

There will be a selection of question types, including:

Ranking/ordering, e.g. ‘Number the events below to show the order in which they happen in the story’
Labelling, e.g. ‘Label the text to show the title of the story’
Find and copy, e.g. ‘Find and copy one word that suggests what the weather is like in the story’
Short constructed response, e.g. ‘What does the bear eat?’
Open-ended response, e.g. ‘Look at the sentence that begins Once upon a time. How does the writer increase the tension throughout this paragraph? Explain fully, referring to the text in your answer.’

KS2 Spelling and Grammar (SPAG test)

The grammar, punctuation and spelling test consists of two parts: a grammar and punctuation paper requiring short answers, lasting 45 minutes, and an aural spelling test of 20 words, lasting around 15 minutes.

The grammar and punctuation test includes two sub-types of questions:

Selected response, e.g. ‘Identify the adjectives in the sentence below’
Constructed response, e.g. ‘Correct/complete/rewrite the sentence below,’ or, ‘The sentence below has an apostrophe missing. Explain why it needs an apostrophe.’

KS2 Mathematics

Children sit three papers in maths:

Paper 1: arithmetic, 30 minutes
Papers 2 and 3: reasoning, 40 minutes per paper

Paper 1 consists of fixed response questions, where children have to give the correct answer to calculations, including long multiplication and division.

Papers 2 and 3 involve a number of question types, including:

Multiple choice
True or false
Constrained questions, e.g. giving the answer to a calculation, drawing a shape or completing a table or chart
Less constrained questions, where children will have to explain their approach for solving a problem

How will Key Stage 2 SATs be marked?

Your child will be given scaled scores. You will be given your child’s raw score (the actual number of marks they get), alongside their scaled score and whether they have reached the national average. The score needed to reach the national average has yet to be announced.

Progress measures are calculated when all results are in nationally and comparisons are made.