Central to the delivery of a high quality curriculum and quality first teaching, is on-going reliable formative assessment. All assessment is formative.

The aims of assessment are to inform:

• Teachers show their pupils/students are progressing and how well they have mastered skills and understanding. In this way they can adapt their teaching to meet the needs of all their pupils/students.
• Pupils/students of what they are doing well in relation to their targets and what they need to do to improve. In this way pupils/students gain a better understanding of how to manage their own learning and progress.
• Parents show their child is performing in relation to their personal targets and what they should be doing to improve, so that parents can support them.
• Leaders show well the curriculum is being implemented across subjects, year groups and target groups and determine strategies to reduce variation across the school.

In order that our assessment process delivers on the above aims, assessments must be valid and reliable. Staff will regularly standardise assessments and moderate outcomes across teams and with other teams.

Assessment of Learning (AoL)

AoL enables teachers to evaluate the impact of their teaching to help them adapt the content, pace, direction, activities and feedback of their lessons and homework to ensure that:

• Pupils/students are building up their knowledge and skills to appropriate levels.
• Pupils/students can apply their knowledge and skills independently and fluently to a range of problems and tasks.
• Pupils/students are supported and stretched appropriately.
• Pupils/students are on track to meet their targets and they are given appropriate feedback (and they act on it) so that they do not fall behind.
• Pupils/students have appropriate interventions in place to support them make up any gaps. 

Assessments for Learning (AfL)

AfL is a continuous and formative process and takes place in every lesson, and following any in-school assessments/tests/exams. As a result of AfL, pupils and students gain an understanding of their knowledge, skills, thinking, understanding and behaviours for learning. Specifically, they:

• Understand their strengths.
• Understand their areas for improvement.
• Act on this understanding with demonstrable impact on their learning over time.

 

Assessment activities can vary from “quizzes”, practice activities, problem-solving tasks, practicals,year-group assessments, Pre-Public Examinations (PPEs) etc. Some will be done in class or in formal school exam-style practice, or can be set as homework.

Pupils/students receive feedback in a variety of ways eg:

• Questioning
• Self-assessment
• Peer assessment
• Verbal feedback from teachers
• Written feedback from teachers
• Written comments
• Grouped comments to the class Highlighted assessment criteria Verbal comments
• PLC/Self-reflection notes
• Whole class feedback from teachers Comparison with a model answer
• Symbols or codes
• Record of someone else’s feedback (eg: TA)