Assessment

At Dogmersfield we use three main aspects of assessment:

Day-to-day assessment for learning: this is a formative assessment, which is an integral part of daily teaching and learning. Teachers assess the children’s work during the lesson, and either move them onto the next stage in their learning or encourage practice at their current level.

Periodic review: a profile of pupils’ learning using Assessing Pupils’ Progress (APP) criteria. This helps teachers to track pupils’ progress outside of lessons, through daily marking, using precise criteria. By assessing the levels of attainment, the teachers are able to identify and provide for the next steps in the child’s development.

Transitional assessment – this is the use of summative (or summary) tests and tasks that formally recognise pupil achievement and are shared with pupils and their parents. From 2016 we will be issuing 2 reports a year, one in February and the second  in July.

Tracking pupil performance – pupil progress

The school is firmly committed to ensuring that all pupils make very good progress from their respective starting points when they join the school. Their performance is tracked - or followed, carefully - throughout their time here. The purpose of tracking pupil performance is to:

*  monitor academic standards

*  ensure that teachers always know the point a pupil has reached in their learning

* use this information to plan future learning that is pitched at an appropriate level of challenge

*  know which pupils require additional support (and intervene accordingly)

* know which pupils require additional challenge (and provide this)  

* be aware of pupils’ rates of progress and consider the reasons for this. 

Most pupils join our school in Reception class. Once they have settled within their first half-term, a baseline assessment is undertaken. This is the initial starting point for measuring pupil progress. For children who join us further up the school, the teacher needs to establish an accurate baseline with which to measure future progress. Previous school records can be analysed to ascertain starting points for these pupils.

Attainment refers to the standards a pupil has reached. This is a measure of relative performance against the average level of performance for a child of a similar age. Attainment is measured in relation to national average standards and is judged in comparison to all schools.

Achievement measures how much progress a pupil has made from their initial starting point. It refers to the difference between where a pupil started from and where they have reached. Achievement can be measured over different time frames: a term; an academic year; a Key Stage or the whole of a pupil’s time at the school. 

It is quite possible for:

* a high attaining pupil to have low achievement. This means that an intelligent pupil, who is still performing at high standards has made little progress. This pupil is underachieving.

* a low performing pupil to have high achievement. This means that the pupil concerned is still performing below the national average for their age, but they are making good progress.

As a school we aim to create a high achievement culture, with pupils either reaching or exceeding age-related expectations.

Pupil performance targets

Pupil tracking is used continuously by all members of staff. Termly pupil progress meetings are held between the Head and Class teacher, to identify those children who are not achieving age-related expectation in English and Mathematics. From these meetings an action plan for each child is produced, and timely progress markers put in place for review at next meeting.

Formal assessment results are statutorily reported for Year R, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 6 children. These are shared with parents and they form part of the database on which the school is evaluated.