Assessment

We believe that assessment is a continual process that is part of every aspect of the day to day life of our school.

Staff constantly observe children through a wide variety of activities and make judgements on the children’s ability.  We identify each child's strengths and weaknesses and use this knowledge to plan for the next step.

This cycle of planning, reviewing and assessing provides information to make our teaching more effective and therefore improve learning.

What is Assessment?

We have stated that assessment is a process of making judgements about children to inform our future planning.

This can take place in a variety of ways.

1. Formative

It allows us to see what has been achieved and how it can be developed (looking at work / listening to children’s responses).

1. Diagnostic

It helps us to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses (making professional informal judgements).

1. Summarise.

An overall summary of the child’s progress (e.g. reports)

1. Formal (summative)

Assessments where a standardised judgement is provided (e.g. SAT’s, reading, analysis and tests)

1. Evaluative

Where it can be used to make judgements about the effectiveness of the curriculum being delivered within the school.

Assessment is always informative in one way or another.

Why should we assess?

The main aim of assessment must be to allow continual progression in learning. Additionally, assessment allows us to gauge the effectiveness of our provision in terms of the National Curriculum and the development of the whole child. Assessment provides information for teachers, parents and other professionals involved in the education of each child. 

The following link is to watch Tim Oates from Cambridge Assessment on the purpose of changes to assessment in the new curriculum and rationale behind moving away from levels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q5vrBXFpm0