Stillness Assessment

Assessment is a vital part of teaching and learning as it is used to inform teachers’ planning and where further work might need to be undertaken to consolidate understanding.

There are a number of different forms of assessment that are undertaken during your child’s journey at Stillness Juniors. Formative assessment happens each day, during each lesson. This kind of assessment is where the teacher is using their professional judgement of each child’s understanding of the lesson. This might take the form of verbal feedback and whiteboard work during the lesson or marking work after the lesson. Summative assessment is more formal assessment that is usually made up of tests in Reading; Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG); and Mathematics. Writing is assessed using the National Curriculum standards for each year group.

Summative assessment

The Y3 children are tested early in the Autumn term to establish their starting point for the Junior School. These are called baseline tests and normally use the KS1 SATs papers.

Then the Y3 children follow the same assessment path as children in Y4 and Y5, which is to use the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) papers for Reading and SPaG and White Rose termly assessments for Mathematics. Children are also assessed termly in Writing against National Curriculum standards for their year group.

Y4: In the June of Y4, children will sit the statutory Multiplication Tables Check (MTC). These tests are sat on the Chrome Books and children will have the opportunity to practise during a window of time before the actual check opens. Teachers will guide the children through the test. The check comprises of 25 questions and children will have 6 seconds to answer each question.

Y6: The Y6 children are tested early in the Autumn term to establish their starting point against the end of KS2 SATs (Statutory Assessment Tests). This early baseline testing enables the Y6 team to focus on any gaps in children’s learning. Throughout Y6 the children are tested termly using past SATs papers. In the May of Y6 the children sit the KS2 SATs. A teacher assessment of their writing is also submitted as part of the statutory assessment. Each year, a number of schools within each Local Authority will be visited by Local Authority moderators to quality assure the writing judgements.

Assessment judgements

Throughout their time at the Junior School, children will be assessed using the following terminology:

WT: This means that the child is working towards age-related expectations for their year group.

EXP: This means that the child is working at age-related expectations for their year group.

GD: This means that the child is working above age-related expectations for their year group.

Some children will be working outside of their chronological age group and receiving additional support. These children will be assessed using the standards and expectations for the year group within which they are achieving.

To achieve at EXP, a child will have worked extremely hard and will be making good progress in their learning journey.

A judgement of GD means that the child is working at a greater depth in that subject, at that particular assessment point. It does not mean they are a ‘Greater Depth child’ or will always be working at greater depth. Our target for children is EXP which is the expected standard and is an excellent achievement. Many schools are moving towards assessing children as ‘On Track’ or ‘Not on Track’ with the GD judgement reserved only for end of keystage assessments, which is something Stillness Juniors may consider in the future.

Reports

Parent reports are issued at the end of the Autumn term (December) and at the end of the Summer term (July). Teachers use both results of summative assessments, formative assessments and how children are getting on in class to come to their overall judgements for the reports. Children in Y4 and Y6 will have the results of their statutory assessments printed in their end of year report as well.