Assessment and Performance
Purpose of Assessment
‘There are three main forms of assessment: in-school formative assessment, which is used by teachers to evaluate pupils’ knowledge and understanding on a day-today basis and to tailor teaching accordingly; in-school summative assessment, which enables schools to evaluate how much a pupil has learned at the end of a teaching period; and nationally standardised summative assessment, which is used by the Government to hold schools to account.’
-Department for education Final report of the Commission on Assessment without Levels September 2015.
Changes to Standard Attainment Tests (SATS)
With the introduction of the new National Curriculum there has been a change in the assessment process. Former ‘levels’ have now been replaced with the following terminology:
- Working towards the expected standard (WTS)
- Working at the expected standard (EXS)
- Working at greater depth within the expected standard (GDS)
Each child in Year 2 and Year 6 will be assessed against their age related curriculum area, according to these statements.
Progress
Every child’s progress is individual and unique. Tracking begins upon entry, through to exit, to show progression over time. We use Target Tracker as our internal tracking system. Following the new expectations of ‘developing, secure and exceeding’ it allows teachers to input and track pupil’s progress against the New National Curriculum. This begins at Year 1, through to Year6. All year groups assess against the National Curriculum standards.
Assessment in EYFS
The Good Level of Development is the measure that helps to demonstrate the proportion of children who are achieving expected levels in the prime areas of learning (communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional development) and in maths and literacy at Reception level.
Term Times Magazine Article, March 2024:
“Exceptional results at St Augustine’s!
A school in Stamford has achieved top marks after an impressive turnaround.
St. Augustine’s in Stamford is now riding high becoming one of the highest performing schools in Stamford for progress data in all three core subjects, and in the top 20% of schools nationally, for their exceptional progress in writing, according to gov.uk ‘Get Information About Schools. The data set for the 2023 SATS shows the school’s outstanding progress from the last figures pre Covid which saw the school ranked as one of the lowest performing in Stamford.
Headteacher Tina Cox says the turnaround has been a whole school effort during a period of rapid growth and development since she was appointed in 2021. As head of Curriculum and Year 6, Mrs Oliver has led a team of hardworking teaching staff to rewrite the school’s curriculum. Together with skilled teaching assistant, Mrs Jones, they also individually assessed the needs of each child and worked closely with them to make great progress in all three subjects.
Mrs Cox says: ‘I am immensely proud of what we have all achieved as a school family. We are a member of the Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Multi Academy Trust, who have supported recruitment and retention of an excellent team by investing in wellbeing and ongoing CPD, whilst we work hard in school to create a happy, friendly and nurturing environment in which each and every one of our pupils can flourish!’
