Assessment of the curriculum is a key aspect of how we ensure all children make the best possible progress. We aim for all children to know more, do more and remember more.

Lesson Observation: Teachers link back to pupils’ prior learning and reinforce key ideas, they use open-ended questioning to check understanding and adjust planning to pitch work appropriately etc.

Pupil discussions: There are regular opportunities for senior leaders, subject leaders and class teachers to evaluate the impact of the curriculum in terms of pupils building on prior learning, retaining key ideas, skills and concepts, making use of feedback and recognising next steps. Pupils also identify improving learning behaviours in line with the school’s ‘Curriculum Drivers’.

Work Scrutiny:  Senior leaders and subject leaders have regular opportunities to check for consistency of provision across the curriculum, implementation of policies on marking and feedback, pitch of work and opportunities for independent work.

Subject Reviews: Our school often organises subject reviews within the school and including external parties in order to look at delivery of a subject across the school. These reviews prioritise identifying whether sequencing is effective, to check for ‘gaps’ and for teachers’ subject knowledge (and CPD implications), as well as identifying and sharing particularly good practice.

Progress Meetings: There are regular discussions between senior leaders and class teachers to review pupil progress and curriculum implementation, identify pupils in danger of falling behind, identify professional development priorities. From these, clear actions are identified and implemented to ensure all children make the best possible progress.

Recording and analysing attainment and progress: Detailed records are maintained of pupils’ performance in key areas such as phonics (Read Write Inc), early reading and mathematics and termly judgements of attainment in core subjects relative to national expectations. Analysis provides an overview of performance including year groups/classes requiring more support and variation in progress of different groups of pupils.

Internal and external moderation: There are regular opportunities for teachers to share judgements of current performance and next steps both across year groups within school and with colleagues in other local schools (via SSELP). This draws on the expertise of colleagues in school who have operated as external moderators for both the local learning partnership and the Local Authority.

Identification of and support for pupils requiring additional support: Ongoing systems identify children needing to make accelerated progress, particularly those most affected by the periods of lockdown. Monitoring strategies are also used to evaluate the effectiveness of provision.

Transition arrangements: Internal transition meetings are held to pass on key information to the next teacher and to minimise any disruption to progress. There are well-established systems developed with the feeder secondary schools to provide key assessment information. More detailed records are made available for all SEND pupils and other vulnerable pupils.

Reporting to parents: We hold parents’ evenings in the autumn and spring terms and annual reports in summer. Efforts are made to cover not only academic performance but also progress made in learning behaviours as exemplified in the school’s ‘Curriculum Drivers’.

Reporting to governors: Termly judgement summaries, as well as key findings from analysis, are made available to governors as well as significant issues identified by other assessment activities. These inform school improvement priorities.

The role of the teacher

• Teachers plan lessons to meet the needs of the pupils in their class.
• They review their planning regularly and make necessary adjustments to ensure all children make the best possible progress.
• Teachers provide feedback to pupils in order for them to improve. Our feedback policy prioritises whole class feedback for maximum impact on the greatest number of children, alongside small group and individual feedback as necessary.
• Teachers regularly attend internal moderation with colleagues from across the school as well as external moderation with colleagues from SSET and SSELP.
• Teachers identify pupils who are not on track with their learning and those that have fallen behind. They plan opportunities for these children to catch up.
• Teachers provide key transition information for new teachers (within school and as pupils move on to secondary school) so that children can continue to make good progress as they move on.
• Across units of work, teachers reflect on the concepts that they are teaching to ensure that they build on prior learning and regularly review what has already been taught.
• Teachers identify curriculum links, in particular related to the school’s key drivers.
• Teachers develop the whole child and implement strategies related to the zones of regulation and trauma informed schools.
• Teachers use open ended questions to encourage children to deepen their thinking.
• Teachers conduct day to day assessments during sessions and post lessons to identify areas of strength and next steps. A key strategy in our maths curriculum is Same Day Intervention which teachers plan based upon gaps in learning so that children keep up with their class’ content.
• End of block White Rose Maths tests and summative tests, as well as termly Cornerstones Reading assessments are used to track children’s attainment and progress.
• Teachers record children’s attainment using Point In Time Assessments (PITA) each term.
• Teachers implement retrieval practice strategies to ensure children regularly revisit key concepts and knowledge is committed to long term memory.
• Teachers report to parents formally during parents’ evening and school reports, and informally through ClassDojo, telephone calls and in conversation.

The role of the subject leader

• Subject leaders regularly drop in to lessons to see learning in action.
• Subject leaders review lesson planning to ensure it is meeting the curriculum requirements and also matching the needs of the learners.
• Subject leaders collect samples of work to review the standards in their subject.
• Subject leaders discuss with pupils to gain the children’s insight into their subject.
• Subject leaders work alongside class teachers, the SLT and external reviewers to evaluate standards in their subject.
• Subject leaders analyse data for their subject to ensure their subject provides the best possible progress for all children.
• Subject leaders report to governors about standards within their subject.

The role of the Senior Leadership Team

• The SLT conduct regular lesson drop-ins to monitor and evaluate standards.
• The SLT implement CPD for teachers and subject leaders.
• The SLT review planning to ensure curriculum and coverage and to ensure lessons are adjusted to meet the needs of all learners.
• The SLT conduct work scrutiny to ensure high standards are achieved.
• The SLT discuss the curriculum with pupils to ensure the curriculum has impact.
• The SLT organises moderation exercises. 2 members of the SLT are city-wide moderators (Year 2 and Year 6) and they hold regular moderation meetings for teachers from across SSELP.
• The SLT collate data and analyse to track the progress of individuals and groups.
• The SLT ensure that pupils who are below ARE or who are falling behind are provided with learning opportunities in order to catch up.
• The SLT report to governors about the standards within school.
• The SLT create and implement the School Improvement Plan linked to the key trends identified from assessments.