Parent Guide

Assessment Overview

Each term our teachers report every child’s progress in all 13 subjects (17 areas of learning for Early Years), choosing one of the following 4 judgements:

Teachers use a comprehensive list of very specific criteria against which to assess (we refer to these as objectives). You can find a comprehensive list of these objectives using the link below.

To assess against these criteria, teachers use:

• their daily interactions with children: questions asked, answered and work produced (formative assessment)
• formal assessments: end of unit assessments or tests* (summative assessment)
• national statutory assessments: tests as stipulated by the Department for Education in specified year groups (evaluative assessment)

* ‎We use tests sparingly so as not to create unnecessary anxiety for our children or lose valuable teaching time. However, tests do have their place both in terms of affirming teacher judgements and preparing children for the future. However these inform not dictate teacher judgements, e.g. a teacher may place less emphasis on a low test performance based on a child’s excellent contributions and work in class. Our children are far more than a score and we want to reassure parents that when evaluating their progress, we do so using a broad and comprehensive evidence bank, utilising our rich knowledge of each child to ensure judgements are fair, accurate and useful

Please note teachers make their professional judgements based on what they see within, not beyond, school.