Assessment

At St Herbert’s we value the way in which all children are unique and our curriculum is designed to match the needs of all of our pupils. To achieve this, assessment is used continually to discover what the children know as well as what they need to learn to progress. We believe that assessment should be at the heart of every lesson so that teachers can adapt the provision swiftly and strive to challenge all of the children. These principles are set in line with the teachings of Vatican 2 and the teachings of the Gospel, namely that all children should:

“have life and have it to the full.” (Jn 10:10)

Statutory Assessment

There are a number of points through school where the children are formally assessed. These include:

·      Reception Entry Baseline Assessment

·      Year 1 Phonics Screening Check

·      Year 2 Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Speaking & Listening and Science Assessments

·      Year 6 Reading, Writing including GPS (Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling), Mathematics, Speaking & Listening and Science Assessments

Changes to Curriculum and Assessment

A new National Curriculum set out by the government was introduced in September 2014 with changes to the Y2 and Y6 SATs starting in September 2015.

This new curriculum is a ‘mastery’ curriculum. The emphasis is on depth and challenge rather than accelerating through the content.

Children who grasp concepts quickly are challenged through new, increasingly sophisticated problems and required to study the same objectives in greater depth.

The level of demand under the new curriculum is greater for each year group and content has been shifted, meaning that children are expected to study more complex objectives at an earlier stage.  

End of ‘Levels’

2015 was the final year in which children were assessed against National Curriculum levels.  Schools have been given the freedom to develop their own assessment systems, based on the new curriculum.  At St Herbert’s, grades will be reported as a number followed by a letter.  The number represents the year group's objectives that your child is working on.  The letter shows how well embedded the learning is: 

Emerging – evidence has been seen but is not secure

Developing - evidence seen more than once but not applied in enough depth

Secure – learning is firmly embedded

Mastered - applied in a range of contexts without support

Please see below for an indication of how the grade will be reported and the national expectations for each year group.

St Herbert’s Assessment System

 The government has stated that it wants the new curriculum to be more challenging. Therefore, in the short term it is very likely that your child will appear to be working at a lower standard than they were under levels.