Assessment

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

Children in the EYFS will continue to be assessed against the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP for short). This consists of Ages and Stages criteria for nursery learners moving into Early Learning Goals for Reception aged learners.

At the end of Reception these are reported as Emerging, Expected or Exceeding the Early Learning Goals in each area.

Evidence is gathered across the year to create ‘Learning Journeys’ for all children in EYFS and we value all contributions from parents and carers to these documents.

Assessment in EYFS is gathered through observations of learners, samples of learning, photographs and conversations which demonstrate the child’s understanding of a given concept.

In addition to this, staff identify the learning behaviours of children and plan lessons and activities to develop a wide range of learning skills in preparation for the next stage in their education Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2). 

Years 1 to 6

In line with the New National Curriculum and raised expectations, children will be assessed in a number of ways.

Staff are teaching from the National Curriculum and covering all requirements for the specific year groups. These are called ‘End of Year Expectations’.

The ‘End of Year Expectations’ have been taken from the New National Curriculum and state the minimum requirements a learner must meet in order to ensure continued progress throughout the year in line with age expected standards.

The ‘End of Year Expectations’ for Reading, Writing, Maths and Science for the year group your child is in can be viewed by clicking the relevant year group below. 

Year 1     Year 2     Year 3     Year 4     Year 5     Year 6

Any gaps identified in learning for the children due to the increased expectations will be covered and staff have worked together to ensure that the coverage for children is in place.

Children are assessed against the each area in terms of whether, at each stage, they are Emerging, Developing, Secure or Mastering.

• Emerging: Yet to be secure in the end of year expectations.
• Developing: Secure in the majority of the end of year expectations.
• Secure: Secure in almost all or all the end of year expectations
• Mastering: secure in all of the end of year expectations and is able to use and apply their knowledge and skills confidently across a range of areas. 

The curriculum focuses very much on ensuring children have a breadth of understanding within the concepts and skills they learn. The application of skills and understanding across a wide range of curriculum areas is key. Rather than moving ‘up’ the stages, the focus is on moving ‘outwards’ developing a deeper understanding. 

Staff continue to differentiate all activities to ensure that all learners’ needs are met. 

Gathering evidence of learners progress and development will continue with a wide range of formative assessment; (day to day assessment through learning completed, observations, conversations and guided sessions) which will inform staff’s planning and also summative assessment (more formal assessment/tests) which will play a part in the overall assessment and progress checks for learners at set times in the year. 

The end of year expectations in the new curriculum are more challenging than the old curriculum. This may result in children, who have previously achieved the old end of year expectations, being described as working towards the higher expectations of the new curriculum. We would like to emphasise that this does not mean your children have not made progress and when assessments are shared at the end of the year we will continue to include the amount of progress that your child has made over the year.