Infant and Junior School Assessment Recording and Reporting Policy

This policy applies to all children in the Infant and Junior School, including the EYFS; our curriculum and provision takes into account the ages, aptitudes and needs of all our children.

Rationale

At Sheffield Girls’ Junior and Infant School, we believe that assessment is integral in helping our girls to achieve and succeed across the Fusion Curriculum. Assessment provides our staff with valuable information which enables them to plan and deliver high quality teaching and learning experiences that meet the needs of each child. It is carefully interwoven into lessons, schemes of work and the academic calendar so that our children can demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills, whilst reflecting on their own progress and taking informed action to improve.

The outcomes of assessment are used in four ways:

• Monitoring, evaluating and reporting on individual pupil progress
• Informing future curriculum planning, including provision for differentiation
• Informing reporting requirements at the end of the Foundation Stage and of each following year
• Providing feedback on academic progress to relevant stakeholders 

How do we assess?

Assessment takes various formats and a variety of assessment techniques are used to improve the quality of teaching, learning and children’s outcomes.

Informal Assessment is part of everyday teaching and learning with staff continually using Assessment for Learning strategies to elicit key information about the children during the learning process. They use this to identify and address misconceptions, adapt learning activities to ensure challenge for all, provide incisive feedback to improve learning outcomes and plan for the next steps in the learning journey. Staff also use marking to identify areas which need further development, consolidation or extension.

In order to empower our children and develop a Growth Mindset, staff foster a supportive classroom culture and encourage peer and self-assessment strategies. Children are encouraged to reflect on what they have learned and give judgements about their own learning. Constructive feedback from peers outlines successes and improvements and how these can be made.

Formal assessment gives our children, parents and staff valuable information about overall performance at specific points in the year. This is done with a range of standardised assessments and internal tests to provide information about progress in subject knowledge, understanding, skills and the next steps in learning.

Calendar of Formal Standardised Assessments

Reporting

It is imperative that our children are given feedback on their performance to support, encourage and direct their future studies. This may take the form of written or verbal comments from their teacher, positive and constructive comments from their peers or conclusions drawn from their own reflections.

We have regular opportunities to communicate with parents about progress and attainment in order to find the best way to help and support a child with their learning. These formal opportunities are scheduled in the Autumn and Spring Terms. In addition, a written interim report is sent home in the Spring Term and parents receive a full written report in the Summer Term. The annual Summer Term report to parents provides meaningful information about their child’s progress, achievements and next steps in all aspects of their learning. The EYFS reports include information on progress in each of the 7 areas of learning, as well as their attainment in relation to the 17 Early Learning Goals. Copies of these are kept in a girl’s personal file.

When providing feedback at all levels, staff will use their professional judgement which is rooted in a wide range of evidence collected during the year such as: independent work completed in lessons; discussion; observation of application of skills; learning activities and assessment tests. When drawing on these sources of evidence, the teacher will select from the following statements to judge where a child will be working at by the end of the year in comparison to the national average:

EYFS Profile Scores are submitted to Sheffield Local Authority in the Summer Term.

Termly Pupil Progress meetings are scheduled with JLT, in order to identify success and areas to improve; plan for progress; monitor individuals, groups and cohorts and track their progress and attainment over time. Key information is shared between staff, JLT, Learning Support and SLT.

Record Keeping

Copies of written reports and formal assessment data are stored in SIMS.

Teachers also keep individual records referring to attainment, skills achievement, class test scores etc.

Pupil Progress meetings are held termly and records stored electronically.

Transition to the Senior School

It is expected that all Junior School children will transfer to Year 7. Very occasionally, following continued observation and monitoring of progress, if it is felt that transfer to the Senior School at the end of Year 6 would not be in the best interest of an individual child, then parents will be contacted and advised well in advance of this time, and all efforts to support a transition to a suitable school will be made by the school.