A Parental Guide to Assessment and Reporting in Key Stage 2 at Kirkburton Middle School

Reporting to Parents

Four times a year parents will receive reports on their child’s progress in school. One of these will be the established Parents’ Evening with an opportunity for parents to discuss attainment and progress with subject staff. There will also be three additional written reports.

Attitude to Learning (ATL) Report - Term 1

  • A pathway target for reading, writing and maths.
  • A judgement in relation to effort, behaviour and homework in all subjects

Interim Report - Term 2

  • An end of year forecast grade
  • A further ATL judgement to ascertain whether current effort levels are acceptable.
  • Where effort is judged to be below expectations, further details will be provided as to why this is the case e.g. homework, behaviour in class.

Full Report - Term 3

  • An end of year attainment grade for all subjects.
  • A final ATL judgement.
  • A form tutor comment.

Report example

Year 6 Pathway

The Initial Year 6 Pathway Banding allocated is based on Prior Performance, Baseline Assessments and Statistical Predictions. All Year 6 pathway estimates are initially assigned based on Teacher Assessments submitted in English and Maths by First School teachers at transfer and the scores pupils achieved in their GL assessment entry tests for English and Maths (taken in September). These estimates are in place so teachers can ensure they pitch their lessons at the correct level ensuring all pupils in their class are challenged accordingly in order to ensure they make excellent progress.

In Year 6 we use the following pathway grades which are based on age related expectations.

  • ‘Working towards’ – working below age related expectations
  • ‘Meeting’ – working at age related expectations
  • ‘Enhanced’– working beyond age relation expectations

Year 6 End Forecast

Throughout the year, teachers monitor the progress of all pupils against the assessment criteria for each pathway. Pupil progress varies throughout the year and from topic to topic and so the ‘year end forecast' column is a best fit of all the current assessment information. When a child is forecast as being below their pathway, it may be that your child is not making the necessary progress as a result of their ATL levels in school. As such the Year End Forecast should always be read in conjunction with the ATL column grade. A forecast below the assigned pathway may also indicate that the required skills and knowledge at various formative and summative assessment points since the start of the year is below what is expected.

Attitude To Learning (ATL)

A judgement made in relation to effort, behaviour and homework. Teachers have reported a single grade based on three aspects of your child’s attitude to learning; effort in class, behaviour for learning and effort with homework. We believe this is the most important grade on the report. Research shows that those pupils who try the hardest, achieve the best outcomes. This key message is regularly reinforced in school and we would ask parents do the same. Where there are concerns about an aspect of your child’s attitude to learning, the specific issue has been identified. The grade descriptors are given below.

 

1
  • demonstrates an outstanding work ethic and a passion to learn independently
  • enthusiastically embraces all opportunities for learning
  • is extremely well-organised and actively follows instructions
  • behaves exceptionally well
  • always completes homework on time and to a high standard
  • studies independently and seizes opportunities to improve

2
  • is hardworking, conscientious and determined
  • makes positive contributions and acts upon advice
  • is consistently ready to learn and follows instructions
  • behaves consistently well
  • Usually completes homework on time and to an expected standard
  • acts on opportunities to improve

3
  • needs to work harder and focus more in lessons
  • does not always persevere and produces work that is inconsistent in quality
  • can be unprepared for learning and does not always follow instructions and/or
  • sometimes behaves in a disruptive manner
  • homework - has missed more than 2 deadlines in a half term
  • sometimes produces work that lacks thought or care

4
  • lacks focus and needs frequent monitoring
  • gives up too easily and produces work that lacks thought or care
  • shows little interest in improving standards
  • often arrives unprepared for lessons
  • is uncooperative and disrupts learning
  • rarely completes homework and/or meets deadlines
  • produces work of poor quality

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Key

Effort
Behaviour
Homework

  1. Outstanding
  2. Good
  3. Requires improvement
  4. Serious cause for concern

How do we assess pupils at KMS?

Essentially we assess the learning of pupils in two ways, which act as two separate layers of assessment. These are as follows

Layer 1: Formative

Formative assessment takes place on a day-to-day basis during teaching and learning, allowing teachers and pupils to assess attainment and progress more frequently. It does not involve the grading of work but instead the teacher identifying pupils’ strengths and weaknesses, supporting them to respond to their areas for development, and adapting their teaching to help pupils improve. Formative assessment is what we want teachers to focus on most. This is because research evidence tells us that this has the greatest impact on learning. Some examples of formative assessment are:

  • Quizzes
  • Multi-choice questions
  • Retrieval activities
  • Reading or observing pupil work (either during or after a lesson)
  • Live marking (marking pupils’ work as they are completing it)
  • Breaking a complex task down into several smaller parts and assessing one part at a time
  • Spelling and vocabulary tests
  • Filling in blank knowledge organisers
  • Questioning

Layer 2: Summative

Summative assessment is sometimes called assessment of learning and is a formal method to evaluate achievement and learning against key skills/knowledge and expected standards over a period of time. The period of time may vary, depending on what the teacher wants to find out. There may be an assessment at the end of a topic, at the end of a term or half-term, at the end of a year or, as in the case of the national curriculum tests, at the end of a Key Stage. Assessments can take the form of an end of unit test, formal exam, practical performance and project work.

Who do I speak to if I have any further questions?

If you have any queries/questions about your child’s progress within a specific subject, please contact their subject teacher in the first instance.  In addition to this the calendar for Parents’ Evenings has been aligned with the school reporting schedule in order to allow much more informed discussions to take place. Where you have more general concerns i.e. across three or more subjects, please contact your child’s Form Tutor.