Document Status

Date of Policy Adoption by Governing Body: January 2006

Reviewed December 2011
Next Review December 2014
Signed (Chair of Governors)
Eskdale School
Assessment Policy
Eskdale School aims:

To develop as a vibrant, dynamic community committed to the principles of Every Child Matters so
that all of our students
are safe and healthy
enjoy and achieve
make a positive contribution
experience success so that they are equipped to make their way in the world of work.


Rationale

The purpose of this document is to establish clear guidelines and recommendations for assessment
within Eskdale School. It is expected that teachers should read it and act accordingly regarding the
assessment of pupil work. Individual departmental policies should relate to assessment and reflect
the guidelines contained in this document.

Assessment is the process of obtaining, analysing and interpreting evidence for use by both pupils
and teachers to enable the review, planning and improvement of learning. It is fully integrated with
the delivery of the curriculum and is an essential component of effective classroom practice.

Assessment in Eskdale supports each pupil in the achievement of his or her full learning potential
and fosters the development of self esteem and personal responsibility. It takes place in a self
reflective context and encourages the involvement of all staff, pupils and parents.

Definitions

Summative assessment is Assessment OF Learning. It is used mainly to measure performance and
clearly identifies a standard of pupil attainment. It is carried out at the end of a period of learning,
eg:
External examinations
Internal school examinations
End of topic/unit tests and assessments

Summative Assessment
happens after the learning
proves learning has taken place
assists in measuring learning
is done to learners
is externally referenced
is focused on the outcome

Formative assessment is Assessment FOR Learning. It is ongoing and provides evidence of and for
progression in learning. It supports learning through identifying difficulties, providing feedback and
diagnosing future learning priorities.

Formative Assessment
happens during the learning
helps to improve learning
assists in growing learning
is done with learners
is personally referenced
is focused on the process

Purpose of Assessment Aims and Objectives

Purposes
to encourage pupils to recognise their strengths and weaknesses
to provide feedback to students and to look for a way forward to improve learning
to highlight achievement across the curriculum
to inform pupils, parents, staff and governors of the progress of pupils.

Aims

Assessment should help pupils to develop fully their academic abilities and self-confidence,
to develop skills which they need for reflective and independent study and to establish
shared understanding by pupils and teachers of clear and explicit study goals. In other words
to help all pupils become more effective learners.
Assessment, both formal and informal, should complement and reinforce the delivery of the
curriculum.

Objectives

To use suitable forms of assessment, based on expectations which are clear, realistic, and
understood by the pupils;
To ensure that all pupils experience challenge and a measure of success
To recognise the whole range of pupils experiences and achievement
To enable pupils to develop skills that are needed if they are to become effective learners
To provide constructive feedback to pupils, discuss weaknesses in pupils learning and offer
a remedial strategy.


Assessment for Learning

Teachers should be encouraged to integrate the following Assessment for Learning strategies into
their teaching and learning.
Learning Intentions - Clearly communicated at start of lesson/task on the board
Success Criteria - set of criteria, agreed with pupils, determining exactly what is required for
a particular task or assignment:
Effective Questioning
- More thinking time for student: eg: Think/pair/Share
- Asking questions better and asking better questions
Formative Assessment
- Set against success criteria
- self assessment/peer assessment/teacher assessment
Feedback given to pupils should be about the particular qualities of his or her work, with advice on
what he or she can do to improve, and should avoid comparison with other pupils.

Homework policy

The purpose of homework is to extend learning beyond the classroom and to diagnose the
effectiveness of teaching and learning and to develop the skills of pupils as independent learners;

Homework can take many different forms such as:

Continuing or completing class work,
Reviewing /learning new work done in class
Reading for specified purposes
Researching a given topic
Writing: answering questions or extended pieces of writing
Revision /preparation for tests / exams




Homework should:

be set regularly
be relevant
be clearly explained to pupils in terms of expected outcomes
always be recorded in pupils diaries;
be completed for the date set, otherwise appropriate sanctions will be enforced
be assessed effectively, with feedback given, either verbal or written
be differentiated according to age and ability.

Marking -from Eskdale Way of Learning

Marking and assessment should be carried out on a regular basis and measured against pupil
progress points or exam grades where appropriate.

An accurate understanding of a students current position is essential for maximising
progress. This can only be achieved through regular scrutiny of a students work.
All subjects must adhere to the agreed school marking and feedback policy including the
use of GREEN INK for teacher marking.
A copy of our current literacy improvement codes could be glued in the back of all exercise
books.
Consistent use of our literacy improvement codes is also essential. This should include
corrections of any misspelt subject specific key words (copied five times by the student).
Verbal feedback is a powerful driver for improvement and should be captured by students
using appropriate methods e.g. verbal feedback stickers in books etc.
Students responsibilities relating to assessment include: detailed self and peer-assessment
evaluation using success criteria; the completion of all follow up tasks and literacy/numeracy
corrections flagged by the teacher; keeping any learning progress pages in exercise books
and the student planner up to date. RED INK should be used to identify peer and self -
assessment.

Teachers responsibilities relating to assessment include:

Regular annotated feedback of identified pieces of work at least once a fortnight in core and
in those foundation subjects taught more than two lessons per week. Other foundation
subjects should be at least once every three weeks.
The setting and checking of appropriate follow up tasks and corrections.
The setting of clear curricular targets following all interim progress checks.
Targeted use of our literacy improvement codes.
Identification of spelling corrections for all subject specific key words (to be written out five
times by students).

Quality Assurance:

A regular book scrutiny will be carried out by SLT team to support consistency and
identify/disseminate best practice.

.

Feedback to any pupil should be about the particular qualities of his or her work, with advice on what
she or he can do to improve, and should avoid comparisons with other pupils. (Black, P. 1998)

Effective Marking helps to:
recognise pupil achievement
monitor pupil progress
provide feedback and guidance for improvement and progression
motivate and encourage pupils
record and report pupil attainment

It is essential that work is marked:
regularly and consistently
according to agreed and shared assessment criteria /outcomes
using both quantitative and qualitative criteria
for improvement, using constructive comments

It is not a requirement to mark every piece of work. In some instances oral feedback during a lesson
or peer assessment could replace marking.

It is not usually appropriate to level every piece of work. Recent research suggests that comment-
only marking is the best way to help learners improve and that comment only marking leads to a
30% improvement in students work.
(Research findings, Black & Wiliam,1998)

It is suggested that teachers mark after every third contact/lesson with students. This method
should allow for more worthwhile feedback and less superficial tick marking. However, it is
recognised that various subjects will have their own requirements.

There has been a recent Government emphasis on the importance of literacy. Eskdale is committed
to improving literacy and all departments are currently addressing this issue through consistent
marking as outlined above. It is generally agreed, across the school, that spellings should be
corrected (this could be a limited number of spellings and/or subject specific spellings). All subjects
should promote punctuation and the use of paragraphs.

In order to standardise the marking of literature, the following symbols should be used.


From Eskdale Way of Learning
Key pieces of work must be marked using the agreed codes for consistency and clarity.


Literacy

SP Spelling error
P Punctuation error
// New paragraph needed
/ New sentence needed
C Capital letter needed or missing
^ Something missing
T The wrong tense
? This doesnt make sense


A spelling mistake will be circled
Students to make corrections
A punctuation mistakes will be circled -
Students to make corrections





Unclear writing will be underlined with a
wavy line

* The teacher may wish to write the correct spelling or encourage students to find correct
spellings.

GCSEs

As a Key Stage 3 school, Eskdales primary focus for assessment and progress relies on the use of
levels. However, all subject departments liaise with Caedmon School and Whitby Community
College to ensure a smooth transition from Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 4. All subjects teach part of the
relevant GCSE in Year 9. Additionally, there are other opportunities for Year 9 students to work on
GCSEs. For example, the Maths department offer GCSE Statistics. There are also various option
choices open to Year 9 students which are timetabled throughout the academic year.

Record Keeping and Target Setting

It is the responsibility of each teacher to keep records of students levels, progress and targets.

The eportal system requires all teachers to record levels, application to learning grades and a
measure of whether each student is achieving targets.

Following an analysis of student progress by Learning Managers, teachers are expected to detail
interventions which will promote progress.

Reporting to Parents

There are regular measures to report to parents through Progress Reports and Parents Evenings. A
full Record of Achievement is issued at the end of Year 9.

Responsibilities

The Assessment Policy and its implementation across departments is monitored by the Headteacher,
Assistant Heads and Learning Managers. A further tool to evaluate assessment processes is through
Performance Management and the judgements made by Team Leaders.


Subject Teachers

It is the responsibility of Subject Teachers to implement departmental/whole School policies on
assessment, to mark in accordance with departmental policy in a positive, accurate, meaningful and
formative manner, to compile and maintain individual pupil records, report to pupils, parents and
staff on pupil progress and liaise with the relevant Learning Manager, regarding individual pupil
concerns or support.

Learning Managers

It is the responsibility of the Learning Managers to collate assessment information, analyse the data
and encourage good practice across the school.

Pupils

Pupils should be encouraged to participate in a process of self assessment in an attempt to reflect
upon their own learning with the objective of improving their own learning. Pupil self assessment
involves:
Taking responsibility for the organisation of their work
Keeping records of activities and achievements
Setting attainable targets and implementing strategies to meet these targets

Parents /Guardians

Parents/guardians should be encouraged to support their children as much as possible, in particular
ensuring that appropriate time is dedicated to study at home, whether in preparation for
examinations or for the completion of homework.


Additional Information regarding levelling under the new National Curriculum Guidelines

Rationale.

At Eskdale School we are ambitious for all our pupils to make progress whatever their starting
points. The new KS3 National Curriculum indicates the knowledge, skills and understanding that
should be acquired over time.

Currently we are continuing to report levels for Y8 and Y9 this is due to our position of being a KS3
school and also expecting a OFSTED inspection within the next 12-18 months, so we need to be able
to robustly evidence our progress with these year groups.

However in Y7 we are now working on the new curriculum, being mindful that the subject content
that has moved to KS2 will still need to be taught for the next two years at least.

The first point was for staff to decide the skills knowledge and understanding that a typical Y7
should acquire. This would be the minimum for the majority of our Y7 pupils. (60 % arrive at L4,
around 20% are below L4 and 20% above L4).

According to the 2013 matrices for pupils achieving L4b at KS2 their progress was as follows:

Maths
78% grade C or higher (57% =C, 18%=B, 3% =A)
English
73% achieved grade C or higher (50%=C, 20%=B, 3%=A)

To ensure that there was realistic challenge for those arriving below and above L4 we have also
provided a support and challenge curriculum within lessons via systems such as Learning Journeys.



The following table shows a potential flight path for pupils arriving at different KS2 levels.

Assumptions:
Pupils make linear progress

However - Pupils would be able to move up to the next level at any point. We expect some of those
arriving below L4 will catch up due to interventions and move accordingly to the next level.








KS2 Level on
Entry


By End of Y7

By End of Y8

By End of Y9

By end of
Y10

By End of
Y11

Grade
A*/A/B
New 7,8,9



X Grade B/C
New 4,5,6



X

Grade
D/E/F
New 1,2,3



X



L5/L6



X



L4
X



Below L4




The new grades for GCSE have been inserted.

Accelerated
x Secure
Developing


Pupils will be given a target level and a level that they can aspire to. Currently several subject areas
are trialling the following:

OK at Amber this covers the work that they should be familiar with and all their work should
reflect the skills in this section,
Going for Green the target for the end of the year or topic,
Pushing for Purple the higher level challenges that we encourage all pupils to aim for.

Amber, Green and Purple levels are personalised to the pupil or group if setted.

There is currently some reference to levels but this will be phased out as staff and pupils become
more familiar with our new system.

Parents. We will report three times a year to parents. They will receive information about the band
their child is currently in and whether their child is on track to make the required progress. We will
also report their childs application to Learning (A2L) this ensures that pupils are challenged and also
that pupils who have SEN are also seen to make progress.


Parents will also have access to information on our website showing the typical progress for Y7
pupils. There will be two parents evenings that will focus on what the child can do and what their
next steps are to make the progress expected or exceed it where appropriate.

This rationale will be explained to parents at our You Say meeting in October 2014 and adjusted as
necessary.

All staff will report in autumn about the Application to Learning level, Maths English and Science will
also submit a tracking level after October half term.

There will be 4 further data harvests and staff will be accountable for the progress in their groups
and this will be discussed at meetings after the data submission.

Interventions will focus on those pupils not on track to make progress at their level.

We will also measure reading age and spelling age on entry and will retest to monitor progress. We
will introduce a baseline in maths next year. Some areas such as Art, ICT, and PE currently baseline
Y7 on entry.