Assessment of Learning
Assessment at Alverstoke Junior School
At Alverstoke Junior School we have adopted the Hampshire model of assessment for tracking attainment and progress in reading, writing and maths. The model follows the principle of arranging the key objectives from the national curriculum for a given year group into three phases and each subject divided into a number of domains. ‘These domains enable teachers to assess progression within and across the subject, taking account of the inter-relationship of concepts’. Teachers assess where children are in November, February and April. The summer term is spent consolidating the work of all three phases ready for a final judgement in July.
‘A key principle of the Hampshire Assessment Model is that pupils should demonstrate their capacity to apply all aspects of the national curriculum with sufficient fluency, independence and resilience given their age and the expectations of their year group.’
At AJS, teachers use Insight, which is an online tracking system, to record formative and summative assessments in reading, writing and maths. The software produces a variety of reports which enable the school leaders and staff to track cohorts and individuals based on their starting points.
The school provides parents with a written report in July, summarising where their child is in relation to end of year expectations for their year group. Their progress towards this will also have been discussed at Pupil Progress meetings with parents in October and February.
However, assessment is much more than just summative judgements made at the end of a unit of work or year of work. Our staff have formative assessments at the heart of what they do in the classroom. This is assessment which informs learner’s next steps, either in that lesson or for the next day. It enables the learner to know where they are, where they need to get to and, perhaps most importantly how they are going to get there. This is known as assessment for learning and is all about a dialogue between the teacher and the pupil.