Marking and Assessment Guidelines

Principles of Assessment at Mengham Junior School

Assessment at Mengham Junior School is at the heart of our teaching and learning. It allows meaningful tracking of pupils towards end of key stage expectations and assessment outcomes provide information for teachers, children, parents, school leaders and governors. It helps us to ensure that our teaching is appropriate and that learners are making expected progress. All of our staff are regularly trained in our approach to assessment and we have a senior leader who is responsible for assessment.

Our approach to assessment

• The main purpose of assessment in our school is to help teachers, parents and pupils plan their next steps in learning.
• Assessment consists of questioning, observation, pupil conferencing, marking and testing.
• We use the outcomes of assessment to check and support our teaching standards and help us improve.
• Through working with other schools and using external tests and assessments, we compare our performance with that of other schools.
• We assess pupils against assessment criteria, which are short, discrete, qualitative and concrete descriptions of what a pupil is expected to know and be able to do.
• Assessment criteria are derived from National Curriculum, and Hampshire assessment frameworks adapted for the needs of our pupils.
• Assessment criteria set out what children are normally expected to have mastered by the end of each year.
• The achievement of each pupil is assessed against all the relevant criteria at appropriate times of the school year.

Moderation

• Assessment judgements are moderated by colleagues in school and by colleagues in other schools to make sure our assessments are fair, reliable and valid.
• Moderation of reading, writing and maths judgments each term within school.
• Yearly validation of teacher assessments using Hampshire Inspector and Advisory Support team.
• Moderation through the year of reading, writing and maths with cluster schools.
• Moderation with infant and secondary school takes place in the summer term. 

Our use of assessment

• Assessment feedback aims to inspire pupils and inform them of their next steps in learning.
• Where possible it is done with children.
• Our pupils are assessed against the learning objective in each lesson.
• Teachers use the outcomes of assessments to summarise and analyse attainment and progress for their pupils and classes.
• Teachers use this data to plan the learning journey for every pupil to ensure they meet or exceed expectations.
• Teachers and leaders analyse the data across the school to ensure that pupils identified as vulnerable or at particular risk in this school are making appropriate progress and that all pupils are suitably stretched.
• The information from assessment is communicated to parents and pupils on a termly basis.
• Parents and pupils receive rich reports of what has been achieved and indications of what they need to do next.
• We celebrate all achievements across a broad and balanced curriculum, including sport, art and performance, behaviour, and social and emotional development. 

Cycle of Reporting and Recording 

To parents	To School	To governors and co-headteachers
Each day at the end of the day where needed. Individual meetings are recorded on CPOMs as appropriate (if the meeting was specifically regarding academic information). Parents have the chance to view and discuss their children’s learning at parents’ evening twice a year. End of year reports Summer 2.	Evidence from assessment and book monitoring kept by SLT. Pupil progress half-termly (for children off track or close to expectations).  This is termly for pupils who are secure or working at greater depth. Data entered into SIMS each term.  Pupil progress document kept alongside actions by SLT.	Co-headteachers report to governors on progression and attainment each half term through headteachers’ report and through Curriculum Committee. As a subject leader – termly with a written report to governors or headteachers.

Mengham Junior School Marking Guidelines

At Mengham Junior School we strive to be:

successful learners, healthy and confident individuals, responsible members of our community

Aims

All marking should have a clear purpose for either the child or the teacher.

Purposes of marking

• To inform the teacher of a child’s progress and needs for future planning.
• To provide feedback to the child about current work.
• To accelerate learning and challenge thinking.
• To indicate achievement and identify the next steps in learning.
• To demonstrate the value of a child’s work.
• To allow for self-assessment where the child can recognise their difficulties and mistakes and encourage them to accept help/guidance from others.
• To ensure misconceptions and errors are addressed promptly so these are not continued in subsequent learning.

Types of marking

• All marking is completed using black ink.

• Pink and green highlighters are used by the teacher or TA/HLTA. “Green for Great” indicates work which has achieved or surpassed the learning objective. “Pink for Think” is used when there is a need for further improvement. This serves to stimulate discussion and encourage children to self-evaluate their work.  This is reviewed at the next mark by the teacher. Yellow highlighter indicates an incorrect spelling to be corrected.

• Marking may include a positive evaluative comment and a constructive statement on how to improve, indicating the next steps in learning. House points are given for reward of effort and learning stars for achievement.

• A pupil conference may be used to further unpick barriers or provide intensive support.

• Scaffolded marking and use of questions are used on occasions to aid next steps where “Pink for Think” has been used. Discussion with a child is always considered the best option. 

Children’s roles and responsibilities 

• Children take ownership of what they need to do next based on the pink marking and are expected to improve work highlighted in pink.

• Children are expected to apply non-negotiables (a set of criteria created with the children in September and as the year progresses includes individual targets) in all lessons.

• Response time is built into the day to enable children to respond to teacher marking.

• Time for self-reflection of pupils’ learning is built in during each lesson, so that they are able to think about their learning. 

• Children edit their own work with a red pen during lessons. 

• Peer marking: children may, where appropriate mark another child’s work using post it notes. The teacher will always review this marking. 

• Children add GG (guided group) to each piece of work with the initials of who was leading the work and the focus of the group. ‘I’ is used to indicate work completed independently during this guided session. When appropriate, an ‘S’ is used to indicate that a piece of work has been supported by an adult.
• High frequency words and taught spellings are corrected in all books with children rewriting the correct spelling 5 times. The correct spelling is provided by the teacher. 

• T bubbles are used to indicate that the teacher would like a conversation with a child in order to support their learning.

Writing

• Any piece of extended writing will be marked in depth. This includes:
• Identifying misused/not included non-negotiables
• Addressing targets
• A focus on the learning objective for the lesson

It may also include a written comment that moves learning forward.

• Other learning in writing journals will be looked as part of the AfL process.

• Where misconceptions are identified, these are actioned at an appropriate time in the learning journey either through guided group work, pupil conferencing, pupil editing or talk for writing warm ups. 

Reading

• All reading journals are marked in depth once a week and will be dependent on the activities carried out that week. Feedback will focus on the reading skill for the lesson.  This will include a ‘Pink for Think’.  

• Spellings and non-negotiables are tackled as part of this marking.

Maths

• All Maths should be checked against the correct answers through self-marking, peer marking or teacher marking. Self and peer marking should be checked to ensure misconceptions are addressed. Marking should address misconceptions either through scaffolding, guided groups, T bubbles or follow up lessons. 

• Spellings of mathematical vocabulary and non-negotiables are tackled as part of this marking. 

Foundation

• In foundation, each child receives one in depth mark per unit. The rest of the unit will looked at as part of the AfL process.

• Spellings and non-negotiables are tackled as part of the marking.

Mengham Junior School Assessment, Recording and Reporting 

Cycle of Assessment and Recording 

Daily	Weekly	Pre unit assessment	End of unit assessment	Data	Pupil conferencing	SEN
Marking of books as per marking guidelines. Assessment for learning (AfL) within the lesson.	Spelling and phonics test – with spelling patterns recorded. Year 3 and 4 Phonics progression recorded where needed. Times tables Rock Stars recorded and on display. Reading logs checked and signed.	English Writing- cold write (where necessary). Reading – Headstart Assessment. Maths- Cold task and Hampshire planning tool pupil conference where needed.	English- Writing – hot writes alongside any other pieces of independent writing Guided reading- Headstart assessment Accelerated Reader Star assessment. Maths- Hot task. (Generally out of 20) Foundation- recorded on mark book.	Spelling test- NFER (Summer) Grammar test- NFER Headstart reading test Teacher Assessment alongside tests. Results are entered into SIMS. Venn diagram and snapshot completed Half-termly pupil progress for off track children. Termly pupil progress for all.	1 to 1 or groups of children following unaided writing. 1 to 1 or groups of children in guided reading. Information added to learning journey. 1 to 1 or groups of children in maths.	Each term: Specific interventions pre and post. Pre and post nurture Boxall Profile completed. Termly Pre and post ELSA needs assessment. All SEND information shared with SENCo, HT and class teacher and entered into Edukey termly.