Assessment
Assessment at Highfield School
Key Stage One and Two (Years One - Six)
You may be aware that all schools are now able to choose which assessment and reporting systems they use and how they carry out their 'in house assessments'.
At Highfield, we consider what really matters to us, to you and to your children when it comes to assessing and moving pupils forward with their learning. How we report to you and whether (or not) you understand the information is key.
In developing our system, we consulted with a small group of parents and governors, attended national conferences to debate the merits of different assessment systems and worked collaboratively with the local Blacon Schools, including the High School.
The outcomes of this consultation are outlined below.
Highfield School will now:
- Report to parents more frequently using a simple format, reflecting the needs of the parents we consulted with.
- Record your child's progress using a commercially produced computer tracking system known as Insight.
- Assess more regularly as part of our day to day lessons using Insight to help us identify what skills your child is showing us and what they need to be able to master next.
- Talk about what skills your child is demonstrating that are in line with Age Related National Expectations rather than using levels and letters.
- Raise the profile of tracking your child's communication skills - we believe this is a vital life skill and is a core part of our curriculum.
- Change the process of the traditional parents' consultation evenings to include more opportunities to talk with you and your child: finding out what you all feel are strengths in learning, preferred learning styles, setting targets and the best way to use any additional funding that your child is entitled to.
Early Years' Learning Journeys
For those of you who have already had a child in Nursery or Reception in the last few years, you will know that we use online Learning Journeys in Nursery and Reception so that you can log on at your leisure and track your child's development. We used a secure parent password system called 'Tapestry'. This provides us with greater precision when tracking individuals, groups and whole classes of children, and allows you to add information too!
If you have any questions about our assessment systems, please speak to your child's class teacher for more help.