Assessment, Progress and Reporting to Parents
Pupil progress and assessment are at the heart of our curriculum to ensure pupils develop as noted in the ‘four purposes’ by
preparing for appropriate progress ensuring that the curriculum is underlined by the progression principles noted in the ‘Progression Code’.
being suitable for learners of all ages, abilities and talents
being broad and balanced
developing a shared understanding of progression, progress and assessment
Assessment and Progress
Assessment has three main roles in the process of enabling learner progression:
Supporting individual learners on an ongoing, day-to-day basis
Identifying, capturing and reflecting on individual learner progress over time
Understanding group progress in order to reflect on practice.
According to the Curriculum and Assessment Act (2021) , the statements of what matters code and the progression code must be used as a basis for curriculum and assessment procedures in schools. We use the descriptions of learning for each of the statements of what matters in order to assess and plan for learner progress. These correspond to the approximate ages of 11, 14 and 16 and offer guidance on how our learners should show progression in each statement. These should not be used as a check list, but rather should be taken into consideration when planning for the progress of our learners.
The school will be fulfilling the curriculum assessment purposes as follows:
As a school we have invested heavily in the area of assessment for learning and formative assessment and these are now firmly established. Ongoing formative assessment of a high standard in the classroom provides a clear picture of achievement and next steps for the learners and practitioners. We will continue to ensure that this assessment effectively steers the pace and direction of the learning.
Supporting individual learners on an ongoing, day-to-day basis. The school has worked to ensure that written and oral feedback to learners is specific and constructive and that the guidance on how to improve is clear and useful to the learners.
We emphasise the importance of ensuring a shared understanding of progress across practitioners in the school and regular discussions are held with parents and guardians to discuss their child’s progress.
Welsh Government presentation on Assessment for Learning within the context of Curriculum for Wales
Reporting to parents
A comprehensive questionnaire and forum was shared with parents and guardians about assessment in the summer term of 2022. This useful feedback has made a valuable contribution when adapting arrangements for reporting to parents and guardians. A summary of responses is available below.
We are continuing to refine arrangements for reporting to parents and guardians including progression steps, cross-curricular skills, cross-cutting themes and integral skills.
