THOMASREADECOUNTYPRIMARY SCHOOL
MARKING POLICY - AN AGREED APPROACH
This policy forms part of the Assessment, Profiling and Recording Policy.
Definition:
Marking is a strategy which involves the teacher and the child in a critical evaluation of the child's work. It usually requires a practical response from the child, either at the time or in undertaking the next piece of work. It should be a positive learning experience which contributes to an improvement in the quality of the child's work.
Aims:
We aim, through the use of marking:
i) to raise the standards of the child's work.
ii) to make clear the teacher's high expectations regarding the child's work.
iii) to identify and praise good practice.
iv) to develop good work habits in the child and encourage positive attitudes to the task in hand.
v) to develop the child's skill in evaluating his/her own work.
vi) to highlight areas requiring further attention and next steps through the provision of clear and focused strategies for improvement.
1. Factors Contributing to Effective Marking
1. The child's awareness of the learning goals aids clear target-setting for the child and the marker.
2. Clarifying the success criteria makes the marking more relevant to the child and the teacher, and provides the child with clear and understandable targets.
3. The identification of aspects contributing to high quality should be clearly communicated between teacher and the class. This will be done using the terms - we are learning to (the learning objective) and what we look for (the success criteria). The child should also be encouraged to self assess by answering the question ‘if you were marking this what would you look for?’ and relate this to their own work and the work of others.
4. Teachers' consistent use of recognised codes of marking across the school will aid the child's understanding of the marking. (see Appendix I)
5. Marking alongside the child is usually preferable to marking away from the child, but is not always practicable, especially at Key Stage II.
6. Children's evaluations of their own work and the work of others, whether oral or written will be welcomed and encouraged.
7. Communication with parents regarding our marking policy is conducive to positive co-operation between home and school in connection with raising standards.
2. Who Will Mark a Child's Work?
The child will be encouraged to evaluate his/her own work and make any amendments. The teacher is responsible for marking children's work carefully and regularly. As part of this process children may evaluate their own work or with a partner or group in the role of the critical friend.
The teacher may occasionally ask the TA to mark the work of supported children including those with SEN. Teaching Assistants may contribute to the improvement of a piece of work by a child through the use of correction, under the guidance and monitoring of the teacher.
3. When Should the Work be Marked?
Marking will be done regularly and as soon as possible in order to give prompt feedback to the child.
4. How Should the Work be Marked?
Marking is an important element of the learning process and provides the child with feedback on his/her efforts.
a) Targets and strategies for improvement are a high priority when marking, bland statements will be avoided.
b) Judgements will be honest, bearing in mind the child's age, ability and stage of development.
c) Encouragement and the importance of the positive effect of identifying strengths in a piece of work, will be borne in mind when marking.
d) Decisions will be made regarding the most appropriate kind of marking for the task. Forms of marking used will include verbal or written comments, remarks, questions, suggestions, corrections or a numerical mark or grade. This may be done by the teacher or the child in line with the principles of assessment for learning.
e) When aiming to increase a child's pace of work, it can be useful to record the length of time the work has taken.
f) When judged to be appropriate, English work may be corrected in every detail for the most able and older child. However, we are wary of destroying the child's confidence and pleasure in writing, by correcting every error in grammar, spelling and punctuation at too early a stage.
g) For details of the marking code used in English, see Appendix 1.
Reviewed - November, 2016
Date of Review – November 2018
PRESENTATION
Singing from same song sheet – high expectations. Presentation is important (OFSTED) and not just in books – anything
INSIST
Classroom should be an example
- Celebrate children’s work
- Mounting – at least once
- Everything up straight and not flapping about
- No drawing pins – pins or staples (angled for easier removal)
- Fix anything looking untidy
Handwriting
- Letter formation correct – particularly in wWP
- Joining from end of Year 3 – no pen until doing so
- Insist on joined letters always
- Some handwritten signs up so children know what is expected
- Gold star when up to expected standard in any book
Books
- Written date for Literacy – at top and middle
- Double underlined from Year 4
- Digital date in maths and science – double underlined
- Relevant title – double underlined
- Use line guides for plain paper – examples
- 1cm border in topic books, handwriting and RE books from Year 4
- Indent paragraphs – no need to miss line
- No scribbling out – a neat score through - ruler
Appendix 1 Code for Marking Written Work
Where appropriate
Reception / The youngest children are encouraged to tell the teacher what they have written - teacher may want to write a response to the child.For children who are at the transitional stage, write correct spelling of key words that teacher feels are appropriate for individual child to learn, above misspelt word.
Key Stage 1
Year 1 and 2 / __ / Underline where child needs to look at spelling/punctuation.
(Not all misspellings/punctuation errors will be underlined. The teacher will decide which according to child’s stage of development.)
^ / Missing word
Key Stage 2
Year 3,4,5 and 6 / __
T / Underlined word is in the incorrect tense
__
S / Underlined word spelt incorrectly
__
P / Punctuation missing
__
C / Capital letter missing
__
W / Wrong choice of word
^ / Missing word
// / Paragraph needed