10th October 2014

Dear Parent/Carer,

As you may already be aware we work closely with Symphony Primary School Partnership. This is 13 schools that have chosen to work together with a clear focus on school improvement. This partnership also helps us replace some of the functions we used to gain from the Local Authority before things changed significantly. We have recently attracted funding from the LA to support our ‘Triad Work’ where Head Teachers carry out supportive visits to each other’s schools to help identify the strengths of each school and the next steps. Our main area of work throughout 2014 has been working on developing a new assessment system which we have already begun selling to other schools throughout the country.

Why a New Assessment System?

The Government removed National Curriculum levels for describing pupil’s attainment from September 2014 and has stated “it will be for schools to decide how they assess pupils’ progress”. A new National Curriculum has also been introduced this September. Y2 and Y6 will, for this academic year only, be assessed against the old National Curriculum levels.

With levels removed and the focus now on raising the achievement of every pupil, each school has to choose whatever measure of pupil attainment and progress they feel is most appropriate.Schools are required to have some form of monitoring system in place in order to report progress to Ofsted and to parents, even if they have greater freedom in the assessment framework they use. Whatever day-to-day assessment system schools opt for, the need for pupils to be tested against some form of benchmark during the course of each year is clear. Each school needs to be able to demonstrate how well their pupils have learned and what progress they are making, ensuring that they are on track to meet expectations and taking action if individual pupils are falling behind.

A New Way Forward

Our teachers are now using Symphony Assessment System (SAS) to assess all of our children which has been written by teachers and leaders from all of the schools within Symphony Primary Partnership. This enables teachers to assess pupils againstage-related expectations. In Reading, Writing and Mathematics, children work towards end of year expectations. In all other subjects, children are either judged as Emerging, Expected or Exceeding age-related expectations.

Steps and Milestones

The new National Curriculum defines clear steps for pupils to make towards age-related expectations. This can be seen in the attached document. We have chosen to share the National Curriculum with you and Governors in this manner as it provides the necessary information in a less weighty manner. If you wish to look at the new curriculum in more detail you can find the full document at:

The Symphony Assessment System translates these age related expectations into meaningful descriptors for teachers to measure against. The descriptors for each milestones have been defined by experienced teachers and leaders within Symphony Primary Partnership including both Miss Lenton and myself and they meet the expectations of the new Primary National Curriculum.

Examples of the sheets teachers use are included as part of this pack but you can also view in more detail on our website

Expectations

Grades
Term 1
Beginning
(C) / Term 2
Within
(B) / Term 3
Secure
(A)
(end of year expectation)
Year 1 / 1B / 1W / 1S
Year 2 / 2B / 2W / 2S
Year 3 / 3B / 3W / 3S
Year 4 / 4B / 4W / 4S
Year 5 / 5B / 5W / 5S
Year 6 / 6B / 6W / 6S

These are how we will now refer to children’s attainment. So the number at the beginning refers to children working at that age expected level for a year group. For example a Year 5 child might be expected to be achieving a grade 5S. It is important to be aware that the expectations of the new National Curriculum (and as a result SAS) are far higher than the old National Curriculum. We are finding therefore that this Autumn term is a period of adjustment as the majority of children ‘catch up’ with the new, higher expectations. All schools throughout the country will also be experiencing this. The clarity of our system is enabling us to identify clearly the areas of the curriculum that children haven’t experienced previously and provide precise learning experiences which enable children to develop these new skills and knowledge base quickly.

As a school we are well ahead of the game and at the forefront of supporting other schools both locally and nationally. All 13 of the schools within Symphony are using SAS which also enables us to work together to check our understanding of the SAS statements and the level we expect children to be working at to achieve each grade. I have been involved in presenting our system to a wide variety of schools and a number of events are being hosted by Symphony Headteachers in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire to support other schools in how to develop their own assessment models.

Communication with Parents

The ways in which we share with you how your child is achieving and progressing won’t change. At Parents’ Evening we will continue to tell you whether your child is achieving at, above or below the national average and the progress they have made. It will be us as professionals using SAS to inform our judgements. Please be aware at the meeting next week however, this may be lower than has been previously reported to you, due to the higher expectations now expected under the new National Curriculum as explained above.

Our report format at the end of the academic year will remain exactly the same too.

In Bradgate and Old John Class new targets will be set for all the children using statements based upon SAS statements and shared with children, yourselves and displayed in the classroomin exactly the same way as previously. In Tyburn Class though the children won’t have separate targets given to them. We have rewritten the sheets that are stuck in the front of children’s book to relate to the statements from SAS and the children will use these to identify along with Miss Lenton and Mr Wright where their learning is now and what their next steps are. Both Miss Lenton and the children in Tyburn Class last year used these sheets very effectively to identify pieces of their work which showed how their learning had moved forward and also what was their next area of focus. We found last year that separate targets became less relevant due to how confidently the children could use these. Children will include in their Home School Books aspects of their learning that they are working upon to improve their work to enable you as Parents and Carers to support your child within this instead of targets. This will happen approximately once a month

Those of you who have children on the Special Educational Needs Record will also have been used to having an Individual Education Plan written about your child and shared with you. We have also found these increasingly to be another aspect of recording that doesn’t help move children’s learning forward. All children within our school are very carefully tracked and monitored to ensure that their specific needs are met. Specific gaps any children have in their skills or knowledge base will then be identified and learning programmes developed to support children’s next steps. Your child’s class teacher will discuss these with you at Parents’ Evening. AN IEP isn’t a statutory document but has been used by schools for many years to share to monitor support children have received. I feel as a school we have moved beyond the need for this, as too have many other schools locally and nationally.

As SENCo and Headteacher I am very involved within the monitoring ofthe progress your child makes and am more than happy to discuss this with you further if you have any concerns.

You will notice when you look at your child’s work next week that they now only have two books. They continue to record their Mathematics work in a Maths Book but all their other learning they now complete in one book. The aim of this is to help all our children see links between their learning and to appreciate how the comments made within their English lessons also apply to all their other writing. As we now deliver all of our topic work based upon the IPC (International Primary Curriculum your child’s learning has become even more interlinked and this is another reason for recording in one book. Children will obviously get through a number of these books within the year but it will help them, as well as staff and yourselves to clearly see the progress they make throughout the year

At both Parents’ Evenings next week I will have examples of our Symphony Assessment System to show you and answer any specific questions you may have about the information contained within this pack. If you wish to discuss things privately we can meet in my office. It is for this reason that I am unable to supervise any children whilst you meet with your child’s teacher and once again I respectfully ask you not to bring children along to Parents’ Evening.

I hope you have found the information contained within this pack useful and will help you feel more informed when you discuss your child’s work with their Class Teacher next week.

Yours sincerely

Mrs C Chorlton

P.S We are aware of what else our acronym stands for, was one of the reasons we chose the name. A sense of humour as a Headteacher is so important!