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Brookdale Primary School

Assessments

Overview

Teachers use assessments to gain an overview of what each child already understands in each subject area and to identify their next steps in order to progress further; this information will inform teachers' planning for each subject area.

Teachers' assessment takes a variety of forms, including:

  • Observation (listening to / watching pupils undertaking independent activities)
  • Direct Questioning
  • Marking / Feedback from daily tasks completed in lessons
  • Small group work
  • One to one work with pupils
  • Pre and post-learning tasks
  • Formal assessments at the end of each unit of work
  • Pupil self-assessment and peer assessment

Attainment

Following the removal of National Curriculum Levels in 2015, children’s attainment is now recorded at the end of KS1 and KS2 in relation to age-related expectations.

At Brookdale, teachers assess pupils against the National Curriculum objectives for their year group using the terms ‘Below, Working Towards, Expected and Greater Depth’:

Below – Your child is not yet working within age-related expectations.

Working Towards – Your child is working at the beginning stages of the expectations for their year group.

Expected – Your child is working at the expected level for their year group.

Greater Depth – Your child has achieved all the objectives for their year group and is able to independently demonstrate a deep understanding, applying their knowledge in a variety of contexts.

Progress

Teachers closely monitor pupils' progress: Where pupils are not making the progress expected from their individual starting points, teachers will identify any barriers to learning and provide appropriate adaptations, support or targeted intervention to help them make progress.

Our most able pupils are challenged through a broadening and deepening of their understanding of the national curriculum objectives for their year group rather than simply moving on to the next year group's programme of study.

See an explanation of this from Tim Oates, Chair of the expert panel that informed the review of the National Curriculum from 2010 - 2013:

Testing

School-Based Tests

Teachers assess pupils in a variety of ways, including formal testing. In Years 1 to 6, we use PiXL Tests to assess pupils' understanding in Reading, GPS, Maths for their Year Group and also for the Fundamental Skills, including Character and Wellbeing.

PiXL tests (which stands for Partners in Excellence) are diagnostic classroom assessments used to determine exactly what your child knows and where they have gaps in their learning. They are not official national exams (like SATs or GCSEs) and do not go on your child’s permanent record; instead, they act as an educational 'health check' to help teachers tailor their daily lessons. 
How PiXL Works: The "DTTR" Method
The entire PiXL system revolves around a four-step cycle designed to catch children up and move their learning forward: 
  • Diagnose: Children take a PiXL test. Teachers don't just look at the final score; they use a tool called Question Level Analysis (QLA). This shows them exactly which questions your child got right and wrong (e.g., "They understand addition, but they are struggling with fractions"). 
  • Therapy: "Therapy" is just the educational word for targeted help. If the test shows a group of children missed a specific concept, the teacher will run a focused mini-lesson or booster session to teach that exact skill. 
  • Test: After the therapy, the children are given a short follow-up quiz to see if the new lesson worked and if they now understand the concept. 
  • Revisit: The teacher will bring the topic up again later in the term to ensure the knowledge has 'stuck' long-term

Below you can find the PiXL assessment schedule and a further overview of the system. 

Individualised Assessment – iASEND

For a small number of pupils, particularly those with more complex or individualised learning needs, progress may not always be best demonstrated through age-related National Curriculum expectations alone.

At Brookdale, we use iASEND to support the assessment of these pupils. iASEND enables teachers to identify and track small, meaningful steps of progress, providing a more detailed picture of what a pupil can do and what they need to learn next.

This assessment information helps staff to:

  • recognise and celebrate progress that may not be captured through standard age-related assessments;

  • identify clear and achievable next steps in learning;

  • plan appropriately personalised teaching, support and intervention;

  • monitor the impact of provision over time; and

  • ensure that assessment remains ambitious, purposeful and responsive to each pupil’s individual needs.

iASEND is used alongside our wider assessment systems and forms part of our graduated approach to supporting pupils with SEND. It helps us ensure that every pupil’s progress is recognised and that teaching is carefully planned to help them move forward from their individual starting points.

 

National Tests

During some key stages of learning, children complete national tests - these are completed by pupils in every school in England:

 

 Documents

 

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