CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT AT

LADBROOKE JMI SCHOOL

SEPTEMBER 2015

Since September 2014 there have been significant changes to the primary curriculum and the

arrangements for assessment.

The aim of this meeting is to explain how our curriculum has been built up over the past few years, how we have adapted it with the new

changes and how we have amended our assessment in light of the recent changes.

THE CURRICULUM

MATHSOur maths curriculum is organised into blocks.

Before teaching a block a pre test is given to see what the children know and then work is planned around this.

Within each block, skills are taught, time is allowed to practise new skills and then children have the opportunity to apply skills in different situations.

With the start of the new curriculum, time was spent identifying the changes and ensuring our blocks were adapted to take the changes into account.

In lessons different challenges are set to ensure all children are being challenged at their own level.

ENGLISHIn KS1 the majority of the English curriculum is taught through our phonics programme Read, Write Inc.

From Y2 to Y6, our curriculum is designed around real life texts and non fiction styles of writing.

Non-Fiction units begin with a short task to find out what the children know. The unit is then taught by unpicking good quality texts and identifying ‘What a good one looks like’ (WAGOLL). An independent task completes each unit.

Real life texts are carefully chosen to enhance children’s experiences. Books like ‘Goodnight Mr Tom, Butterfly Lion and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe provide the basis for English blocks.

ENGLISHThrough developing units of work around different texts, we can introduce children to a range of different authors.

As the children read the texts and develop comprehension skills they will also have the opportunity to apply the skills of different non-fiction writing that they have learnt e.g. in Goodnight Mr Tom they may write persuasive letters to persuade families to take in evacuees or write reports on World War II.

Through all the units of work in English, high quality modelling and questioning is used and children are encouraged to share ideas and ‘magpie’ good ideas.

FOUNDATION SUBJECTSOur foundation subjects are mainly taught through the creative curriculum (topic). Our creative curriculum has been in place for 4 years now.

Some subjects are taught separately.– PE is taught by Mr Henry and class teachers - At KS2 Science is linked where possible- RE is blocked and taught outside the topics- French at KS2 is taught by Madame Elena

The creative curriculum is taught on a two year cycle so year groups plan together.- Foundation 1 and Foundation 2- Year 1 and 2- Year 3 and 4- Year 5 and 6

FOUNDATION SUBJECTSWe spent a whole year planning our curriculum and consultation took place with children and parents on what they wanted from the curriculum.

From this we developed our two year cycle.

We identified key skills that we wanted the children to achieve in each subject area and matched these to the creative curriculum topics.

Each topic was then organised to start with a launch – this could be a trip somewhere, a workshop in school or a special activity (balloon launch|) and end with a topic finale – multicultural afternoon, VE tea party.

The children are asked what they know about the topics and then what they would like to know. The answers to these questions are then built into the topic planning by the teachers.

Displays around the school are built up throughout the topic to reflect the children’s work.

OTHER SUBJECTSPHYSICAL EDUCATION - Each class from Y1-Y6 will have two session of PE a week. One session is taken by the class teacher and the other is taken by Mr Henry. Mr Henry is part of Challenge Education an outside company who we buy into.

In year 3 and Year 4 the children go swimming. The aim of these session is that all children will be able to swim 25m by the end

FRENCH – Children in Y3-6 will have one hour of French a week taught by Madame Elena. In these lessons the children will develop speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.

RE is often taught in separate blocked units across the term

SCIENCE – Science is taught as a separate subject each week. Where possible we have matched the units to the creative curriculum e.g. In the topic on inventions, we have matched the science unit of magnets and springs.

ASSESSMENT

ASSESSMENTPrior to September 2014, all children were assessed using a series of levels.

1c – 1b – 1a – 2c – 2b – 2a – 3c – 3b – 3a – 4c – 4b – 4a – 5c – 5b – 5a – 6c – 6b

An average Y2 child was expected to be a 2b, by the end of Y4 they should be a 3b and by the end of year 6 a 4b.

In September 2014 the levels were removed for Y1,3,4,5. In September 2015 the levels were removed for all year groups.

All schools were then given the responsibility to come up with their own methods for assessing pupils and tracking progress across the school.

At Ladbrooke we decided that we did not want to rush into any system so we spent last year developing our system that we are now using in all year groups from Y1 – Y6.

ASSESSMENTMany things in the school have stayed the same:

We will still continue to find out what the children already know before we start teaching so we are not spending time teaching things they already know.

We will continue to assess as we teach in lessons – challenging misconceptions and ensuring children are making progress in each lesson.

We will continue to adapt our planning in light of assessments and change lessons and adapt them when necessary.

We will continue to provide children with different challenges so they can choose the level appropriate to them.

We will continue to use success criteria so children know what is expected of them and so they can assess how well they are doing for themselves.

We will continue to mark books in a way that will show children what they are doing well and what they need to do to get better.

We will continue to ensure children are part of the learning process.

ASSESSMENTWe started our journey away from levels by looking at the national curriculum. This is what we are required to teach so it made sense to start here.

From here we then looked at the KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS identified by the National Association of Head Teachers. These are the key objectives that are in the national curriculum

We then developed assessment sheets for reading, writing and maths. By using the Herts for Learning best fit criteria, we could then, at the end of the year make a judgement on all our children and track their progress

At the end of the year the children will be either working Below the expected standard (less than 25% of the criteria met) Developing the expected standard (between 25 and 60% of the

criteria met) Secure in the expected standard (between 60% and 80% of the

criteria met) Exceeding the expected standard(over 80% of the criteria met)

ASSESSMENTIt is expected that children will be secure in their year group expectations by the end of the year.

Good progress would be moving from secure in one age group to secure in the next.

At the end of the last academic year, we sat down and assessed our children based on the new curriculum. We are now working with the new curriculum to ensure that all children are working securely in the age expectations. This is a challenging task for all teachers and pupils

END OF KEY STAGE 1 AND 2 ASSESSMENTS

At the end of KS1 and KS2 (Y2 and Y6) the children will sit assessments. In year 2 these are marked internally but in year 6 these are sent away. The tests taken are as follows

As a result of these tests, the children will be given a scaled score with 100 representing the expected standard. The progress the children make will be based on the difference in these scores from KS1 to KS2

KS1 KS2Maths Mental ArithmeticReading Comprehension Mathematical ReasoningWriting (Teacher Assessed) ComprehensionGrammar, Punctuation and Spelling

Writing (Teacher Assessed)

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling

REPORTING TO PARENTSThe reporting system will remain the same although the reports have been updated to reflect the changes to the curriculum.

Each term, parents will be invited to attend a consultation with the class teacher. The focus of this will be English, Maths and attitudes to learning.

At the end of each term, in Y1-Y6, a report is sent home which shows all the objectives covered that term in topic and other subjects. Children will be judged for each objectives as developing (basic understanding) secure (good understanding) or exceeding (thorough understanding).

At the end of the academic year, a report will be sent home showing how children have progressed against English and Maths objectives and you will be informed as to, overall, whether your child is below, developing, secure or exceeding the age group expectations.

In addition to this from Y3-Y6 you will also be provided with a report on their progress in French