Assessment

There is a phrase often used when talking about assessment:

“weighing a pig doesn't fatten it”

This, in my opinion, perfectly describes the situation that schools face. The only year groups in our school who are not assessed externally are Y3 and Y5 but that might change. Teachers constantly assess children as they work through the curriculum but so called “high stakes” testing at such a young age is not always the most accurate method of seeing how much a child knows or has learnt.

The current system places a great deal of emphasis on measuring, and comparing, schools based on the scores that 10/11 year olds get on a 40 minute test on one day in May regardless of who they are, what their life experiences are and what has happened to them.

We have to publish our end of Y6 results and these have to be seen in the context of the individual children. Our focus has always been to focus on progress (how far children have come) as opposed to attainment (how high they get) as through nature some children will never be able to reach the heights but have moved on so far with their learning and understanding. The same applies to all external assessments and the advice I have been given is to look at the “scores” and then ask questions and not presume that the figure is the whole answer.

Below are some leaflets that give information regarding some of the tests taken and will help put the outcomes into context for you. However, if you have any questions or need some help in understanding what it all means, please get in touch.

Here is a link to our school's performance measures page on the DfE website:

Carter's Charity Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Preesall - Find school and college performance data in England - GOV.UK (find-school-performance-data.service.gov.uk)