At St Matthias, we know the importance of having a rigorous assessment process. Due to this, teachers and support staff are continuously monitoring and evaluating children’s progress through marking, observations and feedback. Children are encouraged to play an active part in assessing their own progress and setting targets. Our focus for this academic year is making learning stick through a robust monitoring and assessment cycle, as well as through clear retrieval practice.
In addition to formative assessments, which we make every day through our questioning, observations and marking, we also use more formal assessments and we monitor the progress of these throughout the year. Some of the formal assessments we do include, but are not limited to:
- Reception Baseline Assessment
- Maths arithmetic and reasoning
- Reading comprehension and fluency
- GPS (Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling)
- Phonics screenings
- Multiplication tests
- Spelling tests
- Retrieval practice across all areas of the curriculum
- Optional KS1 SATs (from the 2023-24 academic year)
- KS2 SATs
We review all of our observations regularly and assess the children formally against the Early Learning Goals in EYFS and the Fundamentals in Years 1 to 6, for maths, reading and writing. For other areas of the curriculum, we assess the children through retrieval practice that has been embedded into our learning cycle.
Whether we are assessing and monitoring the progress of our children through marking or through times tables tests, all of these opportunities help us to support the children to progress in their learning.