Assessment

At Polam Hall School we believe that Assessment is an integral part of the curriculum. It forms the bedrock of our lesson planning process and allows teachers to ensure that each lesson builds successfully on the one before. Generally speaking, assessment at our school falls into four main categories:

Formative

Smaller tasks which are completed in regular lessons or homework. Teachers use these to inform their planning and to provide regular feedback to learners. This also includes regular knowledge tests (such as spelling tests, times table tests as well as content recall) which have been proven to help pupils commit their learning to long term memory.

Summative

Larger tasks which mark the end of a topic or unit of study. These tasks are designed to allow teachers to assess where students are currently working at and are used to inform the grades which are communicated to parents via the reporting process. Increasingly we are moving towards a model whereby these tests include prior knowledge to better prepare students for the demands of final examinations.

Validation

These assessments are conducted through an external organisation. Primarily we use GL Assessments. We use a variety of online tests and Computer Adaptive Tests (CATs) to validate teacher assessments and to help inform the target setting process.

External Examinations

These are the external assessments which the school must ensure pupils sit. These include:

Year 1 – Phonics Check

Year 2 – KS1 SATS (Teacher Assessments)

Year 4 – Times table check (compulsory from 2020)

Year 6 -  KS2 SATS

Year 11 – GCSEs and other Vocational Awards (See the individual subject pages)