Assessment and Feedback Policy

Document Title

Assessment and Feedback

Date of Issue

September 2023

Date to be revised

September 2024

Purpose of the policy

The purpose of this policy is to inform teachers, leaders, parents and children about how, at Hartley Primary Academy (HPA), we feed back and assess progress and attainment across our curriculum within the Primary Years Programme (PYP). We aim for all children to be Happy, Positive, Achievers (our school vision) and to acquire the values of the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile attributes of being: thinkers, risk takers, communicators, open minded, balanced, principled, caring, inquiring, knowledgeable and reflective. 

Assessment statement

Assessment is integral to teaching and learning. It enables both teachers and students to be reflective and informs curriculum innovation and development. As a supportive process, assessment generates evidence of learning, guiding the progress of our students. Assessment is based on clearly communicated learning expectations promoting transparency and consistency. It allows students to continually grow, learn and progress and as such, as mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph, is integral to teaching and learning. 

Our curriculum

The HPA curriculum is delivered within relevant and purposeful contexts, is built upon prior learning and is designed to be challenging, interesting and motivational for pupils and adults. We aim to create inquiring, internationally-minded, life-long learners who respect and care for the world they live in and all those who live in it. HPA learners will understand how they are connected to the world in order to take action to improve their own lives and the lives of local and global communities. 

Effective assessments allow

Students to: 

  • demonstrate and share their learning and understanding 
  • set goals to improve their learning 
  • use their own learning strategies and build on their own strengths 
  • build confidence in their own learning and self 
  • express their points of view 
  • understand what their own needs are and how to improve 
  • use their prior knowledge to build on and guide the inquiry process 

Teachers to: 

  • understand feedback from students 
  • clearly define student needs 
  • define expectations and outcomes for student/teacher-led inquiry 
  • acquire data that can be used to inform students, teachers, levels, school, and parents
  • interpret both quantitative and qualitative data 
  • prepare for future inquiries and student questioning 

Parents to: 

  • understand student learning 
  • provide support outside of school 
  • celebrate learning and student accomplishment 
  • observe and track student progress and growth 

The table below outlines the ways in which we have agreed to assess and feedback. This list is not necessarily exhaustive but includes the main ways we have agreed as a school. 

We have made a conscious decision to move away from copious written marking in books as there is little research to suggest that this is the most effective way to promote independence and progress within a pupil’s learning. To replace this, in writing lessons, for example, we use writing checklists to

allow the pupils to assess their own writing against an agreed set of criteria, peer marking and live, verbal feedback to inform the pupils of their next steps. 

In all lessons, common misconceptions with individuals and with larger groups will be fed back to the children as soon as possible to allow them to correct these. Not only does this have much more of an impact on the progress of the children’s learning, it also minimises workload for the teachers. 

With regards to preparing children for National Assessments, we are aware that the tests can not practically be woven into the curriculum. However, through gap analysis of these, teachers can plan subsequent lessons to meet the children’s needs.

Feedback Approaches

Assessment Approaches

Pupil-led: 

  • Self feedback – children will self assess their work against the success criteria thinking about their next steps in learning. 
  • Peer feedback – pupils will share their work with learning partners and be a critical friend about their work in relation to the outcome. 
  • Group discussions 
  • Pupil feedback 

Adult-led: 

  • Writing checklists 
  • Pink and green highlighting of writing 
  • Maths Learning Objectives to be ticked
  • Whole class feedback 
  • Individual ‘live’ feedback 
  • Group feedback

Monitoring Learning: 

  • Assessment for learning 
  • Questioning 
  • Learning walks 
  • Low-stakes testing 

Measuring Learning: 

  • Assessment for learning 
  • Teacher assessment 
  • Internal summative testing 
  • National Key Stage assessment 
  • Foundation Subject Assessment Sheets 

Documenting Learning: 

  • Books – worked on in school and can be taken home at the end of each year. We aim for one learning journey book to document all subjects in. 
  • Floor books – used to record learning of the whole class. For example in science and PSHE. -Displays – reflect the theme and key concept for the module. Will be updated with examples of pupils’ learning too. 
  • Website – will be regularly updated with children’s activities and learning. 
  • Home Learning – will be set using Google Classroom. 

Reporting on Learning: 

  • Pupil Progress meetings – occur each module with our teachers and Senior Leaders. 
  • LAT module reviews – occur each module with Trust directors and with our Senior Leaders -Parent meetings – feedback to parents on progress, effort and attainment as well as identifying targets. Two face-to-face parent meetings each year. 
  • Pupil Voice 
  • End of Year reports – one written report to address IB learner profiles at the end of each academic year.

Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) Taxonomy 

As learning progresses, it becomes more complex. SOLO, which stands for the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome, is a means of classifying learning outcomes in terms of their complexity, enabling us to assess students’ work in terms of its quality, not the quantity of correct learning. At first, we pick up only one or few aspects of the task (unistructural), then several aspects, but they are unrelated (multistructural), then we learn how to integrate them into a whole (relational), and finally, we are able to generalise that whole to as yet untaught applications (extended abstract). The diagram lists verbs typical of each such level. 

SOLO can be used not only in assessment, but in designing the curriculum in terms of the level of learning outcomes intended, which is helpful in implementing constructive alignment.

Please click the images to enlarge them

The Stages of SOLO infographic
SOLO Taxonomy infographic

We will be developing SOLO to: 

  • Provide opportunities to enable pupils to progress through the stages – learning key skills, concepts and knowledge (Unistructural and Multistructural), applying them in contexts with support (Relational), applying skills and knowledge independently and making decisions in a range of contexts (Extended Abstract).
  • Provide a structured framework for pupils to use to progress their thinking and learning.
  • Encourage pupils to think about where they are currently with their learning, and what they need to do in order to progress.
  • Make assessments at the start of a lesson or unit of work to inform which differentiated learning activity the child completes and use flexible groupings.
  • Make assessments at the start and end of a lesson or unit of work to show the progress that has been made.
  • Peer and self-assessment enables pupils to assess themselves and each other as learners and to know what to do next.

The use of SOLO taxonomy supports the expectations of the national curriculum and the IB PYP digital resource and ensures opportunities for pupils to ‘Master’ each stage of learning before moving on. 

SOLO Taxonomy provides a simple way of describing how learning outcomes grow from surface to deep understanding. 

It describes five levels of understanding for pupils who are experiencing new learning. There are clear steps for the learning outcomes that staff and pupils share. 

Summative assessment

As well as using a range of ongoing (formative) assessments, at certain points in children’s school lives they will be required to sit national assessments. These are as follows: