Assessment and Reporting

Baseline assessments

Baseline assessment will be critical to determine each pupil’s starting point and we will have an assessment system which caters for children beginning their schooling with us, for those who will attend mid-way through their learning at various key stages and for those with a plan for re-integration to mainstream schools.

We will take account of each Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) and other evidence and undertake consolidatory assessments on entry, including input from speech and language therapists, psychologists, parents / carers and other external agencies. Our assessment processes will be well-defined and be based on challenging expectations for each pupil.

The baseline assessments used will be assessing pupils learning both in the academic curriculum subjects and in the personal development curriculum, giving a fully rounded picture of where each pupil is and where we need to prioritise our foci for learning.

Our annual assessment and reporting calendar will drive our assessment and monitoring systems, setting out the dates for data to be recorded and analysed. We will ensure that children are on track to meet their challenging targets through a rigorous, systematic assessment and tracking system.

Assessment and monitoring

Assessment will be an ongoing daily activity at Hopescourt School and staff will record assessment data on an online assessment tool that provides a robust method of capturing evidence of pupil progress for children with special educational needs. This system will be flexible, but also evidence-based and one which can be adapted to meet the needs of all the pupils and can develop and grow with them.

Effective marking and feedback will be crucial: Positive, explicit and specifically related to the learning objective / success criteria. Staff will need training and support to consider carefully how to ensure that the feedback being given is helping the child to understand exactly what it is that they have done well or could try to improve.

Staff and pupils will clearly understand the learning objectives and or success criteria in all areas of the curriculum. They will include opportunities to develop peer and self-assessment skills, offer support for individual progress and inform future planning.

We see best practice in marking and feedback as an essential part of high-quality teaching and learning and vital in guiding the pupils towards real steps of progress.

Some characteristics of effective written or verbal feedback:

• Acknowledge the individual and their ability to process and receive written and verbal feedback appropriately
• Build a pupil’s self-esteem and confidence in their abilities
• Provide opportunities for pupils to think for themselves
• Focus on learning objectives or success criteria
• Confirm that pupils are on the “right track” and gives genuinely helpful support
• Encourage correction of errors or improvement of work where pupils are ready to accept this without damaging self-esteem
• Identified misconceptions that can then be addressed through a range of approaches
• Scaffold pupils’ next steps and set targets
• Provide example of how to succeed
• Remind pupils of the success criteria
• Provide pupils with opportunities / time to respond.

The class sizes at Hopescourt School will mean that in most instances feedback can be provided verbally as soon as possible after a task is completed. This will stimulate regular learning conversations in the classroom. We will use assessments to inform targeted teaching towards particular pupils, such as those who are more able, or, for example, pre-teaching, interventions or 1:1 support to accelerate learning.

• Pupils will be encouraged to make their own judgments about how far they have progressed and to articulate why they have adopted particular strategies. Clear precise learning objectives and success criteria will support children’s effective self and peer assessments.
• Teachers will be asked to quantitatively report on the progress that pupils have made each term, and the year-to-date. A broad evidence base, including some standardised testing and work sampling and using statutory and summative assessment processes, will be used to make informed, evidence-based decisions regarding progress.
• Every half term Hopescourt School staff will use a tracker to identify pupils for celebration or intervention involving each teacher in a professional dialogue. This will allow us to benchmark improvements and ensure each pupil makes the maximum amount of progress academically and in their personal development, and, as they get older, towards independent living, employability, healthy living and participation in society.
• Achievement and progress against these targets will be tracked on a personalised basis and specific groups will also be closely tracked, e.g. Looked After Children, Free School Meal eligible pupils.
• Hopescourt School will assess pupils’ development in all subjects and as a result staff will have both secure and broad knowledge of each pupil and what the gaps are in their learning in all subjects.