Assessment

Children may assess their own work or that of their classmates. Some assessment is more formal, such as projects, investigations and tests. The assessment of children’s progress throughout primary school is based partly on teachers’ views: their “professional judgement”. In making these judgements, teachers draw on their professional knowledge and understanding of the child using a wide range of assessment information including standardised assessments.

Most children are expected to have achieved Early Level by the end of P1, First Level by the end of P4, Second Level by the end of P7 and Third Level by the end of S3.

In August 2017, new national standardised assessments were introduced in all schools in Scotland. These assessments provide an additional source of nationally consistent evidence for teachers to use when assessing children’s progress.

Every child in P1, P4 and P7 undertakes national standardised assessments covering some aspects of reading, writing and working with numbers. Assessments are completed online and are automatically marked by the online system, giving teachers immediate feedback to help children progress. The assessments are used to help teachers understand how well your child is progressing with his or her learning and to plan next steps.

Assessment is used at every level to support our pupils’ learning. Meeting the learners’ needs is our core aim in school and by carefully assessing the attainment and achievements of every child, we are best placed to support and challenge them individually as appropriate. Staff have high expectations for all learners.

Assessment comes in many forms and is used to provide:

• greater breadth and depth of learning

• greater focus on the secure development of

• skills and knowledge

• progress across a breadth of learning

• application of learning in different and unfamiliar contexts

• effective planning and tracking of progress

Teachers keep comprehensive records of assessments which are on-going over the session and these are used to report to parents. Pupil Reports are issued once each year. Pupil Reports make reference to the Curriculum for Excellence levels which a pupil is working within.

In King’s Park we actively encourage all parents and carers to become involved in the on-going learning of their child. Parents/Carers will have the opportunity to meet with the class teacher two times each year, on a 1:1 basis, to discuss their child’s progress and next steps in learning. Samples of children’s work will also be available to view.

Each child has an individual Seesaw profile which parents/carers can access to track their learning and achievements. Information about this is shared at the Meet the Teacher session. Regular open mornings and informal opportunities to view your child learning in school are also provided throughout the year.