Assessing every pupil within our school is vital to ensure they are progressing appropriately and meeting the high expectations set.
Pupils’ work is marked and assessed on a regular basis in line with the whole school policies on assessment and marking. Please click on the following link to access the whole school Assessment Policy.
All pupils from EYFS to Year 6 undertake computer based assessments within the first few weeks of the new academic year. The Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring at Durham University (CEM) is one of the largest independent providers of educational assessment and monitoring systems in the world, and the largest provider of computer-adaptive assessments outside the United States. Used in over 50 countries, their assessments measure the potential of over 1 million children and young people between the ages of 3-19 every year.
Computer-adaptive assessments fit perfectly into a philosophy that seeks to assess each child as an individual, and they overcome some of the shortcomings of traditional methods.
These assessments generally begin with reasonably easy questions and then use the child’s responses to decide whether to progress to more challenging questions or to back off to easier ones. This means that the assessment is tailored to a child’s ability. Each individual is challenged at a level which is appropriate to them, resulting in an experience which is motivating and enjoyable.
This personalised assessment of each child gives a full profile of their areas of strengths and areas for development. Teachers are able to spot a child who is more able in a particular subject or those who may need additional support.
EYFS
PIPS (Performance Indicators in Primary Schools) is a standardised assessment system that is designed to monitor pupils’ educational progress throughout the Primary phase. PIPS provides an annual assessment of attainment in the core curriculum areas of reading and mathematics and measures each child’s academic potential. Comparison of academic attainment with academic potential, and also with previous academic performance, allows teachers to build a powerful profile of individual progress for every child throughout their time at St Philomena’s.
Years 1-6
InCAS is a diagnostic, computer-adaptive assessment tool used to inform personalised learning. Computer-adaptive assessments have numerous benefits over traditional pencil and paper assessments. Pupils take part in a personalised assessment, which tailors the level of difficulty of each question depending on how the pupil performed on the last one. As a result it’s a more enjoyable and engaging experience. It’s also more reliable and feedback is more detailed.
