Teachers are continuously assessing children in lots of ways.  In classes, children answer questions, teachers observe the learning and review work.  All of these aspects of classroom life support the teachers in understanding what the children know and what they need to help them move on in their learning.  

Within books, children are involved in their own assessments.  From y1 to Y6, children have learning objectives and success criteria which they review as well as a teacher.  This helps them to understand how successful they have been and to identify their next steps.  Doing this helps them to take control of their learning and develop as independent, lifelong learners. 

Before children start a new unit of learning in science, maths and foundation subjects they have a 'baseline assessment'.  This is a short quiz or activity to help the teacher to ensure that they have the knowledge that they need to help them access the learning in the upcoming unit of work.  If any children have gaps in the prerequisite knowledge they need, they will have some pre-teaching before they start the new unit of learning.  This will include support in school and in some instances, you will be given things to do to support them at home.  At the end of a unit of work, children will be assessed again to check their understanding.  This is through a post unit assessment, again, a quiz or short activity, to check what knowledge has been retained.  

There are more formal assessments in line with Government expectations.  These include:

- Baseline assessment in Early Years.  This is a check that the children do when they start school to give an indication of their starting points.  This, alongside teacher observation and ongoing assessment, gives teachers a clear indication of where children are when they start school so that they can use what children already know, understand and can do to inform planning. 

- End of EY assessments based on teacher assessments of if the children have met a 'good level of development' (GLD)

- The Phonics Decoding Check in Y1.  This is a check to see if children are decoding words at an age expected level to ensure that all children are able to read.  You will find out about this in the phonics workshop in the Autumn Term as well as during an information session about the check in the Summer Term. 

- SATS tests in Y6.  These are sent to the school and need to be completed within a specific time range.  We offer information sessions to parents before these tests.