School Published Data

Please see Claremont’s data headlines with comparisons to previous years and national average. Click on the link for our 2022-2023 data summary.

Please visit https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov... for the school's performance table. This will be automatically updated as national data changes.

A parents' guide to assessments

Fundamental Principles of Assessment and Reporting
Assessment and reporting should:

• be meaningful, manageable and motivating.
• be strategic and predictive in nature, allowing for the school to project outcomes at either the end of the year or key stage.
• provide the school with information to evaluate progress, both in the short term and long term.
• be accurate and robust whilst offering all pupils an opportunity to show what they know and understand.
• provide teachers with operational data to identify gaps in pupils’ learning to inform pupil targets and next steps in teaching and learning, especially in terms of what they need to do in order to deepen their understanding and mastery of the primary curriculum allow for the continuity of results and processes across year groups.

Assessing within the National Curriculum
The programmes of study within the National Curriculum set out expectations at the end of each key stage, and all maintained schools in England are free to develop a curriculum relevant to their pupils that teaches this content.

The Department for Education (DfE) states that the curriculum must include an assessment system which enables schools to check what pupils have learnt and whether they are on track to meet expectations at the end of the key stage, and to report regularly to parents.

Statutory Testing in Years 1-6
Early Years pupils are assessed during their first 6 weeks at school through the Reception Baseline Assessment. It is a short and simple check of a child’s early literacy, communication, language and maths skills when they begin school. The assessment will form the start of a new measure of how schools are helping their pupils to progress between Reception and Year 6.

Early Years pupils are then assessed against Early Learning Goals (ELGs) at the end of the year for the EYFS Profile Assessments. A child’s Early Years Foundation Stage Profile will be shared with parents through the Summer Report. This will detail each child’s progress and whether they have met or are continuing to work towards their ELGs. There are 17 ELGs a child is expected to achieve by the end of Reception.

Year 1 pupils are assessed in their synthetic phonic knowledge at the end of the year through the Phonics Screening Check in June. Pupils who do not pass the Phonics Screener at the end of Year 1 (or who did not take it because they were absent, abroad or in private education) will be assessed at the end of Year 2.

Year 4 pupils are assessed in their knowledge of the multiplication facts up to 12x12 through the Multiplication Tables Check in June. This is a computer-based test in which children must be able to recall a fact within 6 seconds.

Year 6 pupils are required to take statutory assessments known as the SATs. These take place during a set week of May. The tests are administered by the school, with children assessed in reading, GPS and mathematics, alongside an assessment of writing. All schools have external moderation from the Local Authority to verify final judgements. At Claremont, teachers meet regularly to moderate assessments and agree judgements, sharing their understanding both internally, and externally with teachers within the Tunbridge Wells area to quality assure our judgements.

Internal Assessments at Claremont
The DfE guidance allows schools to use their own robust and rigorous assessment system. At Claremont, we continually monitor pupils’ progress throughout their time here. These internal assessments are vital for teachers to ensure the progress of pupils and identify individuals’ strengths and areas for development. It also enables us to provide parents with clear information about their child's achievement and progress.

At various points in the year, teachers will assess all children, and make a judgement as to how they are learning and progressing in relation to Age Related Expectations, and if they are ‘on track’ to achieve at the end of the year. In Autumn, Spring and Summer, teachers will use a range of assessment strategies to review pupil achievement against the age-related objectives for the school year. This will help them to reach an overall judgement for each individual pupil, based on assessment data and independent learning tasks. This process allows teachers to identify personalised targets to support each child’s needs and secure progression; this then provides the basis for reporting to parents. It should be noted that these assessments are kept very low-key to minimise pressure and stress.

A parents' guide to reports

Reporting to parents and consultations
Parents receive reports three times a year, which align with our assessment timetable. The Autumn and Spring reports are sent home at the end of the first week of Terms 3 and 5. The Summer report is sent home towards the end of Term 6. All three reports include cumulative attendance data.

The reports inform parents of their child’s ‘Attainment’ and 'Progress' in the areas of Writing, Reading, GPS (Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling) and Maths. In Year 1, teachers will share information about phonics instead of GPS. The reports also share information about a child’s ‘Personal and Learning Development’. We will also share information about History in the Autumn for Discover, Geography in the Spring for Explore, and Art and Design Technology in the Summer for Create.

The summer report expands further on the information contained within the Autumn and Spring reports, and will include information on both Science and PE, as well as Mastery assessments for Music, Computing, French and RE (Religious Education).

Parents have the opportunity to meet with teachers twice a year – in the second week of Terms 2 and 4. These 9-minute virtual sessions are an opportunity for parents to discuss matters relating to how they are getting on in class, any pastoral concerns and any specific needs they may have.

Interpreting the progress colours
We use colours to indicate the following levels of progress:

• Purple - progress beyond what is expected
• Green - the expected amount of progress
• Yellow - not quite the expected amount of progress
• Amber - small steps of progress

Reporting to Reception parents
The progress of children in the EYFS is individually tracked using the Development Matters age bands of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. By the end of their Reception year in school, it is expected that they achieve the ‘Early Learning Goals’ (ELG), which the EYFS Curriculum defines. Children are assessed in seventeen areas of learning through careful observation of what they can do; how they interact with others; how they explain what they know; and what they write down.

A learning journey document is kept of their development throughout the year and this record is part of the ongoing assessment. The report will indicate whether the child has or has not achieved each ELG and whether they have reached a Good Level of Development (GLD) (meaning they have achieved at least the expected level for the ELGs in the prime areas of learning and the specific areas of mathematics and literacy).

Reporting of Statutory Assessments
All statutory assessment information (for Years 1, 4 and 6) is reported to parents at the same time but separately from the internal assessments.

At the end of the Reception year, the EYFS Profile for each child is completed, as is statutorily required. This details everything that your child has learnt and is able to do in all seventeen areas of learning in the Early Years. It is reported to parents in July, and states where each child is in relation to Age-Related Expectations, as defined in the ELGs.

A parents' guide to marking and feedback

Principles behind Marking and Feedback:

• To provide clear feedback to the children about their successes, misconceptions, missed opportunities, areas for development, and where they could deepen their learning.
• To embrace the epistemic feedback approach, where children engage in dialogue with an ‘expert’ (a teacher, teaching partner, or Talk Partner) to work out the ‘what, how and why’ of a mistake or error (instead of just being told “This is right/wrong.”)
• To ensure that our classrooms embrace a dialogic approach to teaching, where talk is encouraged and used effectively.
• To ensure that teaching is responsive, where teachers respond to the needs of individuals, groups of children and the whole class.
• To provide pupils with a learning environment where they feel safe enough to ‘give things a go’, take risks, make mistakes, and know that if they do make a mistake, an ‘expert’ will be on hand to support them.
• To provide pupils with regular opportunities to reflect upon their achievements, the progress they have made over time, and apply their understanding to correct their mistakes or overcome misconceptions.
• To provide formative assessment information for teachers, to enable them to plan effectively for all pupils’ needs and set immediate and longer-term progress targets.

Our approach to marking and feedback
At Claremont, we have moved to an approach where we do not mark with pens directly into the pupils' books. We have moved away from coloured pen marking in most books for most subject (excluding Maths, which is still marked diagnostically at a question level).

The biggest change has been in English, as we now use a Whole Class Feedback Model. Research shows that the most effective use of marking is when it is used to modify and tweak the way a teacher approaches future lessons and supports the pupils directly in those subsequent lessons. However, in order to maintain a healthy workload for teachers, it is necessary to focus on one model and not duplicate marking. This means that teachers are no longer marking in pupils’ books. Instead, teachers celebrate successes and, most importantly, guide individual children, and the class as a whole, about how they can improve their writing and strive for our highest expectations.

Other subjects, such as History, Geography and Science, are marked against key assessment criteria that links directly to our enquiry approach to learning.

Glossary

• Assessment: A judgement made about a child's understanding
• Attainment: The final assessment made of a child's learning up to that point
• ELG: Early Learning Goal, assessed at the end of Reception
• EYFS: Early Years Foundation Stage, which is the pre-school to Reception curriculum
• Expected: Working in line with age-related expectation (either within the year or at the end of the year/key stage)
• Greater Depth: Working at a higher level; comparable with exceeding expectations
• GPS: Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling
• Progress: The difference from the previous assessment to the current assessment
• SATs: Formal tests issued by the Government at set points in the National Curriculum (Standard Assessment Tests)
• Year group expectations: The key objectives a child should have securely acquired by the end of the year
• WAGOLL: What A Good One Looks Like