Education
Assessment
Our pupils’ progress through the curriculum and personal development is extremely important to us.
Key formal assessment dates
| Type | Assessment period |
|---|---|
| Reception baseline | First 6 weeks after pupil starts in Reception |
| Key stage 1 SATS – year 2 | 19th – 23rd May 2025 |
| Key stage 2 SATS – year 6 | 12th – 15th May 2025 |
| Phonics screening check for year 1 and year 2 resit | 8th – 12th June 2025 |
| Multiplication check – year 4 | 1st – 13th June 2025 |
At Lantern Primary and Nursery we use a range of both formative and summative assessments to assess the learning and progress of our children. We use Assessment for Learning to feed into our lesson delivery and the standardised tests from the NfER scheme and SATs papers to benchmark individual children’s progress and attainment. This information is discussed during academy Pupil Progress Meetings and Raising Attainment Board sessions with the Director of Primary. This rigorous approach ensures that all children make progress and staff maintain aspirational targets for children meeting national expectations or beyond in all subjects. We have high expectations for all our children and using appropriate scaffolds we ensure that every child can succeed in all subjects, adapting the curriculum, where necessary for some of our children who have challenging needs. We celebrate individual successes concentrating on the starting points and where the children are now.
Early Years Foundation Stage – Nursery and Reception
In the Early Years Foundation Stage staff use ongoing observations and assessments which form a log of how the children are making progress. Pertinent observations are captured in the children’s individual learning journey books. Children are assessed against the end points for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Once the children are settled into their reception year the Early Years Lead conducts the Baseline Assessment. The curriculum is built and adapted around these findings. Staff have opportunities to take part in moderation sessions both in our academy and with other academies across the trust and locally. Data collected is discussed during Pupil Progress Meetings within the academy and Raising Attainment Meetings with the Director of Primary and interventions are planned from this ensuring every child can be successful at the level they are working at.
Years 1 to 6
Assessment for Learning is used to collect information the teacher needs to ensure every lesson is pitched correctly. Teachers mark in the moment providing instant feedback and addressing misconceptions during the lesson. Additional support staff are used in the classroom so that the needs of individual children are met
Year 1 Phonics
Children apply what they have learned in their daily phonics lessons in the Phonic Screening Check which takes place in all schools during June. Alongside this formal assessment method children are continually assessed through our Little Wandle Phonics programme. Heatmaps provide guidance for the staff delivering phonics on ‘missing knowledge’ so this can be revisited and retaught. Every phonics lesson has an element of spiralling back and recapping previously taught sounds, letters and words.
Writing
At Lantern Primary and Nursery we use our writing grids to assess the children’s written work, these corollate with National Curriculum expectations. Opportunities to moderate during dedicated in-school professional development sessions allow teachers time to discuss judgements and for us to work collaboratively in ensuring judgements are correct. This is further enhanced by external moderation sessions led by an English consultant. These activities take place with other schools across the Learning Community Trust. Children follow a writing cycle, so the same approach is used when they produce end of unit pieces. During lessons teachers provide feedback through a verbal response, addressing misconceptions, high-quality modelling and in upper key stage two 1:1 or small group conference marking is a strategy used to provide bespoke feedback.
Reading
Reading lessons also follow a cycle so the children have time to practice and rehearse elements of reading. Adults assess how children are progressing during their daily reading lessons and marking in the moment provides clear feedback and gives opportunities to address misconceptions. Standardised tests are used to formally assess children each term. At Lantern Primary and Nursery we use the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) tests across years 1 to 6. We also use SATs papers in years 2 and 6 to help prepare them for end of key stage assessments.
Spelling Punctuation and Grammar
Spelling Punctuation and Grammar is taught through writing lessons and in reading. We use the Schonell test for finding the children’s spelling age. We also use NfER tests across years 1 to 6 as well as the SATs tests in years 2 and 6.
Mathematics
Children are taught mathematics through daily lessons. Staff use in the moment marking to provide instant feedback verbally and using written models to support learnings. This method also ensures misconceptions are picked up and addressed. Assessment for Learning is used during lessons so that children’s prior understanding and knowledge throughout the lesson is gained. More formal assessments are completed termly using the NfER standardised tests across years 1 to 6 and SATs tests in years 2 and 6. Children in year 4 complete a Multiplication Tables Check in June where they are assessed on their times table recall. To support the speed of recollecting multiplication facts we use TTRockstars to support.
