The 2016 progress measures for the new ‘coasting schools’ category were finally revealed in October in the DfE’s updated Primary Accountability publication. The thresholds are -2.5 for reading and mathematics and -3.5 for writing, and schools must be above in all three subjects. The vast majority of schools will already know that they can’t be a coasting […]
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What’s going ahead and what’s not The statement to Parliament by Justine Greening and the publication of the final report of the Rochford Review on October 19th, and the appearance of the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) results one day later mean that we now have clarity on two fronts. Firstly, we now know all the national assessment outcomes […]
Read moreThe first few weeks of a new school year usually involves both looking forward and looking back. The summer of 2016 saw an almost completely new set of national assessment and accountability arrangements and schools are analysing how they’ve done and pondering the implications for the years ahead. We don’t have all the results yet […]
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The summer of 2015 saw the end of a 25-year period in primary schools when attainment was assessed and reported in relation to a continuous scale of ‘level descriptions’. Along with levels, the old National Curriculum and its associated assessment and accountability arrangements, are now consigned to history and everyone involved in primary schools – […]
Read moreIn a previous blog post, I summarised the criteria of the two school accountability measures that will be used in 2016 – for floor standards and for ‘coasting schools’. For most schools, the main implication of the new measures will be to place a greater emphasis on progress – the progress which every pupil makes during the […]
Read moreWe’ve done them before and we’ll do them again. That’s a certainty. Although this year there is so much uncertainty surrounding the SATs that I fear the children may begin to pick up on it, which is wholly inexcusable. We’ve all had the bad day when the entire class has begun to feast on your […]
Read moreToday the DfE published a document called Primary school accountability in 2016. Although it is mainly concerned with the technical aspects of how the accountability measures for 2016 will be calculated, it gives a handy overview for schools about what will be reported in 2016. This includes how progress measures will be calculated, which is very different to the current […]
Read moreWhat? Nicky Morgan has announced (interestingly, via social media) that all children will be tested on their times tables as part of SATs. Why? This debate has been bubbling away for some time now within mathematical associations and education unions, among academics and school leaders, in schools and at home. Essentially our children are stuck […]
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In a previous blog post, I summarised the criteria of the two school accountability measures that will be used in 2016 – for floor standards and for ‘coasting schools’. For most schools, the main implication of the new measures will be to place a greater emphasis on progress – the progress which every pupil makes during the […]
Read moreThe summer of 2015 saw the end of a 25-year period in primary schools when attainment was assessed and reported in relation to a continuous scale of ‘level descriptions’. Along with levels, the old National Curriculum and its associated assessment and accountability arrangements, are now consigned to history and everyone involved in primary schools – […]
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