Assessment

The school has adopted APP (Assessing Pupils Progress). It is used by our teachers to diagnose the strengths and areas of development for individual children in mathematics, reading and writing. Each half term we track childrens progress. This information is used to shape planning and targeted intervention, especially for those who are having difficulty/are falling behind in their work. APP has an impact on the teaching and learning of all children at Birchfield. This system provides evidence that our pupils are achieving consistent levels of attainment which compare favourably with national expectations. The process encourages pupils to be actively involved in their learning through peer and self assessment. Pupils can understand how they are progressing and how they can improve the quality of their work. We carefully monitor the performance of different year groups - boys, girls, ethnic groups, age groups and those with pre-school experience. We also monitor staff performance. Our record keeping procedures are tools that enable staff to detect any problems quickly which enables them to focus on skills that individuals need to acquire as well as children's abilities. Our methods allow us to evaluate our resources and continuity of progress. Class teachers share information with parents at termly parents evenings and at other times during the year to support and foster greater parent-school partnership. Copies of all school policies, schemes of work, assessment procedures and records of achievements are available in school and on the school website.

Homework
The main focus for homework is to provide children with the opportunity to practice their skills in an informal setting - at home. In particular, we ask parents to concentrate on reading. Reading books are sent home every night and children are expected to read for a short time every day. Children may be given work to complete at home, such as, practising their spelling, multiplication tables or finding information about class topics. Older children are expected to undertake more research/project work at home with the support of parents. They are also expected to maintain comprehensive homework diaries. We are developing online homework and interactive learning activities for children and families. Our virtual learning environment will be active within the next academic year!

HOMEWORK PER YEAR GROUP Pre-schoolPhonics, letter and number recognition Reception Reading, Phonics and Number activities Year 1 Reading, Phonics, Spellings and Number activities Year 2Reading, Spellings, Number activities and topic pieces Year 3 Reading, Spellings, Number activities, Mathletics and topic pieces Year 4Reading, Spellings, Number activities, Mathletics and topic pieces Year 5Reading, Spellings, Number activities, Mathletics, Education City and topic pieces Year 6Reading, Spellings, Number activities, Mathletics, Education City, SATs revision and topic pieces 56