New Curriculum and Assessment Overview Claire Silver Deputy Headteacher November 9 th 9.10am-10.00am
New Primary Curriculum • Statutory for most children from September 2014 (only statutory for children in Year 2 and 6 from this year). • The bar has been raised… • There are changes in content and expectations.
Why did we need a new National Curriculum? • The short answer – the Government decided that we needed a new one. • Before 1988 there was no National Curriculum. Teachers decided what they taught and what children needed. Over the next 26 years the National Curriculum was introduced and developed into what we had got used to until August 2014. • To raise standards as the UK are falling behind other countries. The brief was to emulate the world’s most successful school systems, including: Hong Kong, Singapore, the Candian state of Alberta & the US state of Massachusetts.
The Old National Curriculum? • From 1988 the National Curriculum comprised of a range of knowledge and skills that were developed throughout each Key Stage. • It was then broken down into levels and expectations were set for certain milestones along this journey. • Year 2 expectation = Level 2 • Year 6 expectation = Level 4
The New Curriculum All the same subject areas as we had before. Languages Also, we must make provision for SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and cultural) and understanding of the British Values.
Core subjects ENGLISH • Spoken language, Writing, Reading, Spelling, Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation. MATHS • Number and place value • Addition subtraction, multiplication and division. • Fractions • Measurement • Geometry • Statistics. SCIENCE
So, what has changed? • Lots of changes – the new curriculum is more prescriptive in English and Maths and less prescriptive in the Foundation Subjects. • The expectations are much higher than ever before, with much of the curriculum being shifted down into lower year groups, particularly in English and Maths. • For examples some old Y5 expectations can now be found in Y3, some Y7/8 in Y5/6.
Some of the main changes… • Stronger emphasis on vocabulary development, grammar, punctuation and spelling (for example, the use of commas and apostrophes will be taught in KS1). • Emphasis on reading more widely, for pleasure. • Handwriting – is expected to be fluent, legible and speedy. • Spoken English has a greater emphasis, with children to be taught debating and presenting skills. • Strengthen the teaching of phonics - more pupils should read fluently. • Word lists are included for Key Stage 2.
Some examples Old Curriculum New Curriculum English Level 4 Writing Vocab, Grammar and Punctuation Y5/6 Question marks, accurate use of speech Using brackets, dashes or commas to punctuation. indicate parenthesis. Commas in a list to occasionally mark Using commas to clarify meaning and clauses. avoid ambiguity. Using hyphen to avoid ambiguity. Using semi-colons, colons or dashes to mark boundaries between independent clauses. Using a colon to introduce a list. Punctuate bullet points consistently. Y5 term 2 Spelling banks for Y3/4 To recognise and spell the suffix – cian Words ending with suffix – tion Children must recognise all ‘shun’ Words ending with suffix – sion words and know how to choose the Words ending with suffix – ssion correct ending. Words ending with suffix -cian Previously these were skills for 12-14 year olds to be taught but now this is an expectation for Y5/6 pupils.
Some of the main changes… • It goes beyond the previous curriculum. • Need to keep key maths fundamentals, such as times tables and number facts, "on the boil." • Emphasis on calculating and problem solving with fractions and decimals and less on data handling (now called statistics). • Calculators are banned in the KS2 SAT. There is an increased emphasis on mental fluency and the use of efficient written methods in the four mathematical operations.
Some examples Old Curriculum New Curriculum Fractions, Decimals & Percentages Fractions, Decimals & Percentages in Y3/4 is at Level 3 used to be: now: Use simple fractions that are Recognise, write and find fractions of a several parts of a whole. discrete set of objects. Recognise when two simple Recognise and use fractions as numbers. fractions are equivalent. Recognise and show equivalent fractions. Begin to use decimal notation. Add and subtract fractions with the same denominator. Compare and order fractions with the same denominator Solve problems involving fractions of increasing difficulty (Y4). Recognise and write decimal equivalents to simple fractions. Count up and down in tenths and hundredths. Compare decimals to 2 dp. Round decimals to the nearest whole number.
What does this mean? • The raised expectations mean that children need to have a very secure knowledge of the programme of study for their year group and depth of understanding and application. • End of year expectation is now that children are ‘secure’ in their year group. This is where they need to be at the end of the year. • There is a challenge for schools in filling the gaps in jumping from one curriculum to the next and children are expected to know things in a certain age group when they might not have the expected prior knowledge or experience.
Assessment ‘Life after Levels’
What do we mean by assessment? There are 2 main forms of assessment: 1) Formative Assessment: this is used by teachers on a day-to- day basis to evaluate pupils’ knowledge and understanding and to tailor teaching accordingly. 2) Summative Assessment - In-school: this enables schools to evaluate how much a pupil has learned at the end of a teaching block; - Nationally standardised summative assessment: this is used by the Government to hold schools to account.
Why have levels gone? • Attainment levels were introduced in 1988 with the national curriculum. Now there is a new national curriculum we need a new form of assessment to align with its content and principles. • ‘Too often levels became viewed as thresholds and teaching became focused on getting pupils across the next threshold instead of ensuring they were secure in the knowledge and understanding. Levels also used a ‘best fit’ model, which meant that a pupil could have serious gaps in their knowledge and understanding, but still be placed within the level.’ Final report on the commission on Assessment without Levels, Sept 2015.
• The difference between pupils on either side of a level boundary might have been very slight, while the difference between pupils within the same level might have been very different. • Progress became synonymous with moving onto the next level, but progress can involve developing deeper or wider understanding, not just moving onto work of greater difficulty. Sometimes progress is simply about consolidation. • Labelling – children can see themselves as poor learners if they are on a different level to their peers.
What will happen with assessment now? • Levels are no more. • New expectations set out. • Assessment system must check what pupils have learned, whether they are on track to meet these expectations.
• No national system, schools have been given the autonomy to develop their own. • We have adopted the same system as most other borough schools. • We have paired with other schools to enable moderation to continue to take place. • Parents will continue to receive feedback on a termly basis.
How will this change the assessment and reporting of my child’s attainment? • We hope we have selected an assessment procedure that is clearer for parents and carers. • As a school we must report back on whether a pupil is achieving the expectations for the end of each key stage. • We have split the national curriculum into ‘End of Year Expectations’ for English and Mathematics. This is a list of the key objectives that pupils need to know by the end of each academic year.
How will we report back to parents (reports and Parents’ Consultations) In Years 1 to 6 every pupil has a set of ‘End of Year Expectations’ to achieve by the end of each academic year in English and Mathematics. At parental consultations , and for your child’s end of year report, you will be given information on: • Whether your child is working below, at or above age related expectations • Effort grades
Levels are Our new system no more! • Pupils are assessed against a key set of Level 6 expectations per Year Group. Level 5a • They learn in greater depth and apply their Level 5b learning to a wide variety of situations. Level 5c • They are not accelerated through levels, Level 4a instead they develop a deeper understanding Level 4b and an ability to apply this understanding Level 4c across other subjects and in a variety of Level 3a situations. Level 3b • At the beginning of each year they face the Level 3c challenge of a new set of End of Year Level 2a Expectations Level 2b
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