WELCOME TO PANGBOURNE PRIMARY SCHOOL INFORMATION EVENING ON THE NEW NC AND LIFE WITHOUT THE ‘OLD’ LEVELS.

The New National Curriculum

The Highlights

Stronger emphasis on vocabulary development, grammar, punctuation and spelling (for example, the use of commas and apostrophes will be taught in KS1)

A greater focus on phonics in FS-YR3 in reading and writing.

Handwriting (not assessed under the old national curriculum) is expected to be fluent, legible and speedy.

Spoken English has a greater emphasis, with children to be taught reciting poetry by heart and presenting skills.

Five-year-olds will be expected to learn to count up to 100 and beyond (compared to 20 under the old curriculum) and learn number bonds to 20 (used to be up to 10)

Simple fractions (1/4, 1/3 and 1/2) will be taught from KS1, and by the end of primary school, children should be able to convert decimal fractions to simple fractions (e.g. 0.375 = 3/8) and be able to multiply and divide them.

By the age of nine, children will be expected to know times tables up to 12×12 (old curriculum 10×10 by the end of primary school)

Modern foreign language is mandatory in KS2. 

Children will be expected to master basic grammar and accurate pronunciation and to converse, present, read and write in the language.

Other Changes

BRITISH VALUESSchools should promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs

Foundation subjects

(Science, history, geography, computing)

These have been slimmed down considerably and elements removed.

A Parents’ Guide is available on the school website.

ASSESSMENT

WITHOUT LEVELS

The PPS Plan

DfE ‘As part of our reforms to the national curriculum, the system of ‘levels’ that used to report children’s attainment and progress have been removed and will not be replaced.’

Assessing without levels

Previously, all schools tracked the progress and attainment of each student using levels, starting at 1 and potentially ending (at primary school) at level 6. Each level was divided into 3 sections: C, B and A. C was the lowest part of the level, with A being the highest part of the level. A ‘4B’ represented a child who in Year 6 had reached the national average. Level 4 is what all schools aim for, as this ensures pupils are secondary ready. Some of the pupils at PPS (usually between 40% and 80% of the cohort) achieve a Level 5 at the end of Year 6, which is higher than national average. Some pupils achieve a Level 6.

The programmes of study within the new National Curriculum set out expectations at the end of each key stage.

The curriculum must include an assessment system which enables schools to check what pupils have learned and whether they are on track to meet expectations at the end of the key stage, and to report to parents.

The first new key stage 1 and key stage 2 tests in reading, writing, SPAG and mathematics, based on the new national curriculum, will be sat by pupils for the first time in the summer of 2016.

The message we are being given is that we are not helping the children by pushing them too far too quickly, as we need to “Teach wider, not higher”

The end of KS1 test will ONLY assess content from the KS1 curriculum and similarly the end of KS2 test will ONLY assess content from the KS2 curriculum as “mastery” of the curriculum is what is required.

What have we been told

We are challenging the staff to extend and deepen the children’s knowledge so they can answer questions in a range of formats and give them the opportunity to reflect, and consolidate instead of rushing them onto to the next thing.

We need to ensure the building blocks of learning are on a strong foundations and that they are securely in place!

Outcomes

As teachers assess children against this more rigorous National Curriculum, we may see that they are working at an age appropriate level with more breadth and mastery. Levels may have been perceived as working at a higher level then the year group they were in they will now be working at a level that is age appropriate but in more depth

They are now being assessed against a wholly new framework; so there will be a time of transition between the old and the new.

We use a combination of:

• an online assessment system called Incerts that allows inputting of children’s progress against the new National curriculum statements. Children’s progress is checked at regular points across the school.

• Marking and feedback in the children’s books

• Phonics check in June (YR1 and some YR2 children)

• SATs at YR2 and YR6 (May-June)

• All assessments are moderated across the partnership of schools and the LA run regular checks.

So what do we use to assess?

Our curriculum and assessment framework enables us to pinpoint the aspects of the curriculum in which pupils are falling behind whilst recognising exceptional performance. The new assessment system tracks how each pupil is performing against the new skills of the national curriculum. Teachers use the outcomes of these assessments to summarise and analyse attainment and progress for their pupils and their classes and use this data to plan the learning for every pupil, ensuring they meet or exceed expectations. Teacher and leaders analyse the data across the whole school to ensure that pupils identified as vulnerable or at particular risk in this school are making appropriate progress and that all pupils are suitably challenged. We celebrate all achievements across a broad and balanced curriculum, including sport, art and performance, science, behaviour, and social and emotional development.

THANK YOU FOR WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH US TO SUPPORT THE PUPILS OF PANGBOURNE PRIMARY SCHOOL.