How we Assess Writing at Walkley

Each lesson recorded in books will be acknowledged by teachers. Practice lessons, plans and independent writes will have a ‘deep mark’ so that any misconceptions can be addressed. Children self-assess each lesson against the ‘Remember tos’ – the building blocks in the lesson to reach the learning objective Teachers then mark their agreement with the child’s own judgement. After the children have completed their independent write, and before the editing lesson, teachers will read through the children’s work and draw out common errors, spelling patterns and missing punctuation.  This will be captured on whole-class writing feedback sheet.  These errors will provide the focus of the editing session. 

Teachers will mark children’s accuracy in their independent work. The following marking codes will be used:-

a) double tick when they have demonstrated the age-expected taught features, grammar and spelling

b) missing punctuation put into the margin for children to insert on that line

c) sp written in the margin (and the word underlined in that line) for children to correct.  This should be spellings that have been taught or a common exception word they should know. Only age-expected spellings that have been taught already should be corrected.  For GD children, other spellings could be corrected. 

d) a wiggly line for a part of the write that doesn't make sense for the children to read again and correct

e) a ^ for a missing word in the place it should be inserted

A positive, written comment about the write will be given to the children.  Any feedback or 'wishes' to be actioned in the 'edit' lesson unless very child-specific.  Spellings are also provided to practice three times as a scaffold for commonly misspelt words children should be spelling correctly (if necessary).  In the case of misconceptions, verbal feedback may be given or the teacher may scaffold the learning in their marking.

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

For each writing unit, the associated SPaG has been carefully mapped out and genre matched. In order to develop their grammar skills, children are taught elements of SPaG in the context of their writing and are taught how, and why, it is used.  Children are then given time to practice this as part of the writing cycle.  Any misconceptions are addressed at this stage.  Termly SPaG assessments, provided by Testbase, are also used to provide further end-point assessment data. Previous SATs papers are used in Y2 and Y6 as assessment points throughout the year to feed into ongoing teacher assessment.

Spellings are introduced on a Friday and children practice these throughout the week.  Assessment of that week’s spellings happen at the end of the week.  Information from weekly spelling tests, diagnostic analysis on Spelling Shed and termly SPaG assessments will also be used to inform teacher assessments.

Teachers will use ongoing formative assessment to determine whether a child is working within age-related expectations, above or below. They will base their judgements on the quality of the independent write that pupils produce at the end of each unit.

Assessments are recorded on the PiTA assessment grids against crucial learning and moderated internally, across schools and at local authority moderation meetings.

Moderation uses Teacher Assessment Frameworks (TAFs) to support judgments on children’s current attainment against national; curriculum expectations for each year group. These have been produced by the writing team and are modelled on and align with the DfE Teacher Assessment Frameworks for Year 2 and Year 6. These are used at points across the year to consider the likelihood or meeting end of year standards.

For more information on assessment in the curriculum see the school Assessment Policy. 

Below are the key objectives forming the crucial learning for children at each year group which are captured on PiTA grids.