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Tracking pupil progress across the new National Curriculum

Levels have gone and the both government and Ofsted are saying clearly that internal assessment is a matter for the school.

In one sense, this offers freedom and opportunity to schools, but time is short and energies are focused on teaching the new curriculum.

Strangely, it is the secondary sector that has reacted most strongly to the withdrawal of levels. They now expect to receive assessments on several different scales from their feeder schools, so the loss of a system with agreed ‘going rates’ has been a blow. Parents too, may soon notice that a Chelmsford Grade 3 is not the same thing as a Chichester Level 3 or a Chelsea Primary 3 score.

One of the strengths of the old system was that ongoing assessments were anchored to the national test assessment in a single system so that progress towards expectations could be monitored.

How, then, do we keep an eye on pupil progress?

Sue Hackman, the DfE’s Chief Adviser on School Standards until 2013, has created Climbing Frames – an assessment tool specifically developed for the new national curriculum. The tool helps your school to track pupil progress across both core and foundation subjects.

It also includes five pre-levels to help you monitor progress for SEN pupils.

One of the standout benefits of the system is that, as well as being able to track pupils across Key Stages 1, 2 and 3, across the new national curriculum, your school can also monitor each child’s cognitive development.

Sue has included eight thinking and learning frames. These are arranged to cover all nine years of the National Curriculum plus the five pre-levels described above, and they are tied to the priorities of the new curriculum.

Other benefits of using Climbing include:

  • Fair, manageable and reliable progress tracking
  • Ample sensitivity to monitor half-termly or termly progress
  • Easy to share progress with colour coded overviews – a hit with parents
  • Can report at individual, class, cohort and school level
  • Links to knowledgeable resources for CPD expertise
  • Uses print and digital for fuller, more sophisticated monitoring and reporting
  • Cost-effective with hard-copy kits from only £100
  • Free access to the app for the first year

Schools that purchase the hard-copy Climbing Frames before January 2015 will receive the App free for the first year.

To find out more about using the Climbing Frames assessment tool, and to place an order, please visit: http://www.teachingtimes.com/articles/climbingframeshh, email us at enquiries@imaginativeminds.co.ukm, or call us on 0121 224 7599.