Parent MeetingsSeptember 2015

Changes to Curriculum and AssessmentThe New National Primary Curriculum was

implemented in September 2014Due to national testing in Year 2 and Year 6

both these year groups were to continue working to the ‘old’ national curriculum.

From September 2015, all year groups are now studying the New National Curriculum

Main ChangesThe curriculum itself is more challenging.

Many objectives have been incorporated into earlier years’ work, particularly in Mathematics and English.

Greater focus on teaching of grammar and punctuation and reciting poetry as part of the English curriculum.

Curriculum maps are on the school website detailing what children will be covering in each year group.

AssessmentAttainment targets and levels were

introduced with the national curriculum in 1988. To align with the introduction of the new national curriculum (2014), statutory assessment arrangements will change in summer 2016 to align with the content and principles of the new curriculum. The Commission on Assessment without Levels

July 2015

SATs for 2016Children in Year 2 and Year 6 will still undergo

statutory assessmentsIn Year 2, these are teacher assessments in

reading, writing and maths, supported by externally set test in reading and maths.

A new spelling, grammar and punctuation test is to be introduced that will support teachers’ assessment of writing.

Sample papers for Years 2 and 6 can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum-assessments-2016-sample-materials

SATs for 2016At Key Stage 2, children will take external

tests in reading, mathematics and grammar, punctuation and spelling.

Writing will continue to be teacher assessed.

Mathematics will have 3 papers: 2 for reasoning of mathematics and 1 for arithmetic

SATs 2016At Key Stage 1, 4 performance descriptors

will be used to report children’s attainment. These are:Mastery standardNational standardWorking towards national standardBelow national standard

SATs at Key Stage 2Performance descriptor used for Reading,

Mathematics, Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling will be:Working at the national standard.

A scaled score will also be used where 100 score indicates a child working at the national standard.

SATs 2016Writing assessment is still teacher assessed

with 5 performance descriptors:Mastery standardAbove national standardNational standardWorking towards national standardBelow national standard

Science – there will be biennial sample tests with 1 performance descriptor:Working at the national standard

Other Year GroupsThe curriculum objectives have been carefully

divided mainly into separate year groups. This enables teachers to assess children’s progress against a set of given criteria.

In mathematics, every year group has its own set of objectives.

In English, objectives for reading and writing have been spread over 2 years in lower Key Stage 2, that is Years 3 & 4, and upper Key Stage 2, that is Years 5 & 6.

Due to the added challenge of the curriculum, teachers are having to ‘plug gaps’ created by some criteria moving into earlier year groups.

The principles underlying the New Curriculum, promoted by the Expert Panel who designed the new curriculum, was based on the highly successful teaching methodology of successful jurisdictions, such as Singapore and Hong Kong.

Their approach is every child having access to the full curriculum – all children covering the same criteria. All children having secure knowledge / understanding before moving on.

Different ApproachThe need to secure ‘deep learning’ in key concepts and

ideas (Expert Panel)No longer will teachers be trying to cover

different objectives in a lessonAll children will be working on the same objective

but possibly using different resources / methods / support

Those children ‘secure’ will be given opportunities to apply their knowledge in different contexts, work independently, show resilience and perseverance to solve problems: to show ‘mastery’

It is important not to move with undue pace through the curriculum.

Different ApproachAs teachers assess against criteria they will

know who is secure and who needs further work.

Ability groups will be a thing of the past!By no longer grouping pupils according to levels,

teachers can give more focus to providing pupils with personalised feedback.

Commission on Assessment without Levels July

2015Working ‘groups’ will be flexible, based on

teachers’ on-going assessments of all pupils.

Different Approach

Teachers record their assessments and are able to quickly identify those children needing further consolidation.

AssessmentTeachers will be able to identify even more

clearly children’s strengths and areas needing further support and will be able to share this information with parents and, of course, the pupils themselves.

Any questions?

CommunicationSchool newslettersWebsiteTwitter2 Simple (Used in Reception and Year 1)Class newslettersText messagingConsidering Parent App We always try our best to keep parents

informed of forthcoming events but parents must help by checking upcoming events.

Supporting ReadingThis year, in order to make reading a high

priority across the whole school we are participating in a project: ‘Reading Quality Mark’.

There will be lots of activities taking place this year, some of which will involve parents.

Reading Quality Mark is about promoting ‘reading for pleasure’. As a first task, we are asking parents to model reading at home!

Parent WorkshopsWe have recently sought the support of

Knowsley Family Learning Service. They are going to provide a variety of

workshops across the school year.We have asked them to try to offer some

workshops outside of the normal school day to support our working parents.

Please do keep a look out for these. They will be advertised in the weekly newsletter.

Parent WorkshopsOne of the workshops offered will be on E-Safety.We are asking all of our parents to monitor children’s

use of IT ensuring children are playing age appropriate games. Some of our children are playing games that are aimed at older children, some even 18+!

As a school we also have concerns regarding the number of children who are on tablets, etc. for long periods of time.

ICT is a fantastic tool and we are not saying ‘No’ to IT. As a school, we are fully aware how e-learning can engage our pupils, however, there is more and more research about the harm long periods of use can have particularly on sleep patterns.

A study by Mariana Figueiro, of the Lighting Research Centre at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, revealed that: Using an Ipad set at maximum brightness for

at least two hours suppresses the normal night-time release of melatonin – a crucial hormone in the body’s clock.

Under regular conditions, the hormone signals the body that it is night and helps make you drowsy.

Delaying the release of melatonin could delay sleep.

Primary school children – need about 9 to 10 hours sleep each night. Studies show that increasing your child’s sleep by as little as half an hour can dramatically improve school performance.

Symptoms of sleep deprivation include: Moodiness and irritability Temper tantrums The tendency to emotionally ‘explode’ at the slightest

provocation Over-activity and hyperactive behaviour Daytime naps Grogginess when they wake up in the morning Reluctance to get out of bed in the morning.

Workshops are there to support parents and will offer lots of suggestions and advice to parents.

Any questions?