1 December 2016 weekly update

Dear Colleagues

Primary School Assessment and Accountability Measures

The DfE has recently updated the guidance for maintained schools, academies and free schools, Primary accountability in 2016. And in a recent written statement the Secretary of State announced further changes to Primary school assessment arrangements.

Proposed Changes to Primary Assessment

Steps to improve and simplify assessment arrangements include:

• 'mandatory training for local authority moderators'.to improve the moderation of teacher assessment and ensure there is a 'consistent' and 'reliable' approach across the country.
• The Key Stage 1 grammar, punctuation and spelling test will remain non-statutory for schools this academic year, with tests available for teachers to use if they choose.
• The Government will not now introduce statutory mathematics and reading re-sits on children's arrival in Year 7. Rather the focus will be on 'the steps needed to ensure a child catches up lost ground. High-quality re-sit papers will be made available for teachers to use if they wish, as part of their ongoing assessments'.

Early in 2017, the Government will launch a consultation on Primary assessment and the implications for accountability. While the consultation is in progress, the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile will remain in place until the 2017-2018 academic year.

The Floor standard

In 2016, a school will be above the floor standard if:

• at least 65% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics combined; or
• the school achieves sufficient progress score in all three subjects. This is at least -5.0 in reading, -5.0 in mathematics and -7.0 in writing.

To be above the floor, the school needs to meet either the attainment or all of the progress element. To meet the progress element, a school needs to have made sufficient progress scores in reading, writing and mathematics. If the school has one progress score that is less than sufficient in one subject, the school will only be below the floor if the progress for that subject is significantly below average.

Coasting Schools Definition

The Education and Adoption Act 2016 introduced a new definition of coasting schools and in 2016, a Primary school will be coasting if:

• it meets the 2014 and 2015 parts of the definition of fewer than 85% of pupils achieving level 4 in reading, writing and mathematics and below the national median percentage of pupils making expected progress in all of reading, writing and mathematics; and
• It also meets the 2016 part of the definition, of fewer than 85% of children achieve the expected standard at the end of Primary and average progress made by pupils is below 2.5 in reading or 2.5 in mathematics or 3.5 in writing.

A school will have to meet the coasting definition in three consecutive years to be defined as coasting. DfE: Draft Coasting Schools (England) Regulations 2016 (November 2016) (DOCX, 32.8 KB).

School Progress Scores

The new progress measures will be published on 15 December.

They aim to capture the progress that pupils make from the end of Key Stage 1 to the end of Primary school. A school's progress scores in reading, writing and mathematics are calculated as the average of its pupils' subject progress scores and are used to judge whether a school has met the progress element of the floor standard.

The scores give an indication of whether, as a group, pupils in the school made above or below average progress in a subject compared with pupils with similar Key Stage 1 outcomes in other schools.

The guidance states that to calculate progress scores, pupils are allocated into prior attainment groupings with all other pupils nationally with similar Key Stage 1 attainment. Schools can use a table in the guidance to see which prior attainment group a pupil will have been allocated to, depending on their Key Stage 1 average point score and what the national Key Stage 2 averages for each of these groups were in 2016 by subject.

A school's progress score for reading, writing and mathematics is calculated as its pupils' average progress scores and will be presented as positive and negative numbers either side of zero:

• A school score of 0 means pupils in the school, on average, do about as well at Key Stage 2 as those with similar prior attainment nationally.
• A positive score means pupils in this school on average do better at Key Stage 2 than those with similar prior attainment nationally.
• A negative score means that pupils in this school on average do worse at Key Stage 2 than those with similar prior attainment nationally.

A negative score does not mean a school is automatically below the floor. For example, a school with a mathematics progress score of -4 would mean on average, pupils in this school achieved 4 scale score points lower in the Key Stage 2 mathematics than other pupils with similar prior attainment nationally. In writing, a progress score of -5.0 could therefore be that pupils in this school achieve 5 points lower in the progress model than other pupils with similar prior attainment nationally.

With the publication of Coasting Schools: provisional data on 9 November 2016, the DfE estimates that 479 Primary schools will come within the definition. In Kent we expect very few Primary schools to be below the floor or to fall into the coasting definition when the results are finally published on 15 December. This is very positive and reflects all the good work to improve school performance.

For further information please contact your Senior Improvement Adviser, South Area Fiona.Wainde@kent.gov.uk, East Area Linda.Pickles@kent.gov.uk, North Area Karen.Claxton@kent.gov.uk, and West Area Tel.German@kent.gov.uk.

Patrick Leeson, Corporate Director Education and Young People’s Services