Assessment at Rushmore

At Rushmore, we place great importance on the quality and value of teacher assessment.

We do so because we believe that teachers are best placed to make judgements on the attainment and the progress of the pupils in their care as they work with them every day and get to know them really well in all domains across the curriculum.

The Early Years

We use on-going profiling of all pupils in Nursery and Reception.

These are contributed to by all key workers through ongoing observations which inform teachers about where children's attainment sits within the development matters brackets and what their next steps should be. At the end of the Reception year teachers assess children against the 'Early Learning Goals'. Each child's 'Early Years Foundation Stage Profile' is then shared with parents. Click here for more information on the Early Learning Goals.

Reception Baseline Assessment ( RBA)

From September 2021 it is now a statutory requirement that all schools complete the RBA.The RBA is an age-appropriate assessment of early mathematics and literacy, communication and language. It is delivered in English and is administered within the first six weeks of a pupil starting reception. The assessment has two components, each consisting of practical tasks using physical resources. There is an online scoring system for the practitioner to use as the pupil engages with the tasks.

The RBA will be used to create school-level progress measures for primary schools which will show the progress pupils make from reception until the end of key stage 2. This progress measure will replace the KS1 to KS2  progress measure, paving the way for an end to the submission of  Year 2 SATS outcomes by summer 2024.

Teacher Assessment Years 1 - 6

We ask teachers to assess whether children in their classes are making progress in the key domains of reading, writing and mathematics every half term based on the children's progress in lessons and as demonstrated in recorded pieces of work.

We also undertake regular assessments of children's Phonic knowledge in years 1, 2 and (for some children) year 3. These assessments are then used to inform which Read Write Inc group children are taught in for the following half term.

Summative Assessment Years 1 - 5

Rushmore has opted to undertake termly summative assessments of children's progress and attainment in reading, writing and mathematics; these take place towards the end of each term.

We use NFER tests for these summative assessments in Years 3 to 5 and past SATs papers (or sections of them earlier in the year)  in year 2. We use the information garnered in these tests alongside on-going teacher assessment to judge children's overall progress and attainment and to inform future provision. Following each set of summative assessments teachers meet with the headteacher and assessment lead to identify if any changes to class provision or interventions need to be made.

Year 6

We have a more regular summative assessment schedule of Year 6 pupils than for other year groups and use a variety of materials for this purpose, including previous SATS papers.