Documents Index

Policy Document & date.

What is it about?

Aims and Philosophy of the school. (1998)

This document lays down a framework for how everybody should behave towards each other, the type of learning environment we want for the children and the broad principles these ideas are based on.

The document recognises that the children are the beginning, middle and end of all we do. It declares that our central objectives concentrate on the children’s development as individuals and that this is highly dependent on their self-esteem.

Teaching and Learning Policy.

(March 1998)

This is a huge document that tries to define and clarify our beliefs about what is effective a) teaching and b) challenging, developmental learning.

Much of the policy links with our Aims and general Philosophy of Education in how we all operate within the organisation. The key to our effectiveness is the degree to which we can all work co-operatively.

The policy has sections on commitment to learning; how individuals and groups can become learners; how to develop a shared understanding of achievement; evaluating learning; differentiation and levels of expectation.

To a certain degree the section on teaching has been superseded by OFSTED criteria that the LEA now works to. However, we use our own policy linked to our work on staff development to establish expectations and lay down how teaching staff will be monitored as part of their own development.

The policy has sections on roles and responsibilities; relationships; planning; equal opportunities/ differentiation; pupil support, feedback and evaluating progress, behaviour, attitudes and expectations. The policy also says how all of these aspects will be monitored and evaluated.

Early Years Policy Document.

(1997)

This was a policy updated from the original 1995 when we were first given permission to take in, on a part-time basis, children who were “Rising, rising fives”.

Much of what we wrote about has been superseded by the DfES publications and schemes about the Foundation Stage and the type of curriculum that should be offered.

The document has sections on approaches to learning; equal opportunities; bi-lingual children and their families; the physical environment; the curriculum; staffing; partnerships with parents; planning, assessment and record keeping; admissions linked to the school’s admissions policy.

The Role of Play in Early Years & KS1.

(CVC 1996).

All members of the Consortium were represented in creating this document. It recognises that learning and ideas are consolidated by play. The policy defines a range of play types that help to support the Early Years curriculum. Further, there is an attempt to establish aspects of “good play”, how this can be planned and recorded.

Policy Document & date.

What is it about?

Assessment, Recording and Reporting Achievement. (1995 then updated in 1998. Marking added 1999)

Guidelines for setting pupil level targets. (2000)

The policy lays down the agreed areas of assessment throughout the school and gives a rationale for why we assess in a climate where there has been a lot of criticism about increased paperwork.

The document talks about how planning and assessment have evolved and how they may change in the future. This is important at the moment.

In the past we had our “Star Charts” which refer to the objectives of the NC before Curriculum 2000

With the advent of the new curriculum we have adopted an IT program that we trialled with other members of the Consortium The program allows the teacher to plan formatively. Objectives are selected which can be assessed against the performance of the class. The teacher can set the program to warn where there is insufficient understanding on the part of the children and these objectives can be re-run. The program is useful for co-ordinators who need to see the performance of the children across the whole school. This can be linked to “Target Tracker”, another IT program, and the slightly cruder “Yellow Files” which assess the class as a whole against the objectives for each QCA unit.

Each Monday the ICT TA will collect plans and assessments on a memo-pen and put these onto the Orange 2 in the suite as well as the Head’s and her own laptop.

In the Spring we heard Shirley Clarke speak on this subject. One area already adopted by most staff is to develop a “success criteria” with the children for each objective to establish what full understanding might look like.

This brief policy provides a rationale for why we set targets, which sets them and in which areas. In general the targets start as entirely teacher led and recorded in KS1, developing into pupil led targets that have a strong element of pupil assessment by the end of KS2. Currently the children have targets pasted into their books in Speaking and Listening; Reading; Writing; Mathematics and Science. Each subject target is broken down into thirds of a level. The setting and assessment of the target will depend upon how the class is organised, the nature of the target,

Policy for Response (our Marking Policy from May 1999)

Policy

Ap1 Marking and Presentation guidelines

Ap2 Notes on feedback

Ap3 The development of targets.

Marking guide symbols

This is a brief policy but with a very large appendix that specifies how children in each year group are expected to present their work and how the teachers and TAs of those children are expected to respond.

The policy sets out why we mark, how we do it and the basic principles underlying what we do. There are some important underlying principles that form the basis of the policy: -

·          Progress must be carefully monitored against learning objectives derived from the PoS.

·          There should be a dialogue between teacher/TA and pupil

·          Knowledge of “next step” and how to achieve it is important, hence the target setting booklets.

·          We have evidence, through work, of assessment (formative and summative) that informs planning.

·          Moderation across classes/year groups/the Consortium/nationally.

                  Six symbols that should be used commonly across the school

                 Spelling mistake                 Check the sentence by re-reading/re-marking

                  Word missing                    Start a paragraph

                 More information needed

                 Teacher/TA does not understand what has been written