Marking, Feedback and Presentation Policy Rationale Good formative - PDF document

Marking, Feedback and Presentation Policy Rationale ‘Good formative assessment ranges from the probing question put to a pupil as they think something through; quick recap questions at the opening of a lesson; scrutiny of the natural work of pupils; right through to formal tests.’ ‘It helps pupils to measu re their knowledge and understanding against learning objectives and wider outcomes and to identify where they need to target their efforts to improve.’ ‘In -school formative assessment should be an integral part of teaching and learning. It allows teachers to understand pupil performance on a continuing basis. It enables teachers to identify when pupils are struggling, when they have consolidated learning and when they are ready to progress. In this way, it supports teachers to provide appropriate support or extension as necessary. It also enables teachers to evaluate their own teaching of particular topics or concepts and to plan future lessons accordingly.’ The Commission Report on Assessment- September 2015 Belvoirdale’ s marking, feedback and presentation policy recognises the vital role marking and feedback plays on impacting teaching and learning as highlighted in the Commission Report on Assessment 2015 . Teachers give more focus to providing pupils with feedback which clarifies those aspects of the curriculum where their knowledge and understanding is secure and those areas where there are gaps. Applying a range of formative assessment methods, including marking and feedback allows teachers to tailor their assessments to the underpinning knowledge and skills being taught, for example by supporting teaching with “effective question and answer” techniques. Aims of the policy  To provide coherent picture of good and outstanding practice in marking  To provide positive reinforcement of the teaching and learning process  To ensure that effective learning results from manageable feedback and marking  To give teachers, teaching assistants and peers the skills for effective feedback and marking  To set out our expectations for high quality but manageable feedback and marking. Why do we mark?  To enable a regular dialogue between teacher and child  To give a clear picture of what the child had done against the Learning Objective  To give recognition and praise for achievement  To provide suggestions for the next learning steps  To identify common and individual needs to inform planning  To empower children in self-assessment

At Belvoirdale we expect children to:  Regularly read and respond to the comments made by adults in their books.  Take pride and care in the presentation of their books reflecting the high standard that is expected.  Take time to correct and finish off work where appropriate.  Cross out mistakes with a neat, straight line.  Use quality-writing equipment appropriate to Year group. Children should write in pencil until the class teacher considers that their writing is of a sufficiently mature standard (correctly joined-up writing, of regular and appropriate size and with clear ascenders and descenders) to use pen. Children should be encouraged to use a good quality handwriting pen.  Use pencil for drawings or diagrams.  Pupils should be expected to record the Learning Objective, Success Criteria and the date at the beginning of each piece of recorded learning. Younger and less able children will be supported to establish these routines. Success Criteria stickers may be used to aid this.  Children are to respond to marking using a purple pen. For marking to be worthwhile it is essential that children can both understand and respond to it in a meaningful way. How do we ensure that children will respond to marking?  For marking to have an impact on attainment the comments made by the class teacher need to lead the children to further develop their understanding of what has been learned and the areas of improvement . In some cases the marking will further explore a pupil’s understanding of what they have completed.  As part of the daily classroom routine it is essential that at the start of each session children are encouraged to read the teacher comment form the lesson before and if appropriate respond. Therefore marking needs to include questions that encourage a response. These should be related to the success criteria of the lesson and as far as possible personalised to the pupil.  Examples of appropriate comments to elicit these outcomes are given in Appendix 1. How do we mark? To be effective, the marking of children’s work must be both regular and frequent. It is sometimes appropriate to mark during a lesson and sometimes at the end of a task. When possible marking is carried out with the child present, although it is recognised that this is difficult to accommodate.  In order for marking to have the maximum impact it should mainly focus on areas for improvement or to further explore understanding related to the success criteria. Attainment in relation to the learning objective should also be commented on but this will be in the form of a simple sentence, mark or stamp e.g. Objective met.  Pupil outcomes from every subject including handwriting need to be marked, though the manner in which this is done will vary from task to task. (See below)  Homework should be marked in line with the expectation of this policy. It is essential that homework is marked regularly to inform parents of pupil progress.  The a dult response to children’s work may be oral or written feedback, which will be influenced by the age and level of the pupil involved. In the case of oral feedback the teacher must initial and/or tick the piece of work indicating clearly that oral feedback has been given e. g VF. We recognise that oral intervention/feedback may be more appropriate in EYFS and lower Key Stage 1 as this also

gives the child the opportunity to input their own thoughts and ideas, but is also of equal value in Key stage 2.  Teachers should mark all work in red pen.  Stamps, stars and stickers may be used to provide further specific encouragement and positive reinforcement.  Teachers should indicate appropriate incorrect spellings for children to correct in all writing. Teachers should use their professional judgement when highlighting spelling errors. The word should be indicated with ‘Sp’ and underlined. It is the child’s responsibility to find the correct spelling and copy it out in the margin 3 times.  Where work has been marked by someone other than the class teacher, this should be noted by stamp or written e.g. cover teacher.  In EYFS adults should date and annotate descriptions relating to age development bands linked with prime and specific areas of learning to enable a comprehensive profile of pupil work to be compiled.  Comments related to the presentation of work have little impact on pupil achievement and need to be accompanied by a learning related comment.  It is expected that children are given regular opportunities to look back over at the comments made on a number of pieces of work to remind themselves of the progress or areas for development commented on. How do we monitor marking and feedback?  Following a monitoring timetable marking and feedback will be examined regularly across a range of subjects and pupil groups by the Head teacher and members of the Senior Leadership team.  Regular pupil conversations held by subject leaders will ascertain whether the marking and feedback is having an impact of children’s learni ng across a range of subjects.  Timetabled staff meetings will enable teachers and Phase Leaders to monitor marking and feedback across year groups and to reflect on their practice.

School Systems for Effective Feedback and Marking Aim Day to Day Marking In depth (At least one piece of literacy, one piece of numeracy a week)  Use stamps/stickers for  Use green highlighter pens To give a clear picture of what the child has done against the learning objective (met or for examples where the Learning Objective partly met) Learning Objective/success criteria is met.  You may respond to what the child’s self-assessment says.  Positive comments  Encouragement in the To give recognition and praise  Use of sticker or stamp to for achievement ‘What you did well?’ against the success reward effort and achievement. criteria.  Use of a question  Use orange/pink To provide suggestions for  Use of orange/pink improvements highlighter pens for areas to develop, with an highlighter explanation, example or question.  Ensure pupils have time  Ensure pupils have time To enable a regular dialogue between the child and teacher to check their own work to make diagnostic  Ensure pupils have time assessments of their work. to respond to comments  Ensure pupils have time and questions to respond to comments, questions and orange/pink highlighting.  Impact on next lesson,  Impact on speeding or To identify common needs to inform planning use verbal feedback to slowing down of the revisit an idea, teaching sequence punctuation or spelling Verbal feedback: Is at the heart of what teachers do the whole time. Whether it is to refocus or stretch pupils. All lessons contain a substantial amount of teacher/support staff talks that is both, planned and responsive to the needs of the pupil(s).