Focused assessments are just one piece of the puzzle at school. 

At Furze, we aim to have a hollistic view of how children learn, and we know that children learn in different ways. This page describes the summative assessment methods that we use as a school. 

Assessment

Sonar (Previously known as Target Tracker) is the system that we use at Furze to track the progress & attainment of our children. Teachers use this continuously and the information gathered form the basis for our Pupil Progress meetings every term.

The school reports to parents three times a year, twice at parents’ consultations where you will receive your child's targets based on the National Curriculum statements and once in your child’s annual report at the end of the year. Parents often find it useful to view all the statements and you can find them and answers to frequently asked questions below.

The National Curriculum has been written to give Age Related Expectations (ARE) for the end of each year. As children travel from Nursery to Year 2 in our school, they are tracked against the Age Related Expectations. At Furze we use Sonar to support our tracking, this provides us with a Point in Time Assessment (PITA) for each child.

Where should my child be ideally?

This will obviously depend on the pupil’s ability level and how hard they work!

However, the expected standard at the end of each academic year will be for children to be working "at" age related expectations for their year group. 

What is a mastery curriculum?

The advice from the Government is that pupils who have gained a secure understanding of the Y1 programme of study, for example, should not be automatically moved on to the next year’s programme.

Instead they should be provided with extension work to deepen and consolidate their understanding of the concepts and skills already grasped.

The current curriculum is challenging so this extension work will be covered by a small cohort of each year group. Secure +, pupils have attained a more thorough and wide ranging grasp of the content and concepts.

How can you help?

Be aware of your expectations – learning can be found on the individual children's pages for their year group. 

Be aware that the curriculum is about breadth, depth and mastery too. Not moving to the next band.

You can support school by working with your child at home and completing home learning tasks set.