Pupil Progress at St John’s RC School

St John’s assess students’ progress in line with the outcomes detailed in Section E of their Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). This enables for a personalised, child centred approach to learning and assessment across a broad range of skills. The school acknowledges that each learner is different, and that progress is based on each individual, not a comparison to others. The vast majority of students are assessed across the four broad areas of need: Cognition and Learning, Communication and Interaction, Social, Emotional and Mental Health and Physical and Sensory areas. However, some students have additional or different areas of need identified on their EHCP that they are assessed against, such as Independence or Preparing for Adulthood, but again, this is very much personalised to each individual and assessed accordingly.

Class teachers set termly targets for each pupil, in line with their EHCP outcomes. The targets are set in consultation with a Speech and Language Therapist and Occupational Therapist (if this provision is specified on a pupils EHCP) to ensure a joined up, collaborative working partnership. The targets are then shared with families and are best described as small stepping-stones towards a young person’s long- term outcomes, that are to be achieved by the end of a Key Stage. The personalised targets are derived from the strengths, needs and motivation of a young person and ensure that the learner is at the centre of the assessment process. Therefore, the targets are meaningful for the learner and are holistically embedded across the curriculum and not solely focused on just one subject area. This enables class staff to respond to the needs of each pupil and supports a curriculum that is tailored and differentiated to each individual.

At St John’s we acknowledge that some pupils have a spikey profile in relation to their progress. In view of this we use the Continuum of Skill Development as a system to demonstrate the improvements in a young person’s development. Learners are assessed across four aspects of learning: independence, fluency, maintenance and generalisation. They are rated for each aspect on a scale of 1-10 (1 being the lowest score and 10 being the highest). The four aspects of skill development provide prompts for those working with a young person. For example, fluency helps to determine an appropriate pace of the lesson, maintenance can ensure repetition of skills, generalisation enables the development of skills across a range of contexts and independence identifies the level of support required.

At the beginning of each term class teachers assess the pupils starting point (baseline data) for each target using the Continuum of Skill Development. The baseline determines where a young person is on the continuum for each aspect and what the young person and class staff need to focus on and develop. At this stage class teachers also complete an expected outcome assessment that identifies in their professional opinion where they expect the young person to reach on the Continuum of Skill Development by the end of the term.

During the course of the term class staff capture evidence to support a young person’s progress towards their individual targets. Class teachers also review a young person’s progress halfway through the term. This allows the opportunity to determine if a young person is on track to achieve their target by the end of the term. If they are not on track, then this provides the opportunity to enable appropriate interventions to be put in place to further support progress. Analysis of the personalised targets should feed assessment back into the teaching and learning process. At the end of term class teachers then record the end of cycle data to assess the progress against the target using the Continuum of Skill Development. This data illustrates where a young person has reached on the Continuum of Skill Development at the end of the term.

This approach to assessment ensures that it is an integral part of the curriculum that is responsive to pupils, taking into account their individual learning styles, as well as being informative for the staff. It ensures that assessment is a progressive and continuous process and develops consistency in staff assessment across the school.

In addition to personalised targets, St John’s also use statutory assessments, such as the Engagement Model and Pre-Key Stage Standards to assess pupil’s progress and attainment. The school also delivers a variety of accreditations including BTEC, ASDAN and AQA Unit Award Scheme.