Connectives or Conjunctions...

We liked this image shared by a colleague in Southampton. We thought we might share is as it reveals some of the new expectations on pupils (..and staff!) to get to grips with grammatical terms in the new curriculum. Here's a really good example of one such change above - the use of connectives being replaced by conjunctions.

Southampton Inclusion Partnership Resources

The Southampton Inclusion Partnership website is a great resource for supporting pupils with SEND. They have recently put together some pre-key stage exemplifications for writing which are not currently available from the DfE. Each of the standards includes 6 pieces of evidence and they have included a checklist to help with evidencing. The link to the page is here and on the right.

Maths Exemplification Videos...

We are extremely grateful to the Head at Oakwood Primary School in Southampton for sharing their maths exemplification videos. These were put together by staff at Oakwood to support a DfE led project supporting teacher assessment in Maths. These are real children doing real Maths!

KS1 Spelling and Grammar Test Cancelled...

Schools have now received confirmation from the DfE that they will not longer be required to carry out the KS1 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test:

Late last year, the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) published modified versions of the sample test materials online. Regrettably, one of the guidance documents included in that release, for use with the modified large print version of the KS1 spelling test, contained the live test words rather than sample words. The correct version of the document is now available.

This is clearly unacceptable and we apologise. A full investigation into the cause of the error is underway. Our immediate investigation has shown that no other test papers for KS1 or key stage 2 (KS2) have been affected by this error.

To clarify the situation for schools about the administration of the KS1 tests in May, the Minister of State for Schools, Nick Gibb, has announced that schools will not be required to administer the KS1 English grammar, punctuation and spelling tests for this year only. All other KS1 and KS2 tests will continue as planned.

All schools will still need to submit a teacher assessment judgement for English writing based on pupils' work in the classroom. However there will be no requirement this year to administer the KS1 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test or to use the result as part of that assessment.

KS1 & 2 Reading exemplifications available...

The DfE have produced these useful videos of pupils working at or towards the expected standard in reading in both KS1 and KS2. Teacher s will use these as exemplars to help support their own judgements.

Further exemplification materials can be found by following the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2016-teacher-assessment-exemplification-ks1-english-reading

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2016-teacher-assessment-exemplification-ks2-english-reading

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2016-teacher-assessment-exemplification-ks1-mathematics

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/515334/STA-Ex2016-KS1-Science-ES.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2016-teacher-assessment-exemplification-ks2-science

National Statistics Report on Pupil Absence in Schools

The DfE has produced an interesting report on pupil absence trends for the last few years. Overall, it looks like there is a downward trend! Our school currently remains above the national trend. For more details and the full report head to this link.

2016 National Curriculum Test (SATs): Information for Parents

If you have a child in primary school in year 2 or 6 they are likely to be taking tests in May. In this video a headteacher provides information about the tests for parents. Have a look here for more information: http://ow.ly/ZlbQX