Impact – Evidence and Assessment

The adapted curriculum at Little Heath School is broad and balanced and identifies and meets the variety of needs of our pupils.  The curriculum, alongside specialist teaching approaches, provides consistency throughout the school, whilst recognising developmental and age-related aspects to learning. Therefore, we have adapted and created assessment systems which accurately and meaningfully allow us to support the progress of our pupils.

At LHS, we use assessment:

To help pupils to: 

• Recognise and take pride in their own achievements, 
• Recognise areas and skills that need to be strengthened, 
• Become involved in planning their own future learning, 
• Record their own achievements and share these with others. 

To help teachers to: 

• Have a knowledge of each pupil’s particular abilities, skills and understanding, 
• Plan future learning targets for individual pupils and groups. 
• Plan future teaching through evaluation of materials, resources and strategies. 

To help the school to:   

• Provide continuity and progression within school, to home and beyond. 
• Evaluate effectively whole school curriculum planning and practice, 
• Meet statutory requirements.
• Provide progression data for individuals and groups. 
• Contribute to effective transitions. 
• Compare progress made by Little Heath School pupils to national and local data sets. 

To help parents/carers to: 

• Know how their child is doing, 
• Be aware of how best to help and encourage at home, 
• Participate in celebrations of achievements.  

Principles of Assessment at LHS

Assessment lies at the heart of the process of promoting children’s learning.  It provides a framework within which educational objectives may be set and children’s progress expressed and monitored.  This is done, as much as possible, in partnership with the pupils.  

Assessment is incorporated systematically into teaching and learning strategies to diagnose any areas for improvement, to track progress and identify trends.  Assessment supports the school to strengthen learning across the curriculum and assists teachers to enhance their assessing skills.  Little Heath School’s approach to assessment is free from bias, stereotyping and generalisation in respect to gender, class, race or disability. 

Assessment provides the basis for: 

• acknowledging achievement (academic and personal) 
• planning for learning  
• recording experience, developing knowledge and skills 
• reporting for a range of purposes and to different audiences (e.g. to parents/carers, to governors and to local authority)

Assessment approaches at Little Heath School 

Types of Assessment 

Formative Assessment is the on-going assessment carried out by teachers both formally and informally.  Formative Assessment is also known as ‘assessment for learning’.  The outcome of formative assessments has a direct impact on the teaching and learning approaches and strategies employed immediately following the assessment.  Marking of pupils’ work is also an important part of formative assessment and this is done through workbooks, photo evidence, video evidence, etc. 

Summative Assessment occurs at defined points in the school year.  Summative Assessment is also known as ‘assessment of learning’.  The outcome of summative assessments assist teachers in determining progress for specific subject areas, check if pupils are progressing at expected rates and make any necessary adjustments to support learning. 

Tracking Progress at LHS 

Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4

We have recently introduced a new assessment framework for Key Stages 3 and 4 which focus on Communication, Social Interaction, Flexibility of Thought and Emotional Regulation.  This assessment framework (B-Squared – Autism Progress) is applicable not only for pupils with autism but to all pupils.  Developing skills in these four areas support pupils to be ready for learning and prepares them for a fulfilling and productive adult life. 

Key Stage 5 

Key Stage 5 uses Create Development Wheel (CD Wheel) which has been tailor-made to learning focused on Preparation for Adulthood, specific to our school and our pupils.  The CD Wheel contains a mastery statement in each aspect of the curriculum.  Targets are set to meet individual needs and levels of abilities.  Pupils are challenged to reach their full potential with flexibility in identifying the priorities for learning.    

It is the tool for accelerating learning, providing pupils with access to every step of their learning journey and a visual record of exactly where they are and where they need to go next. The CD Wheel is set within five areas of learning: Community Learning, Work Related Learning, Independent Living, Functional Skills and Holistic Learning.  Holistic Learning focuses on progress towards their personal and emotional development. 

EHCP outcomes & IEP targets 

Across all Key Stages, we track progress towards EHCP outcomes through IEP targets.  In Key Stage 5, IEP targets are set and tracked in the CD Wheel assessment framework. All available methods of data collection and analysis rely on the professional expertise of our skilled staff and their knowledge of the pupils. They continue to be subjective ‘best fit’ assessments.   

At Little Heath, we implement rigorous and coordinated triangulated monitoring to continually measure the impact of our curriculum. In addition, we access external review and moderation services to ensure that our judgements are sound and our approach remains effective.