In order to understand progress made by pupils and to enable the tailoring of lessons our teachers use a variety of formative and summative assessment strategies.

Formative assessment is key to our understanding of a pupil’s abilities as it is based upon a complete picture of a learner. Formative assessment is about assessment for learning; this is collated from a child’s performance in class, in a range of subjects. We believe it is important to give feedback to pupils ‘in the moment’, so that they can move forward in their learning. A teacher’s assessment of a pupil is largely based upon this formative assessment as it produces a rounded and full picture of a pupil’s performance.

Summative assessments are given at key times within a year to determine at a particular point in time what students know and do not know. These include for example, formal tests and assignments.

In primary provision standardised tests, currently NFER, help to demonstrate to a teacher if a child understands a subject, but staff are very conscious that they are only a snapshot of understanding, taken at a moment in time. Brookhaven may utilise some of these materials to benchmark. Staff are also aware that some children respond well in test situations whilst others do not; other factors, such as illness or upset, may affect how a child performs and therefore these types of assessments are planned for carefully. Summative assessment serves to support a staff’s formative assessment; it is only a small part of the bigger picture.