HOWITT PRIMARY COMMUNITY SCHOOL

Transcription

1 HOWITT PRIMARY COMMUNITY SCHOOL Marking and Feedback Policy December 2018 Agreed by Governing Board on.. (Date) Signed (Chair) To be reviewed

2 1 Introduction Howitt Primary Community School Policy on Marking and Feedback December At Howitt Primary Community School, we take a professional approach to the tasks of marking work and giving feedback on it. There will naturally be some very small differences in the marking symbols and systems used by individual teachers and the age of the pupils will have to be taken into account. However, all pupils are entitled to regular and comprehensive feedback on their learning. Therefore, all teachers will mark work and give feedback as an essential part of the assessment process. 2 Aims and objectives 2.1 We mark pupils' work and offer feedback in order to: show that we value the pupils' work, and encourage them to value it too; boost the pupils' self-esteem, and raise aspirations, through use of praise and encouragement. The main objective of marking and feedback is not to find fault, but to help pupils to learn and make progress. If pupils' work is well matched to their abilities, then errors that need to be corrected will not be so numerous as to affect their self-esteem; give the pupils a clear general picture of how far they have come in their learning, and how they can improve their work in the future; offer the pupils specific information on the extent to which they have met the lesson objective, and/or the individual targets set for them; promote self-assessment, whereby the pupils recognise their difficulties and are encouraged to accept guidance from others; share expectations; gauge the pupils' understanding and identify any misconceptions; provide a basis both for summative and for formative assessment; provide the ongoing assessment that should inform our future lesson-planning. 3 Principles of marking and feedback 3.1 We believe that the following principles should underpin all marking and feedback: The process of marking and offering feedback should be a positive one, with the recognition of the efforts made by the pupil. Marking and feedback is the dialogue that takes place between teacher and pupil, ideally while the task is still being completed or as soon afterwards as possible. Marking should always relate to the lesson objective and the pupil's own personal learning targets. The pupil must be able to read and respond to the comments made and be given time to do so. Where the pupil is not able to read and respond in the usual way, a verbal discussion is given.

3 Comments should be appropriate to the age and ability of the pupil and may vary across year groups and key stages. Comments will focus on only one or two key areas for improvement at any one time. Teachers should aim to promote pupils' self-assessment by linking marking and feedback into a wider process of engaging the pupil in his or her own learning. This includes sharing the learning objectives and the key expectations for the task right from the outset. Whenever possible, marking and feedback should involve the pupil directly. The younger the pupil, the more important it is that the feedback is oral and immediate. The marking system should be constructive and formative. For one-to-one feedback (teacher to pupil) to be effective, sufficient mutual trust must be established. Feedback may also be given by a teaching and learning assistant (TLA), or through peer review but it is the class teacher s responsibility to oversee the TLA s marking and feedback. Group feedback is provided through plenaries too and in group sessions. Feedback will help a pupil to identify their key priorities for improvement and the progress they are making towards personal targets. Challenges will be given to extend pupils learning and skills. Teachers will note errors that are made by many pupils and use them to inform future planning. Marking will be carried out promptly, and will be completed before the next lesson in that subject. Marking will always model good practice eg. Handwriting, spelling and grammar. 4 Implementing the marking policy 4.1 The school operates the one star if appropriate. This is a positive comment related to the success criteria or objective for the lesson or series of lessons. This involves commenting on achievement/presentation. The marking also includes a next step of learning or target for the pupils. This is indicated by an arrow at the side of the page. The next step of learning may include a correction, consolidation or challenge to move learning on. 4.2 The school has explicit rules that apply to all pieces of work. These are included in the non-negotiables and teachers will not accept the work unless these rules have been followed. (See non-negotiables in classrooms).for Key Stage 1 and where appropriate, the objective is typed by the teacher and glued into the pupil s book so that only the date needs to be recorded on the top line of the new piece of work. The objective sheet tables are all the same size. 4.3 In addition to these general rules, there are specific rules for specific types of work, e.g. mathematics. These rules have been taught and may be on display. They make it clear what good-quality work in the subject is like - use of ruler, sharp pencil, underline title and date with a ruler, write neatly. This is linked to our nonnegotiables. 4.4 The extent of the teacher's response to a piece of work is determined not by the number of errors found in it, but by the teacher's professional judgement. Consideration is given to what a particular pupil is capable of, what the next learning stages involve and what should now have priority. Pupils should not

4 receive the impression that things are right when they are not; on the other hand, they should not be discouraged from being adventurous for fear of having faults emphasised. There must be mutual trust between pupils and all staff. The pupils respond in purple pen. The pupils responses to marking must be completed by the pupils before the start of the next lesson and must always be checked, addressed as appropriate and corrected. 4.5 Teachers to mark in green pen. Ticks are used where work is correct and crosses where errors have been made. Other symbols are used if applicable once their meaning has been explained. sp by a spelling mistake, gr for grammar mistake, p for punctuation, an I for independent work or S for supported work. Up to 3 spellings to be written out three times at the end of the piece of work and checked by the class teacher and/or up to 3 grammar mistakes corrected in each piece of work. TLAs and other teachers (supply staff) to mark in black. As a minimum, teachers will mark one English and one maths piece of work in depth each week. All work will be marked in some form. When correcting spelling mistakes, the whole word should be modelled and appropriate to the pupils age and ability. 4.6 Wherever possible, teachers should establish direct links between oral or written praise and the class or school rewards systems. All teachers do have stamps ; We discussed this together, Good Handwriting, At the same time, teachers should remember that stickers and stars in themselves do nothing to close gaps in understanding, or to bring about improvements and must be used appropriately in conjunction with other strategies. 4.7 Where pupils interact in the marking process, they will be more engaged and receptive to correction. In fact, pupils should be encouraged to set some of the questions. 4.8 When appropriate, pupils may mark their own or another pupil's work in purple pen but the teacher must always review this marking. Marking their own work can be effective because when the teacher makes a point, the pupils need to be able to relate it to their own efforts. 4.9 Pupils should be encouraged to assess their own work ahead of final marking, using prompts or check sheets. These prompts or check sheets can remind pupils of their learning targets, or suggest common checks to perform e.g. capital letters. This helps the pupils to self-reflect at each step of the learning process. Pupils can check or mark their peer s work but there must be respect between the pupils in this process In addition, the pupils could indicate where they think a particular target has been achieved on their writing target card. In Key Stage 2, each pupil has a target card and in Key Stage 1 the cards are used by a group One to one feedback offers a valuable opportunity to review and evaluate the progress a pupil is making, by highlighting successes and identifying the next learning points Teachers will comment on spelling and grammar in the following cases: if spellings and grammar were part of the lesson focus; if it is a spelling that all pupils should know; if it is something related to the pupil's target.

5 4.13 An information sheet regarding expectations for marking/feedback is given to all supply staff, new staff and anyone who may be marking or assessing the pupils work. 5 Monitoring and review 5.1 We are aware of the need to monitor and update the school's marking and feedback policy on a regular basis. This policy is used alongside the:- Teaching and Learning Policy Assessment Policy English Policy Mathematics Policy Non negotiables. Signed: (Governor) Date: