Meadowside CP & Nursery School

Transcription

1 Meadowside CP & Nursery School Marking & Feedback Policy Policy Updated September 2016 Reviewed & Agreed by September 2016 Governors Next Review September 2019 Headteacher Chair of Governors Related Policy

2 / Legislation Introduction The school policy for marking was developed and agreed by the staff and has the full agreement of the Governing Body. This policy aims to give guidance to staff and provide a clear outline of the expectations in regards to marking and feedback. At Meadowside Community Primary School our aim is to help children fulfill their potential. Together we enable all children to be the best that they can be and we mark work in such a way that it will improve their learning, develop their self-confidence, raise self-esteem, perseverance and provide opportunities for self-assessment and personal target setting. Marking and feedback can be oral or written, but should have a positive impact. Feedback should focus on praising the process that children engage in, their effort, their strategies, their focus, their perseverance and their improvement. We aim to develop independent learners and thinkers who have the ability to seek out and gain new skills, knowledge and understandings. We want our children to engage in self-reflection and to be able to identify the next steps in their learning, through developing the skills of self-assessment. To this end we aim to equip children with the desire and capacity to take charge of their learning and inspire a love for learning. We acknowledge the importance of consistency in the way that children s work is marked and the involvement of children in the marking and assessment process across the school. Marking & Feedback Aims and objectives: All teachers will keep in mind a core set of goals when marking. The best outcomes can be achieved by focusing on the following important points: The individual pupil s abilities and goals The areas a pupil can improve Improving the self-belief and confidence of pupils Celebrating success and perseverance Identifying pupils who require additional assistance Clarity and consistency of marking across the school Learning by mistakes and overcoming difficulties Verbal feedback & Light Touch Marking The most efficient feedback is verbal feedback given during the lesson. Wherever verbal feedback is given a stamp or the acronym VF will be recorded in the pupil s work. The VF should be followed by a brief comment written by the child as the teacher moves on to the next pupil. This could just be a single word,

3 phrase or bullet point list to serve as a reminder of the agreed next steps, enabling the pupil to continue their work with this in mind and therefore increasing the impact of the feedback. Teachers should briefly record the focus of the VF in the books of pupils who are not yet ready to record this themselves. Verbal feedback should be a high quality conversation, allowing the teacher to infer whether the pupil understands how they need to improve and to convey this message clearly. This should not be a time consuming undertaking. We encourage teachers to feedback verbally during the lesson allowing for immediate impact in pupils work as they continue. Where verbal feedback during the session is not possible, children s work should be marked as soon as possible after completion and, whenever possible, with the child / children. This should always be in time for the next learning experience of this work. Marking should always be undertaken in green pen. Symbols for shorter light touch marking must be used consistently across the school. A visual prompt for these must be displayed in the classroom at all times. (See below for the list of symbols). Homework should be light touch marking and if appropriate a short comment. Distance marking / In Depth Marking Distance and In Depth Marking is undertaken outside of lessons. The advantage of distance marking is that it gives teachers more time to give detailed feedback to pupils. When marking away from the classroom there are a number of questions teachers will keep in mind the following: What is successful about the work? If parts of the work need improvement, are the comments constructive? Do comments highlight particular points for improvement? Are the comments easy for the pupils to understand? Pupil reflection time When marked work is given back to pupils, teachers will allocate specific time for them to read the comments, correct errors and reflect on how they can improve work. Time is to be built into lessons or identified sessions, so the children can absorb any comments written on their work or any oral feedback given. Children should have time to carry out improvements on a piece of work, according to suggestions given. Children can initial comments to show that they have read

4 them and further work must evidence that they have taken on the advice. Mathematics marking Teachers at Meadowside use the Mastery approach (through the Singaporean model) for the main teaching of mathematics. A key part of this model is the effective dialogue between the adults and pupils that is embedded throughout each part of the lesson ensuring quality verbal feedback from both teachers and teaching assistants throughout every lesson. During a Mastery (Singaporean) style mathematics lesson, opportunities for pupils to evaluate their own learning and the learning of their peers run alongside the teacher-pupil dialogue. Whenever verbal feedback is given, a stamp or the acronym VF will be recorded in the pupil s work along with a brief comment from the pupil / teacher in line with the approach to verbal feedback outlined previously. Teachers and teaching assistants mark the pupil s workbooks using codes from the Mathematics marking code. The aim is that a significant amount of this is carried out during the lesson, so that pupils can instantly self-correct with further scaffolding by the teacher or teaching assistant if required. We also aim for pupil feedback during the journaling part of the lesson to be instant and verbal as we consider this to be most effective. If this is not possible, then written feedback is given which can include questions or drawings to address misconceptions. Where appropriate, pupils self-assess their workbooks using purple pen. Pupils are also encouraged to indicate any resources that they have used using the agreed symbols checklist. In Math s corrections should be undertaken in pencil as all math s work is originally undertaking in pencil. S P VF C Correct answer Incorrect answer Supported Peer Supported Verbal Feedback Correction Symbols for Singapore Maths A copy of these Maths Symbols will be glued into the front of the Singapore Maths book. Children are to draw the symbol at the top of their page if they have used any of the resources to help them complete their work.

5 Which resources have you used? place value chart 10s 1s base 10 arrow cards place value counters fingers ten frame mentally? 100 square bar method 10 number line multiplication square empty number line ENL money p bead string 2D shapes counters 3D shapes cubes clock English marking Children s independence will be encouraged through the use of Success Criteria marking ladders, so that children understand what they need to include in their writing. This will build up throughout a unit of work and will be tested without any SC at the end of a unit. Symbols for shorter light touch marking must be used consistently across the school. If appropriate, a visual prompt of these could be available for a child to have next to them in order to support the independent review of their work (especially the case for SEN children). The symbols agreed on are: C/L capital letters required

6 F/S full stops required (in the margin on the line where omitted) // new paragraph required (in the Margin where a new paragraph is needed) ^ a word is omitted (in the sentence where the word is omitted) / new line required VF verbal feedback (this includes bullet points below the initials to identify key points / words to prompt child and teacher for the review of work and next steps) Highlighters agreed upon: Green Pink Blue or SP in margin Purple pen Green for Grow areas to improve Tickled Pink areas to improve Spelling corrections To self correct, edit and up leveling work These symbols should be used appropriately with the ability of the child; teachers must ensure the children understand the meaning of these prompts. Spelling Corrections Incorrect spelling will be highlighted in Blue or marked with SP in the left hand margin with a line under the tricky part of the word for younger pupils. For older pupils they will be expected to find the aspect spelt incorrectly to promote editing skills. In KS1 typically a maximum of 3 spellings will be addressed in any one piece of writing, in KS2 typically a maximum of 5 spelling will be addressed. High frequency words, days of the week and months of the year will be addressed throughout; alongside spelling that have been taught in that year or previous years. Spellings should be corrected across all subjects. Significant spellings such as months or days of the week must be acknowledged and corrected regardless of the points above. The children should be encouraged to check their work for their common spelling mistakes prior to handing their work in for marking. Extended writing

7 In pieces of extended writing, marking and recording will be efficient and child friendly so that children understand what they have done well and what they need to do to improve their work. In books there will be space for children to redraft and/or edit their work in KS1. In KS2, children will write on the right hand side of the page, marking and feedback will be given on the left hand page where children will have space to edit and redraft their work. Marking in other subjects Marking in all subjects should include and address mistakes in a pupil s use of written English, including the correction of grammar, spelling and punctuation. Tickled Pink & Green for Grow philosophy should be maintained, with correct answers highlighted pink and incorrect answers in green. This should be marked using the codes for marking English. In addition to this feedback and comments made by the teacher should relate to the subject specific learning and teaching carried out in the lesson. For example in RE or Science a comment should reflect on a pupil s progress toward a specific learning outcome or identify the next step for the pupil to progress further. In other areas of marking a tick in green pen, a pink / green dot or dash is appropriate e.g. spelling test, mental maths test, quizzes, Children s Review of Marking It is essential that time is given to the children to support complicated misconceptions, to act upon including bridging the gap comment or to make their own improvements. Self or Peer Marking: Children should be empowered to mark and improve their own work and that of a close partner through extensive modelling, discussion and comparison of quality. Tickled Pink & Green For Grow is an excellent tool for this. Teachers should always review and acknowledge this marking to ensure no misconceptions. Support with Marking It is strongly advised that workbooks are collected in at the end of a lesson in ability / table groups and the books kept open on the start page of the work to be marked. This will reduce time in the marking process for the staff and enable clarity in seeing how a group has managed a task, especially if they had been working independently of the adults in the room.

8 Rewards The marking of work should help children to develop in all curriculum areas. It should also be used to celebrate success and as a way to encourage the children to work hard, keep going and always try their best. Teachers and teaching assistants may award the children stickers for good work or send children to their Key Stage Leader, Deputy Head or Head Teacher to celebrate success. Teachers are also able to reward weekly successes, that will be presented in whole school assembly on Fridays. Teachers should also verbally speak to a parent, send a note home or make a phone call to a child s home every week for outstanding effort in work or behaviour. Teachers should keep a record of who has received these notes & calls on a class list to ensure a range of children receive this reward over the year. We ensure that our marking policy is implemented fairly and effectively regardless of gender, ethnicity and Special Educational Needs Monitoring & Evaluation of the Policy The desired outcomes for this policy are improvement in children s learning and the raising of standards across the curriculum. It is hoped that through this marking policy the children will be proud to own their work and feel a greater sense of achievement. The Senior Leadership Team & Subject Leaders will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of this policy by scrutinising books and looking at examples of work every term. To support staff, more informal monitoring of books will be undertaken on a weekly basis, allowing for minor issues to be addressed before they become major ones. Governors are able to monitor the application of the policy through regular joint book scrutiny with subject leads in their role as link governors. Regular Pupil Voice interviews enable staff to ensure children s understanding and engagement in the marking of their work. Parents will be able to access the policy on the school website.