Marking and Feedback Policy

Transcription

1 Collierley Primary School Marking and Feedback Policy This policy is developed, under the principles of a Growth Mindset, to support our children to be deep thinkers and reflective of their learning as they develop throughout our school.

2 Contents: Statement of intent 1. Marking 2. Feedback 3. Groupings 4. Assessment for Learning 5. Reviewing progress

3 Statement of intent Within our Growth Mindset culture, we recognise that we can for all to learn from one another. Learning from others is a privilege and a valuable asset. Collilery Primary School understands that a comprehensive and clear marking and feedback policy is the key to helping pupils achieve and surpass their potential. This policy aims to give guidance to staff and provide a clear outline of the expectations in regards to marking and feedback. Teachers at Collilery Primary School will ensure that all feedback and marking avoids negativity, and instead encourages pupils to take part in a dialogue that improves their performance under our principles of developing Growth Mindsets in all. Every piece of learning must: Identify next steps in learning. Identify how to improve learning. Inform the teacher of a child s progress and needs for future planning. Provide positive feedback about piece of learning and suggest targets for improvement. Provide children with the opportunity to respond to comments made by the teacher. Signed by: Headteacher Chair of governors Date: Date:

4 General 1. Marking 1.1. Good presentation and handwriting is expected and should NOT be commented on in all marking For practical purposes, green biro should be used by all adults for marking. Children should make their improvements in Black Biro or pencil for Y When marking topic books, teachers should comment on whether the learning challenge has been met by using the symbol and giving an effort grade. Aims and objectives: All teachers will keep in mind a core set of goals when marking. The best outcomes can be achieved by focussing on the following important points: The individual pupil s abilities and goals Acknowledging a pupil s effort, even if they got everything wrong they may have tried incredibly hard The areas a pupil can improve Giving clear guidelines for improvement Linking areas of improvement Reminding the pupil of previous success to boost confidence Providing effective communication between pupils and teachers Improving the self-belief and confidence of pupils Celebrating success Identifying pupils who require additional assistance Clarity and consistency of marking across the school The individual pupil s level of understanding Avoiding giving grades for every piece of work Distance marking Distance marking is carried out away from the classroom. 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: Are the comments easy for the pupils to understand? If parts of the work need improvement, are the comments constructive? Do comments highlight particular points for improvement? Have positive comments been highlighted? Is the pupil likely to understand why the work is correct or incorrect? Are the comments detailed enough to provide adequate feedback without being too long for the pupil to understand? Pupil reflection time

5 When marked work is given back to the pupils, teachers will allocate some time for them to read the comments and reflect on how they can improve. The best time for this is before the start of the lesson which the marking pertains to. This is done so pupils have the new information fresh in their minds when they begin the lesson. Numeracy marking Marking in numeracy and maths presents a particular challenge that teachers will consider. Because answers are either correct or incorrect, pupils who have difficulties in this subject can become disinterested if they fail to improve. Some effective strategies employed by Collilery Primary School include: Ticking correct answers and leaving a dot on incorrect answers When possible, providing immediate feedback to pupils to show them how to reach correct answers If the pupil has shown correct working and a wrong answer, circle the incorrect part and encourage them to try again If a pupil is excelling at a particular task, provide them with work that is more difficult so that they continue to feel challenged Literacy marking There are a number of ways in which literacy marking differs from other subject areas. When marking pupils work, teachers will: Give feedback on whether the learning challenge has been achieved and the success criteria followed. Identify the next steps in the learning process. Explain how the work can be improved by making sure the advice is age appropriate and linked to the objectives of the year group. Do not identify all incorrect spellings for correction a maximum of 6 spellings all of which they should already know from the year group spellings. Children should use dictionaries when necessary. If spelling errors are reoccurring the teacher should pick three of these for the pupil to copy write at the bottom of the page. Punctuation and grammatical errors should be identified by the letter code in the margin and left for the child to correct. Before the end of every lesson children must be given sufficient time to check their own writing for the basics in order for the teacher to not be spending time correcting the non negotiable elements. Draft Writing When children are writing a piece of writing which is to be edited, they write only on the right hand page. Any adjustments which are made by the pupil as a consequence of the teachers direct feedback, mini lesson, group teaching or indirect feedback is made on the left hand page on the same lines of the page. Any piece of draft writing should result in a high quality

6 piece of final writing, in their English book, which demonstrates the elements of that year group and the ones below. 2. Feedback Feedback differs from marking; it is not limited to comments placed on the work of pupils. Feedback can be immediate verbal communication in the classroom or provided during oneto-one meetings Focussed learning and feedback Collilery Primary School believes the most effective way for pupils to learn is with clear guidelines. In this way, they are aware of the subject content they need to learn and understand. At Collilery Primary School, teachers will ensure lessons remain focused by: Clearly outlining which subject content will be covered in each class. Having a clear plan in mind for the progression of learning in the subject and for this to adjust according to the needs of the children. Having a final assessment piece planned to enable a full assessment of attainment. Making it clear what the expectations are from each piece of work and expect high pupil engagement at all times 2.2. Improvement prompts Teachers at Collilery Primary School will help pupils find the correct path to successful learning. This will teach pupils the process of investigation and discovery that will help them to find the correct answers in the future. There are three methods of suggesting improvements to pupils: Reminder: Instead of marking an answer as incorrect, attempt to guide the pupil to the correct area e.g. Add more expanded noun phrases to improve your description. Scaffold: By asking the pupil a question you can guide them to the correct answer. An example of this may be: are you trying to achieve A, B or C? By doing this, you guide the pupil to looking at these three areas. They will find the correct answer and also feel like they achieved it themselves. Example: By giving examples of possible changes to the pupil, you can guide them into exploring why they should choose one option over another. An example of this may be if a pupil was writing a story in class and was struggling to find the correct word to use. The teacher could give three examples of possible words and leave the pupil to choose Verbal feedback Verbal feedback is an effective and immediate way of guiding pupils. It is especially useful when working with very young pupils, or those with less confidence. It is important to make a note on the pupil s work to verify that verbal feedback has been given. This can be done by

7 marking the page with a VF. Verbal feedback in the classroom during lessons should be used only as required. By keeping this in mind, the teacher will ensure that all the pupils in the class are getting the attention they need. 2.4 Learning Powers Children are taught to judge themselves against their individual progress and effort and not against the achievements of others. Within our school children recognise the different learning powers which they are using and develop an understanding of our brains being muscles which we are growing and developing. Teachers refer to learning powers within lessons to support children to understand this development. They may also be referred to within written feedback in books. 3. Groupings At Collierley Primary School we believe that no learning groupings are fixed. Therefore, we do not have any set groups for lessons. All children are expected to push themselves in all lessons and to strive to do their best. Children work best when they have a partner to discuss ideas, share planning with, check each others work and to question each other. Each week children move seats to sit with their new partner and support each other to move to the next level and to be continuously improving. 4. Assessment for Learning 4.1. Pre-learning assessments These are used particularly in maths to assess the starting points of new learning. A brief recap is given before children tackle a short series of increasingly challenging questions. These assessments then form the basis of the starting points for planning Targeted Questioning By using a range of questions based on Blooms Taxonomy we delve further into the children s understanding in lessons. This then enables us to adapt the lesson; e.g. add more challenge, use more models and images to develop understanding, add more lessons on the same theme to deepen understanding and adjust future planning Partner Talk Effective partner talk is littered throughout the lessons to enable all children to be engaged within lessons and to consider the learning challenges. When used most effectively it motivates pupils to extend their own learning. Partner talk can be short e.g. turn to your partner and tell them what 7 x 8 is, or longer e.g. together with your partner plan the next stage of the story include adjectives to add suspense. All lessons in Collierley Primary School have an element of partner talk whether small group or whole class.

8 4.4. Observation By observing the pupils interactions, confidence in approaching tasks set and from pupil individual whiteboards, teachers know who to give more support to move on in the within the lesson (this will not always be the SEN children). Observation is essential to identify any misconceptions and to be able to correct any mistakes before the formal marking Self Assessment A simple way for pupils and teachers to improve communication is for pupils to look at and evaluate their own work. It is also useful for teachers to assess whether pupils understand the feedback policy of the class. Using specific phrases can enable pupils to take part in their own improvement. Teachers will encourage pupils to use some of the following phrases: I liked I learned I think I will I still don t understand I found difficult because I solved by I need help with I could get better by Pupils can also give their own effort grade for their work Pupil feedback By involving pupils in reviewing each other s work, teachers will help pupils to identify successful methods of learning. This will always be done at the teacher s discretion and only with pupils who are able to learn from the process. Children are very good at proof reading each others work and identifying errors and offering improvements. One example of effective peer-to-peer learning would be for pupils to highlight quality work by others, i.e. I liked the way (insert name of pupil) described this. 4.7 Differntiation A basic skill is taught to the whole class and practise of the skill is differentiated with challenges which the children can independently choose from, moving up or down if the fit is not appropriate for them. 5. Reviewing progress It is important to continually evaluate whether the school s Marking and Feedback Policy is working. One effective way of reviewing the current policy is to cross-check teachers marking. Members of the teaching staff can cross-check each other s books and suggest areas of improvement. This can be done on the time periods set out below:

9 Every half term, each teacher shall take 6 books from their class for cross checking. Every half term each teacher shall take 6 English and maths books for crosschecking. There will be a earning and teaching forum every term for a formal discussion in regards to the success or short comings of the current system. This policy will be reviewed on an annual basis by the governing body. Review date:

10 Summary of Policy Assessment, Marking and Feedback Policy Children s Learning Intentions are shared with them in the format of I am learning to Regardless of age the same process is used for verbal feedback (what is good and how it can be improved in EYFS this will be more question focussed). Children in KS2 make improvements in black biro. Teachers mark in green pen. All marking includes an effort grade as well as use of the other marking symbols. Maths and English work always includes an improvement prompt or a challenge. When children are to be editing their writing at length they write in the right hand page only and edit on the left hand side. At the start of every Maths and English lesson children have focussed time to respond to their improvement prompts. All improvement prompts must be responded to teachers monitor this closely and address any areas where this is not happening. When children peer assess this is a verbal process. Topic work is marked with a target achieved mountain and an effort grade. The same expectations apply for any writing in Topic books Sp, C etc. All work is marked before the children have their books back. Children are not in fixed groups and change partners on a weekly basis.

11 Self Evaluation Prompts: I liked I learned I think I will I still don t understand I found difficult because I solved by I need help with I could get better by Peer Feedback: I liked the way described because

12 Marking Symbols All letter symbols are to be placed in the margin and not directly next to the error. This supports the children in editing their own writing. ^ Missing Words please add it/them. Sp There is a word spelled incorrect that must be corrected.? This part does not make sense reread and correct. G Grammatical error to be corrected. // New Paragraph to be used. C Capital letter missing. P Missing Punctuation re-read and add it in. I TA TF TS Support Symbols Independent work completed with no additional adult support. Work completed under the direction of the TA. Has worked in a direct teacher focus group. Teacher Support needed a high level of support to complete the learning task. Feedback Children must always be given time to respond to the feedback given before the next lesson. Target Achieved to be drawn at the bottom of the piece of work if it does meet the learning challenge. Next to the symbol should be the A, B or C effort grade. Under this feedback should be given related to what two things were good about the work IP Improvement Prompt Give an improvement based on what would have made the piece of work be at a higher level Challenge To be given in maths when all learning is * correct. This must be related to the original learning challenge but at a deepening understanding level. Effort Grade A Really excelled in effort, was challenged but did not let it stop them that they found it tricky. B Great resilient learner demonstrating a good attitude to learning. C Could do better.