Marking and Feedback Policy Purpose of Marking and Feedback Effective marking and feedback is a key way of improving learning through assessment. Both are recognition of the child s work, effort, achievement, progress, identifying how a child can move their learning on and gives the child an opportunity to reflect on their current performance and future objectives. Developmental comments are more likely to raise standards as they help a child understand the main purpose of their learning. Aims To celebrate effort resulting in progress and to praise and encourage where appropriate; To identify the next steps in a child s learning; To enable the child and the teacher to work together to identify areas of strength and areas for development in their work; To give the child an opportunity to reflect upon their own learning and become aware of their own future needs; To show a child that their work is valued; To identify difficulties, mistakes, misconceptions or lack of understanding; To raise attainment as the child becomes a better learner; To ensure continuity for the child as he/she moves through the school. NB: the learning objective should be the focus for marking or verbal feedback, alongside success criteria and learning outcomes. Individual targets may also be commented on. Consistency is important and a set of editing marks have been agreed (see Appendix 1). Pupils should be made aware of the editing marks and a copy should be displayed in the classroom. All staff, including support staff and supply teachers, should mark following the agreed policy and initial their comments. Progression It is important that all staff follow this policy to enable consistency and progression throughout a child s education at our school. Regularity of Marking and Feedback Work in Foundation subjects should be marked as completed. English and Maths marking is expected to be more detailed, to include frequent feedback which clearly identifies next steps. Quality indepth marking to include next steps and a pink comment when appropriate should take place at least once a week in English and maths. All work must be at least light touched marked. All homework set, apart from FS homework, must also be marked as completed. Homework returned on time will be marked. If homework is returned late then marking will be at the teacher s discretion. Page 1 of 6
Age related issues For all children, but particularly for younger children or children with poorly developed reading skills, prompt verbal feedback is always preferable as it is more meaningful. When returning marked work, it may be necessary to read written comments to younger children to explain what they mean. This can be done by the teacher, a peer or support staff. Prompt verbal feedback will be more meaningful for the child. All marking and feedback In KS1 and KS2 there will always be a Can I? statement, differentiated when necessary, preceding the child s work which relates to the learning objective for that piece of work. In KS1 the teacher will use a pink, orange or green highlighter to indicate whether the objective has been met: pink indicates the objective is not met; orange indicates the child has partially understood or met the objective; green indicates that the objective has been fully met. In KS2 children may highlight their own Can I part of the objective to indicate their own understanding; adults working with or assessing the work will highlight the remaining part of the statement indicating their assessment of the child s understanding of the objective. Teacher s will begin to develop this method of highlighting the Can I statement with children in Year 2. Teachers highlight or underline in green to identify good elements of the work (green for good) and highlight or underline in pink elements that needs improvement (pink for polish). A green triangle will indicate the next step comment. All marking is carried out in a green (good) and pink (polish) pen. The marking code will be used by all adults. Self and Peer assessment and feedback Following self- or peer-assessment pupils will make corrections, including spelling corrections, using a blue pen. In this way corrections and comments are clearly distinguishable from teacher/ta corrections and comments. When reflecting on their own or others work pupils will use the pink and green highlighters in a similar way to the adults. Literacy During the invention stage where children are writing every day, their work will be marked daily, prior to the next session, so that comments and next steps can be acted on immediately. Time for children to edit and correct their work must be planned. Grammar and Punctuation Staff will rigorously and consistently encourage children to use appropriate punctuation for their age and ability in accordance with the grammar schedule. Marking of this will partly also depend on any specific learning objectives, eg, if children have been learning specifically about paragraphing, then this element of their work will be scrutinised more carefully. Planning and Organisation Feedback should, wherever possible, take place through discussion with the child either 1:1 or as a group/class, using the visualisers or other means of sharing work when appropriate. Mistakes are Page 2 of 6
considered part of the learning process and success should be measured in relation to the intended learning outcomes for a particular child. Adults comments in children s books must be written using the school handwriting script. Written feedback identifies clearly the next step the child needs to do to move their learning on. Time should be planned for reading and responding to feedback as soon as possible after work is marked, ideally the next day. Spelling It is vital to have a positive attitude towards a child s approach to spelling and to correct errors with sensitivity and knowledge of the individual child. At all stages children should be encouraged to read through their work before the teacher marks it and, where able, make a redraft. In KS1 there will be an emphasis on correcting high frequency words. In KS2 up to 3 misspelt words will be identified by a pink dot by the misspelt word and sp in the margin. The teacher will then either write the correct spelling underneath the work; part of the spelling correctly spelt or ask the child to use a dictionary to find the correct spelling; depending on the word and the individual child s ability. Teachers must allow time for spelling corrections during the next session. All children are encouraged never to dodge a good word and children will indicate where they are unsure of a spelling by putting a dotted line underneath the word, which the teacher will correct. Mathematics Where a child has made an incorrect computation the teacher should mark this with a dot using a pink pen to indicate where the mistake was made also indicating clearly where an error has occurred. Teachers should encourage children to work out what part of their maths is incorrect, fostering further understanding. Teachers to show correct layout and method when misconceptions have occurred. Children should also be asked to check their own work before the teacher marks it. Children when self-marking and peer marking use a coloured pen or pencil. Topic Generally light touch marking and when appropriate spelling corrections. Special Educational Needs Feedback should be sensitively applied and immediate verbal feedback will usually be more appropriate. Staff Roles and Responsibilities It is the expectation that all teaching staff employed at Badgemore Primary School use this policy in its entirety, including supply teachers. If you are not the class teacher you will initial work marked. Support staff must mark and initial work if they are covering a class, although they are not expected to mark in detail when taking the whole class. When working with an individual or small group they should mark the work in line with this policy and initial it. Areas to comment on when marking will include: The initial learning objective or learning outcome. Page 3 of 6
Punctuation and grammar. What the child needs to do specifically to improve their work next steps. What elements of the work the child completed particularly well, if appropriate. Examples of particularly high standards of work/use of vocabulary/expression of point of view. Where children have worked towards/met their target. Policy agreed by the Standards and Performance GFG Date agreed: December 2017 Date reviewed: December 2019 Signed:.. Page 4 of 6
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Appendix 1 Symbol Meaning sp dotted line Spelling mistake P (by the child) paired work ^ Something left out. Pink Dot to denote incorrect answer in Maths TP Team point Particularly good/relevant KS2 // New paragraph needed? Unclear work V Verbal feedback given I Independent work Tg Teacher with guided group T Teacher working one to one Ag Adult with a guided group A Another adult working one to one Green Next steps in child s learning Green highlighter Good work (great) Pink highlighter` To be improved (polish) Page 6 of 6