Curriculum and Assessment

We’d like every pupil at Ambler to wake up happy to go to school and wanting to attend every minute of the day just in case they miss something really exciting! Our curriculum is the core of this ideal…

Aims of our curriculum:

to develop the DREAMS qualities through the curriculum so that children are:
Determination to succeed
Resilient in their learning, it is ok to make a mistake as long as we learn from it
Enthusiastic learners, the curriculum should motivate and enthuse a lifelong love of learning
Ambitious to learn more and develop their knowledge
Motivated by the curriculum we deliver
Self-belief, the Ambler curriculum aims to give our children the foundations for success at secondary and in life and the self -belief that everyone can succeed

In order to achieve our aims, we need to ensure children:

have firm foundations of basic skills that they can use and apply
have a broad range of exciting and creative opportunities to discover and nurture their individual talents
develop a set of core human values that underpin their spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development and their sense of uniqueness and self-worth as individuals
develop their thinking and questioning skills

The Ambler Primary School curriculum consists of:

the National Curriculum core subjects of English and Maths which are fully updated to the new curriculum requirements of 2014 and rigorous in their approach
the National Curriculum foundation subjects, which are taught through a relevant, contextual and inspiring topic led creative learning journey
RE, PHSE and Citizenship
WOW days every half term that will engage and inspire our learners
an enrichment programme for each year group comprising chess and board games, book club, cooking, additional music ,debating skills, philosophy, additional sporting opportunities
a programme of extracurricular activities that includes creative and physical opportunities

For a copy of our curriculum booklets please click on the relevant year group, or view the overarching ones below:

Assessment

At Ambler, pupils are assessed by the teachers throughout the lessons using a method called ‘Assessment for Learning’ this means that teachers and pupils are continually monitoring how they are getting on with their work, what they are finding difficult or easy and where the common misconceptions are. Teachers take all of this information to plan subsequent lessons or learning for the pupils.

Teachers assess pupils in reading, writing and maths on a daily basis and hold a very clear understanding of what the children have achieved and what they need to work on next and any gaps in their learning. At 3 points throughout the year teachers assign each child a target tracker band and step in these 3 subject areas and also state whether each child is working at the expected level for their age, or whether they are working at an emerging level (meaning they are not yet at age related expectations), or whether they are working at an exceeding level (meaning they are working at a level above that expected for their age). Towards the end of each academic year, the pupils in years 3, 4 and 5 usually sit a test in reading and mathematics to help the teachers make their end of year assessments for each child and identify gaps in pupils learning to be addressed before the children move to their next year group.

Lastly, there are some ‘national’ tests that pupils take part in at different points in their school life:

At the end of year 1, pupils are asked to read 40 ‘nonsense’ words to determine their ability to segment and blend phoneme grapheme correspondents;

At the end of Y2 pupils complete short tests in reading and maths and their writing is ‘teacher assessed’ i.e. not assessed through a formal paper;
And at the end of Y6 pupils sit tests in reading, mathematics and spelling and grammar and, again, their writing is teacher assessed.

During the 2015 – 16 academic year the way we assessed pupils changed in that we no longer assigned pupils a level such as a 2b or a 3a. We have now fully adopted the government initiative of ‘assessment without levels’ and we now use the following words or phrases to assess pupils’ attainment:

We sometimes say…	We also say…	What this means…
Working towards	Emerging	A child is working below the expectations for their age
Working at or within	Expected	A child is working at age related expectations
Working above or at greater depth	Exceeding	A child is working above the expectations for their age

Assessment without levels – Targets

In order for you to help your child ‘Achieve More’ you can find below the target sheets for reading, writing and mathematics for each year group. The sheets show what your child is expected to learn or be able to do in their current year group and in future year groups. You can also support your child at home to help them learn and achieve some of these targets.

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Aims of our curriculum:

Assessment

Assessment without levels – Targets

Reading

Writing

Maths