Assessment Performance

During your child's journey through St. John's, they will pass through three seprate Key Stages and sit a number of tests / assessments set by the government to guage their attainment levels and progress.  I have mapped out the journey below with some brief information

Foundation Stage

This comprises of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and is made up of our Reception class.  On entry to school, children sit a national baseline test within the first 6 weeks which is used to gauge initial strengths and areas for development for each child. All data is sent away and school are not given any indication of what the outcomes mean; but the directed time with a teacher at the start of thw academic year is vital and provides staff with an excellent understanding of the starting points for your child.

At the end of the year, each child is assessed against criteria for specific areas of learning with outcomes reported to parents on end of year reports.  This is not reported nationally but in general St. John's are broadly in line with the performance of other schools at the end of this key stage.

Key Stage 1

This comprises of a child's time in Year 1 and Year 2 with the curriculum building on the foundations set in EYFS.  During these two years, pupils complete a phonics benchmark check (summer of Year 1) and currently they sit more formal in-house assessments at the end of Year 1.

Phonics Benchmark - children need to achieve a specific score (usually 32/40) when reading a range of words in order to pass. This information is submitted to the government with any children not achieving the pass mark initially able to re-take the check in Year 2.

Over the years, school perfomance in the check has improved steadily as a result of the work undertaken by staff.

For comparison purposes, the national average of children achieving the phonics check pass mark is usually around 82%

In 2020 and 2021, the Year 1 phonics check was completed at the end of the autumn term in Year 2 to allow for time missed due to periods of lockdown.

Assessments at the end of Key Stage 1 are completed in-house with teacher assessmens reported to the government rather than test scores.  Our most recent assessments at the end of Key Stage 1 were completed in 2019:

Key Stage 2

Assessments take place at the end of Year 6, based upon the English and maths curriculum studied in Years 3,4,5 and 6. These are more often called SATs and help sum up a child's attainment at the end of their journey through primary school and provide infrmation about the amount of progress they have made. These test results are reported to the government alongside teacher assessments. Our most recent comparisons (2019) show:

Multiplication Tables Check (MTC)

Children sit this check at the end of Year 4 with the purpose being to see how well children know, and are able to recall quickly, multiplication facts which help to form solid foundations for a child's continuing journey in maths!  It is valuable gauging perfomance at the end of Year 4 so that successes can be celebrated or interventions planned as necessary.