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Assessment article commissioned by Pearson Education (March 2014)
Beyond National Curriculum Levels
An opportunity to develop outstanding assessment practice.
Beyond levels
Primary school leaders have been presented with an interesting challenge. From
September 2014, National Curriculum levels will no longer be required as a means of
judging children’s progress against the new curriculum. New KS2 tests will apply from
September 2016 and the results of these tests will no longer be reported as levels. As a
primary headteacher, I am delighted that the levels are going. This article describes the
alternative approach to assessment that we have taken at The Wroxham School over the
past decade and presents practical examples of the manner in which this approach has
enabled our school to achieve outstanding results.
Learning without Limits
In 2001 I participated in a national research study led by the University of Cambridge into
teaching without ability labelling. At the time, I was teaching a Year 5 class in a
Hertfordshire school where although I was required to report termly to the headteacher on
children’s attainment using levels, I was not expected to display attainment grades on the
walls or in books and was free to decide how to organise my classroom. I had a deep
unease about ability grouping and in place of this began to develop a system of choice and
challenge where children were able to decide which task to engage with, thereby
challenging themselves rather than responding to teacher expectation. The key findings of
this study (Hart et al, 2004) were that teachers who sought an alternative to ability
grouping were motivated by core principles of trust, co-agency and inclusion. These
principles guided decisions about how to organise learning, how to interact with children
and parents and how to provide meaningful feedback without ranking and grading.
A school in the bottom set
In 2003 I became the headteacher of The Wroxham School. At the time of my
appointment, the school was in special measures and felt very much like an institution in
the “bottom set”. The assumption by those who sought to improve the school from the
outside was that remediation was needed. I remember thinking when I visited the school
that the label of “special measures” had created an inevitable aura of failure. Although I
did not consciously choose this school for my first headship because it was failing, on
reflection I recall a deep sense of injustice that a primary school such as this was in danger
of being written off completely due to lack of improvement. My appointment was the
beginning of an alternative process of improvement that centred around the “learning
without limits” principles of trust, co-agency and inclusion. This meant changing the
dialogue with and between teachers from one of judgement, to one of opportunity. My role

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as a leader was to build a team where each teacher’s confidence could be rebuilt. Working
together, we began to enliven the curriculum, to focus on high quality professional learning
and to give children a real voice about their experience of school. As teachers gained
confidence, they began to offer choices to the children and encouraged a culture of
self-assessment where attempting new challenges was encouraged in a climate of trust.
Ofsted judgements
By October 2003, the school had been removed from special measures, the following year
it was in the top hundred most improved schools and by February 2006 was judged to be
outstanding. At the time of the 2006 inspection, children were able to self- assess their
learning without using the language of levels. Instead of talking to inspectors about how
they were going to reach “3b” for example, they could confidently explain what they were
learning and how they were going to the learning culture that can develop when learning is
not limited by predetermined judgements of so-called “ability”.
How can we judge progress without levels?
In our school we believe that pedagogy, curriculum and assessment should each have
equal emphasis. These three areas inform all aspects of our school provision. We are
driven by the knowledge that excellent teaching offering rich tasks enables the best
opportunity to assess and understand children’s learning. Although teaching teams make
judgements about progress throughout the year against the current milestones of National
Curriculum levels, these are used as a simple checking mechanism against level
descriptors rather than a rigid accountability tool. Progress in writing is easy to see
through studying composition. Progress in reading is evidenced through the type of
literature that each child is confidently accessing. Progress in mathematics is recorded
against each area of study through noting the amount of challenge that they are able to
achieve.
Reporting to families
Our children review their learning in a written report that goes home at the end of each
year. The report consists of a dialogue between the child and the teacher. Instead of
providing summative grades, the document offers information to families about successes
and challenges in each area of the curriculum. Here is an extract from a Year Six report:
Successes
My successes in English are quite a lot of things: I love doing descriptive writing
about the WW1, Ali Sparks and describing settings! I loved doing the picture story
books and reading them to the little kids, it was really fun! I found it so much fun and
amazing when we did our PGL diaries, I loved it so much!! I am really proud of all my
descriptive writing because I love using my imagination! The best part of English is
the descriptive writing, I love it! The English SATs tests were ok, I loved the grammar
one but the reading paper was ok! The preparation made me nervous but I hope the

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hard work paid off!
Challenges
I need some help on doing my tenses, like the past and present tense I get mixed up
with them a lot! I didn’t like doing the persuasive writing, I found it a bit hard. I get
mixed up with some spellings and I have practised loads so I will get better! I hate
doing instruction texts because I find them boring!
You are right to feel proud about your achievements in English, your writing
portfolio includes some lovely pieces of writing which are always beautifully
presented. I also know that the children in Reception loved sharing your picture
story book, it was beautifully written and illustrated. In our guided reading sessions
I have enjoyed hearing you read out loud, you are always keen to volunteer and you
read with good expression. You have worked hard in these groups to understand
what we are reading and you always try to improve your responses to the text.
I can see how much you enjoy descriptive writing and you have produced some very
effective pieces. My personal favourite was your moving description of Patrick
going over the top in WW1
“I can’t do this he kept saying to himself, I can’t... He was rolling around on the
mud in agony. This is the end of my life he said. I will never see my family
again.”
You have taken on board my feedback this year and have begun to include similes
and Personification to improve your descriptions. I would like to see you continue
to extend your use of descriptive language, such as adjectives and adverbs, in the
future (and reduce your reliance on exclamation marks!).
I think that you are generally good with your tenses, but it can be a bit difficult when
you are writing in the present tense. Remember to edit your work carefully and you
will spot the errors. Your spellings are generally good too, it’s just the occasional
homophone that catches you out, so again take care when editing. You are right
that practicing your spellings will really help, please keep it up.
I think that you struggled with the formality required when writing persuasive
arguments. Use of exclamation marks and “L.O.L.” is a definite “no” in this type of
writing. Nevertheless, you produced a very good argument about why Mrs Dalton
should be voted “Simply the Best”.
The reports include photographs chosen by each child and forms a very special record of
achievements throughout the year. The only time that families are informed of levels is at

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the end of Year 2 and Year 6.
Family Consultations
We are very keen for our families to help children achieve high standards and invite parents
to open events in school so that they can understand how we approach the teaching of
curriculum areas such as phonics and mathematics. In addition to this we offer three
evenings each year when families are invited to join their children in school to meet with
teachers. Learning Review meetings have replaced traditional parent teacher interviews in
Years 5 and 6. Reviews are attended by the child, all members of their teaching team, the
Executive Headteacher or Head of School and their families. Typically, the child will
present three or four slides about their learning and will follow this with examples of work.
This presentation then forms the basis for conversation about how everyone can support
next steps for improvement. All participants are responsible for focusing on the best
possible learning for the child. Conversations centre on the quality of learning experiences
and new challenges instead of measurable outcomes. It is very rare for families to focus
on ranking and grades. The quality of information provided is highly individualised and
enables everyone to agree the next priorities for learning in each core subject area.
‘I can’t do it ......... yet’
Children throughout the school are encouraged to make decisions about how much
challenge they can attempt. The children have a strong sense of agency and believe it is
“cool” to work hard and improve. Instead of a deterministic view of their own capacity to
learn, there is a strong sense that if something is tricky it can be overcome. The culture of
the school for both children and adults is that learning is an on-going process; when
something is difficult it is because more practice is needed. Further illustration of this
approach can be found on the school website, including short films where children
describe their learning ​www.thewroxham.net
Formative feedback
Feedback from the teacher is used by the child to support re-drafting and to review learning
from the day before. Children also review their own work against success criteria. We
employ a wide range of formative assessment through high quality teaching. This is
supported through research lesson study where colleagues plan activities collaboratively
with specific children in mind and study their response. This approach enables colleagues
throughout the school to learn from each other and in our school has replaced traditional
lesson observation and monitoring. More information about lesson study can be found
here: ​www.lessonstudy.co.uk

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What about tests?
We use a wide range of methods to assess the children’s learning and these methods may
include tests. The approach we take, however, is that each child is encouraged to improve
on their “personal best” rather than feeling ranked against others. This allows for
competition and positive pressure within a culture of ambition and collaboration. By the
time our Year 6 children take SATs each year they often do so with enjoyment.
What is assessment for?
We have to be clear about the many purposes of assessment. In English schools,
assessment is too often about proving the worth of the teacher or the school rather than
focusing on the needs of the individual learner. Ironically, this form of top down pressure to
achieve ever higher assessment results leads to unhelpful (in some cases paralysing)
pressure on teachers themselves. At The Wroxham School, we currently use an
assessment management programme to track individual and cohort progress. This has
enabled us to present data for inspectors and provides a quick review point alongside
RAISEonline to evaluate whole school trends. However, we are very clear that the data at
cohort and whole school level is useful solely to enable us to ask questions and as a
starting point for reviewing practice. For us, the most important dialogue centres upon
individual children and ways of enhancing achievement.
Beyond September 2014
From September this year with the advent of a new curriculum we shall continue to place
the main emphasis on quality of pedagogy through irresistible learning opportunities.
Assessment will continue to be a rich daily process that informs teaching. We shall
eventually replace our current tracking system with another similar process that relates
more closely to the new national curriculum tests, but this will remain a background metric
rather than a measurement tool for individual children. Good teachers know their children
yet give space for each child to surprise them. Skilled inspectors are able to recognise
classrooms where children are progressing well and can readily gather that evidence from
talking to children and their teachers. I believe the removal of levels provides a
system-wide opportunity to rebalance teaching and learning to include more emphasis on
planning for amazing learning outcomes for all.
References
Hart, S., Dixon, A., Drummond, M.J., McIntyre, D.(2004)
Learning without Limits Open University Press
Swann, M. Peacock, A. Hart, S. Drummond, MJ (2012)
Creating Learning without Limits, Maidenhead: Open University Press