To help our families better understand the end-of-year reports and the academic progress of our pupils, we have put together this guide explaining our assessment process and grading system.

At Wymondley, we use the Herts for Learning ‘Easy Tracking’ system, a standard adopted by many local primary schools. Our teachers make assessment judgements by reviewing your child’s learning against several key frameworks:

• Programmes of Study: Specific learning expectations for Maths and English in each year group which are outlined in the National Curriculum or schemes of learning, which are produced by educational experts for use in schools.

• Exemplification Materials: Examples of learning at each standard is provided by Herts for Learning and the Department for Education (DfE) and teachers refer to these to ensure our grading is accurate and consistent with ‘age-related expectations’ nationally.

Teachers use their observations of each child and their learning through the school year alongside tests and other assessment activities to inform their grading.

Understanding the Grading Scale

We use four grades to describe where a pupil is in relation to the curriculum for their specific year group:

Grade	Description
Greater Depth	The pupil has fully mastered the learning of their own year group and can apply it confidently in various contexts. They can independently organise ideas and make connections between different areas of learning.
Expected	The pupil is secure in the content taught within their year group.
Working Towards Expected	The pupil is accessing the curriculum for their year group and has secured much of the content, but is not yet secure in all of it.
Significantly Below	For the majority of lessons, the pupil is not working within their year group’s curriculum. They are accessing learning from a prior year group to meet their developmental next steps and are receiving additional support.

Expected Progress

A pupil who has maintained their academic grade from the Summer of the previous year is considered to have made expected progress.  A pupil who moves ‘up’ a grade in a subject within a school year (e.g. from ‘Working Towards Expected’ to ‘Expected’) is considered to be making better than expected progress in that subject. 

The aim of the curriculum is for all pupils to secure the learning relevant to their curriculum year.  Therefore, whilst we wish to acknowledge the progress that has been made by a child who ended one year on ‘Working Towards Expected’ and ended the subsequent year still on ‘Working Towards Expected’, it should be noted that in order to close attainment gaps, the school will endeavour to support such pupils to ‘catch up’ with their peers and make it to the Expected standard.

Further Support

If you have any questions regarding your child’s attainment or would like to discuss their progress in more detail, please contact the school office to arrange an appointment with the class teacher.