E-newsletter 114

Pupil Profiles

The school is delighted to share your child’s updated Pupil Profile with you today. Teachers have been extremely busy over the course of this term compiling data about your child's achievements in reading, writing and maths along with general comments about their first term in this new academic year. 

Academic Achievement

School data strongly suggests that pupils, overall, have made good progress over the course of the term and have reversed the national picture where prolonged school closures impacted negatively on children’s progress.

For some children, it has been necessary to provide additional support to meet their specific learning goals but for the vast majority, teachers have used a combination of initial assessments and high quality teaching to continue the process of bridging gaps and helping children to reach their potential. The results of this have been extremely positive.

As the year progresses, there is every expectation that all pupils will continue to make good progress - academically, socially and emotionally. They have conducted themselves brilliantly since they returned to school and this is an aspect that I would be keen for you to reinforce at home over the Christmas break. The children have adapted to changing routines, managed their own anxieties around Covid-19 and all that it entails, kept themselves and others safe, re-established friendships and engaged admirably in school work. It was genuinely so heart-warming to read through and comment on every pupils’ report over the last week – they are full of such positivity.

Assessments/Scores

EYFS

Nationally, there was an overhaul of the Early Years Framework – whilst the school experience for the children remains as exciting and rich as ever, there have been changes to some of the content and wording of expectations. You will see that assessments have been made against the criteria (shown by ticks in the Pupil Profile) to give you a clear picture of your child’s achievements. At the end of the academic year, judgements will be made as to whether each child has met their Early Learning Goal in the respective areas.

The changes to the Early Years Framework this year mean that children in Reception who were also with us last year in Nursery, will receive last year’s report (from the old Framework) along with the new updated version. It is on this new version that all current and new achievements will be recorded this year. The old version serves only as an archive for your information.  

Years 1-6

For all other children from Year 1-6, teachers indicate whether they are working above, within or below the national expectations for their age in reading, writing and maths.

The scores in the Pupil Profiles (for pupils from Year 2 and above) are taken from the school’s own internal tracking system which in turn is closely aligned to the Department for Education’s national scoring system, allowing us to make early and accurate predictions as to whether pupils will achieve the National Standard at the end of Year 6. The scoring boundaries of the two are shown in the table below. 

Pupil Mentoring

The school's Pupil Mentoring initiative took place this term. In light of Covid, the school adapted its approach by moving the system online as it was not possible to train Peer Tutors this term as the planned training session was during the time where we reverted to bubbles earlier in the term.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Pupil Mentoring initiative, it is something we have designed as a school to sit alongside the curriculum to raise the profile of and support children's well-being and mental health. Children are supported to self-assess a number of statements linked to the key questions below and the outcomes will be shared each term in Pupil Profiles, the first of which is contained within this term’s Pupil Profile. The school believes that children's mental health should be prioritised alongside their academic achievements and we like to think of the two as going hand in hand and as having equal importance, especially during the current climate.

Children are asked to respond to a series of statements linked to each of the following key questions in bold below. Their response to each statement – yes, no or sometimes – is purely their own view at that moment in time. Where a statement appears quite ‘wordy’ or is misunderstood by a child, it is rephrased or clarified with examples so that it is understood and accessible to all children.    

What do I think about school?

What do I think about myself?

What am I like as a learner?

How do I show that I am a global citizen?

How well do I work by myself?

It is the school’s intention to use the outcomes of the Pupil Mentoring initiative to look for trends in data across cohorts and the whole school whilst also identifying specific needs of individual pupils so that appropriate support can be provided where necessary.

For more information about the Pupil Mentoring programme, the best thing to do is visit the safeguarding section of the school website where our Year 6 Peer Tutors have prepared a short video to explain the process.

I hope that you find the information within your child’s Pupil Profile to be helpful. Please do try to find some quality time over the Christmas break to read through your child’s Pupil Profile with them – they all have much to be proud of and I am sure they will enjoy sharing their many successes from the term along with their hopes for next term and beyond.

In the meantime, have a Happy Christmas and a safe and restful break.

Best wishes

John Wayland