The DfE announced last year that there would no longer be National Curriculum levels and that schools would have to set up their own way of assessing pupils. We have spent a long time researching various different methods of assessing pupils, and we have had demonstrations of various commercial software tracking systems, as well as a system developed by Plymouth School Alliance and the Local Authority. Almost all of the systems used the same format, which was similar to the system used in the Early Years and Foundation Stage. This was to take the end of year expectations for each year group and to split this into 3 categories as follows:

Emerging — Yet to be secure in the end of year expectations, working towards age related expectations, which is anticipated during the Autumn Term.

Developing — Working within age related expectations, which is anticipated during the Spring Term.

Secure—Securely working within in the majority of the end of year expectations, which is anticipated within the Summer Term. (In FS2, this phase is known as expected).

Mastering — Secure working at age related expectations within aspects of the curriculum, and embedding this knowledge and skills across subjects fluently. (In FS2, this phase is known as exceeding).


Under the old levels system children who were exceeding might have moved into the next level. The DfE now want children who are in the exceeding bracket to add more depth and breadth to their knowledge and to have more opportunities to develop their using and applying skills. They are calling this phase of learning Mastery and Depth. Only exceptional children will move into working towards the end of year expectations from the year above. Similarly, children who are unlikely to be emerging at the end of the year may work towards the expectations from the year below. So how will this look at the end of each Key Stage?

FOUNDATION STAGE:
Many of you may have heard of the expression ‘School Ready’ talked about by the DfE, hence the introduction and provision of increased nursery places. This is where education providers and schools ALONG WITH parents, will continue to build upon your child’s social awareness, self and health care and language skills. The DfE refers to “school readiness” as supporting children to be ready for the opportunities available to them in Year One.

Children will leave foundation stage having been assessed as either working within the emerging, expected (secure) or exceeding (mastery) band of each strand of learning. It is anticipated that the majority of children will reach the assessment point of Foundation Stage within the ‘expected band’. It is important to remember however, that children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates.

https://highviewschool.org.uk/information-assesss/

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Note added at 19 mins (2021-01-17 15:59:40 GMT)
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Schools now have to assess children by age related expectations (ARE) – targets that have to be met in each year group (given by the Government). Each school may have different approaches of assessment and different vocabulary in their school reports.

The most common way of showing whether or not your child has met his/her age related Expectations (attainment) on an end of year report would be:

• WT. This stands for working towards the expected standard. It indicates that your child is not doing well within those age related expectations
• WA. This stands for working at age expected standard. It indicates that your child is where they should be in terms of age related expectations.
• GD. This stands for working at a greater depth within the expected standard. It indicates that your child is achieving more than expected

On the other hand, some schools are using descriptors such as:
• Emerging/beginning/ developing – which all mean that your child is not meeting enough ARE
• Secure/ meeting – Your child is meeting ARE
• Exceeding – your child is working above ARE

- https://www.yestuition.co.uk/understanding-childs-report/