Assessment at Beech Street

The Target Tracker Assessment System

At Beech Street we use Target Tracker to record our termly assessment information to enable our staff to plan effectively; use well timed interventions to close the learning gap; and to ensure children's progress is rigorously monitored so they are able to reach their potential.

In Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) children are assessed against the EYFS profile and awarded either:

Emerging, Expected or Exceeding.

If a child achieves ‘Expected’ in the following subject areas, it is called a ‘Good Level of Development’:

Personal Social and Emotional, Communication and Language, Physical Development, Literacy and Maths. For further information about your child’s progress, please speak to the class teacher.

Tracking Attainment and Progress with Steps

To track pupil attainment Target Tracker devised a system of steps.

This performs the function of communicating progression and attainment in a simple format.

To track and monitor pupil attainment and progress, teachers will now use Target Tracker to assess children using a system of ‘steps’ (rather than ‘levels’ or ‘stages’). The terminology has now changed where each year group is now referred to as a ‘Band’ (e.g.: Year 1 = Band 1; Year 2 = Band 2 etc...).

It is further broken down into six sections:

• Beginning (b) - Children are starting to learn content in their year band. There may be minimal elements of the previous band still to gain complete confidence in.
• Beginning plus (b+) – Up to around 40% of the content has been achieved
• Working within (w) – Up to 55% of the year content has been achieved
• Working within plus (w+) - Up to around 70% of the content has been achieved
• Secure (s) - Children are competent in their year group band and up to approximately 85% coverage of the content has been achieved. Children may still need to build confidence in using and applying some elements.
• Secure+ (s+) [Mastery/Greater Depth] - Children are 95% secure in all areas in their band and can show confidence and competence in repeatedly applying the skills they have learnt.

At termly intervals, our teachers select a step to show where each pupil is working.

Children should be assessed within their current year band, unless they are on our Special Needs Register or in receipt of an Educational Health Care Plane (EHCP). In some cases, highly gifted children, who are working at least twelve months above their chronological age related expectations in a subject, will be given a personal learning programme designed to deepen their knowledge, skills and understanding.

How Do We Show Progress?

• We currently assess steps in reading, writing, mathematics and science.
• To meet age related expectations, children should reach the secure (s) step by the end of the appropriate year.
• To move from secure (s) in one year band to the next is 6 steps over 6 half terms. Therefore, this equates to 1 step of progress each half term.
• In Foundation Subjects we track against objectives (knowledge and skills) using teacher assessment. This assessment is made after 

Statutory National Assessments

End of Early Years:

The Foundation Stage Profile is a summative assessment of what children have achieved by the end of the Reception year.

End of Key Stage 1 and 2:

National tests and some teacher assessments of Reading, Writing, Maths and Science take place at the end of Years 2 & 6. The results are reported to parents at the end of the school year. These results can be found on our school website