MAKING A JUDGEMENT AT THE END OF A KEY STAGE

At the end of a key stage, teachers should judge which level description best fits the pupil's performance. Each description should be considered alongside descriptions for adjacent levels.

Making a judgement
We have profiled the work of a year 6 and a year 9 pupil to help you understand how to make a judgement at the end of a key stage. The profiles include examples of the pupils' work and a brief explanation of why the pupils' performance was judged to be at a particular level.

When looking at the profile below, you may wish to note the following points.

Making your judgement

• You will arrive at judgements by taking into account strengths and weaknesses in performance across a range of contexts and over a period of time, rather than focusing on a single piece of work.
• A single piece of work will not cover all the expectations set out in a level description. It will probably provide partial evidence of attainment in one or two aspects of a level description. If you look at it alongside other pieces of work covering a range of contexts you will be able to make a judgement about which level best fits a pupil's overall performance.

Range of a teacher's knowledge about attainment

• The material in the profile provided here cannot reflect the extent of the knowledge that you will have built up about each of your pupils over time and across a range of situations. It can only be representative.

Giving pupils opportunities to demonstrate attainment

• your pupils will need to use a range of forms of communication to show what they can do.
• In planning units of work and classroom approaches, you will need to provide opportunities for pupils to display their achievements in different ways, and to work in a range of situations.

Recording
The profile, and other work in this website, are not presented as models for how you should collect information relating to your pupils. Although you will want to be able to explain why you have awarded particular levels to pupils at the end of the key stage, there is no requirement for judgements to be explained in this way or to be supported by detailed collections of evidence for each pupil.

Decisions about collecting information, about its purpose and how it should be used are matters for teachers working within an agreed school policy.

Profile of Roxanne, a 10-year-old pupil in year 6

Profile of Rachel, a 14-year-old pupil in year 9