Pupil Progress Data

BROADMEADOW SPECIAL SCHOOL

HOW DO WE MEASURE PROGRESS?

Children at Broadmeadow have learning difficulties and so do not reach age related expectations. Their starting points are very low and specialist teaching strategies are used to develop pupils’ skills. Children at Broadmeadow are typically 4 to 7 years old, from September 2021 our age range will gradually increase to 11 as we become a primary school. Currently we do not have data to compare between Key Stages but in future we will.

Rochford Review

As a result of the Rochford Review 2016, a national reform of SEN assessment, it was recommended that schools stopped using P levels (a nationally agreed set of assessment descriptions starting at the earlies levels) and that children at the earliest levels are measured in terms of their engagement with activities. Children engaged in subject learning, ie starting to count, or recognise words, should be assessed using Pre-Key stage 1 descriptions.

At Broadmeadow we have embraced these changes and work on ensuring that all of our children are engaged n meaningful activities, when they are beginning to show subject learning skills they then move onto our own BM levels of assessment. As a school we have used our own experts to create a 100 step assessment scale for all of the areas that we think are important to access and track.

Speaking. Listening and Understanding; Reading (including Phonics); Writing (including Fine Motor)

Number; Practical Maths

PE

PSED- Independence Skills; Relationships and Well-being

Exploring and Experimenting- Computing and Science

Each child is assessed in each area on entry and then at the end of the academic year, some children will be working on engagement scales for some subjects but then working within the BM levels for others, eg PE. All of our BM levels are referenced to the Key Pre stage indicators, and work up to end of Key Stage One expectations.

In each subject we have 10 bands A-J, of 10 steps- they are broadly developmental in most areas. Children are given a score for attainment and a band which indicates where the next step of learning sits. With 100 steps for each area, creating percentages and making comparative data year on year will be a simple task.

COVID 2020/21

The first year of using our new BM levels was 2019, however as National Assessment was cancelled due to the closure of schools and lockdown, we were unable to take an end of year attainment score in Summer 2020. For this reason, 2020-21 is our first full academic year of using the new assessment; we have had closures, and nationally assessment is again cancelled- however we have remained open throughout to most children and we know our children have made significant progress; it is important to capture this.

TARGET  SETTING

In the Autumn term we set challenging targets for pupils in areas identified for school improvement. At the mid-point in the year we check progress against the targets so that additional interventions can be planned to ensure that children have the right amount of support and opportunities to achieve them. Nationally these are no longer required, however at Broadmeadow we feel they support school improvement and maintain a focus on progress in those priority areas.

For 20-21 we predicted:

Results in July 2021 showed:

Analysis

• Good progress was made in both subjects
• In reading 8 children made no progress- or were not ready to begin subject learning, having looked in depth at this information children in this situation are sensory learners scoring small numbers of attainment on the scheme and working within Engagement Scales
• The majority of children made progress in both areas

Analysis:

• More children met their targets in PSED than reading
• We had a period of lockdown during this year, school was open but we had to limit numbers of children in school due to Covid- some families chose to keep children at home- this reduced in school time for the majority of our children
• PSED skills are happening all of the time, repetition could be achieved at home. Early reading is not so easy to teach at home, it takes specialist skills. Once children are reading words more activities can be made available in- home learning packs which embeds these reading skills so the more able children would have made more progress.
• Daily reading in school has been a new intervention this year which has had real impact on the attainment of those children who are reading
• Significant progress was made across both areas between February and June- one child made 39 steps of progress in reading in the last year.

Targets for 21-22

We have decided to track progress in:

• PE, as our approach has changed due to growth on the school, will this impact progress?
• Speaking, listening and understanding- as part of the School Improvement Plan we need to look at pupil voice, could this support that work?
• PSED- well being is a big focus for all schools following Covid and features in our School Improvement Plan, can we recognise the impact of the work we are doing through the BM levels?