assessing the curriculum a summary · page 4 of 20 assessing the pre-formal curriculum routes for...

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ASSESSING THE CURRICULUM

A SUMMARY

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THE PRE-FORMAL ASSESSMENT SUMMARY Assessing the Core Strands

Our curriculum delineates these core areas of learning, which are both interrelated and

highly dependent on each other.

‘Learning for those with PMLD is more successful when they are done as a complete and self-contained exercise, rather than a series of separate skills chained together.’ Routes for Learning ‘If a developing person does not learn (the fundamentals of communication) it will not only make learning language much less likely, but it will make it more difficult to learn anything else.’ Nind & Hewitt (2001) ‘ …. early communication, cognitive and sensory skills are the foundation to all future learning and crucial to an improved quality of life.’ Quest for Learning (2006)

Play

Emotional &

Social

Development

Movement Physical, Motor Development

Cognitive Development

Communicative Development

SENSORY APPROACHES TO LEARNING

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ASSESSING THE PRE-FORMAL CURRICULUM Ongoing continuous and rigorous assessment is at the heart of the pre-formal curriculum as it:

enables us to be certain about the appropriateness of the personalised curriculum we aim to provide for each learner.

informs teaching.

drives progress. The key tool in assessing learners’ progress is Routes for Learning (R4L) developed by Welsh (PMLD) teachers and academics under the guidance of Jean Ware and published by the Welsh Qualifications & Curriculum Group in 2006. R4L notes 43 possible milestones which learners may or may not pass through in their developmental journey. To support this assessment process the school has developed a play route-map (2014). Sitting alongside the route-maps are a range of other tools used to support those

assessments.

Continuum of Learning (CofL)

Acquisition- Children learn new responses, behaviours, communicative intentions and reasoning.

Developing Fluency- Children are becoming more competent in acquired responses, behaviours, communicative intentions and reasoning.

Consolidation- Children are competent and fluent in their responses, behaviours, communicative intentions and reasoning when in a familiar setting.

Generalisation- Children have mastered responses, behaviours, communicative intentions and reasoning in different settings or contexts, or with different materials, stimuli and adults.

And Maintenance- Children maintain their level of response and performance.

Reactivation- Children regain responses, behaviours, communicative intentions and reasoning.

Level of Facilitated Access to Play (FA2P)

Facilitated - Non-facilitated Supported Access to Play Continuum This continuum is designed to look at the levels of adult support required to enable access to play for pupils with profound physical and medical needs.

Level of facilitated access to play Fully facilitated Requires some

support Independent

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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ASSESSING THE PRE-FORMAL

CURRICULUM

ROUTES FOR LEARNING

ASSESSMENT BOOKLET

ASSESSMENT MATERIALS FOR LEARNERS WITH PROFOUND LEARNING

DIFFICULTIES AND ADDITIONAL DISABILITIES.

Pre-formal Curriculum @ Fountaindale

Cognition & Communication

Introduction

This booklet forms the basis of the Routes for Learning Assessment. The

principles behind the assessment and guidance on meeting the needs of learners

with PMLD are provided in the Guidance booklet. Staff should read this guidance

and wherever possible undertake training before using the assessment materials.

The behaviours in this Assessment booklet are shown on the Routes for Learning

DVD; both the Head of School and Assistant Head Teacher hold a copy.

It is important to note that learners with PMLD will follow a range of pathways

through the Routemap, although we believe that they will all pass through the

major junctions. These are shown in orange on the map and shown as dark green

in the Assessment booklet. Staff should work through all steps initially, as trialling

has shown that learners may achieve steps from all areas of the Routemap. The

left-hand side of the map focuses on communication skills, and the right-hand

side on early cognitive development.

This booklet provides guidance on suitable assessment activities to set up, things

to look for during the activity, and teaching strategies to move the learner on.

The learner will not necessarily move on to the next numerical step.

Consideration must be given to the full range of possibilities shown on the

Routemap, bearing in mind the priority needs and physical and sensory abilities

of the learner.

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ASSESSING THE PRE-FORMAL

CURRICULUM

PLAY

ASSESSMENT BOOKLET

ASSESSMENT MATERIALS FOR LEARNERS WITH PROFOUND &

COMPLEX LEARNING DIFFICULTIES AND DISABILITIES

Pre-formal Curriculum @ Fountaindale

Stages of Social Play

Introduction

This booklet forms the basis of the Play Assessment and should be used

and read alongside the Routes for Learning Assessment booklet.

This booklet should be read alongside the guidance in the pre-formal staff

handbook.

There is a short film made in conjunction with Hirstwood Training

available that explores the nature of play in the pre-formal curriculum.

Though this assessment tool reflects Mildred Parten’s theory of social

development of play (1932) that is still widely accepted today we do not

hold the view that each stage is exclusive; we do recognise that children

will return to early stages at any point in their development.

We also recognise that play supports cognitive development and

communication.

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ASSESSING PLAY

Pre-formal Semi-formal

Formal curriculum

Early Development

Solitary Parallel Associative Cooperative

Unoccupied play

Sensorimotor play

May engage in parallel play near others.

Engages in separate activities, but shares toys/materials

Successfully enters into play with other children.

Observant play: notices →briefly → with interest

May play with similar toys/materials.

May play together in loosely structured activities.

Play has an organised structure.

Usually plays alone for brief periods → sustained periods

Does not play with other child.

Will ‘talk’ with each other and comment on each other’s play.

Will communicate with others.

Plays with one stimulus/’toy’ …. → range of stimuli/’toys’

Does not influence other child’s play/behaviour.

Will express ideas for activities.

Engages in play briefly →to sustained periods

May be observant of other child’s play.

Acknowledges actions and accomplishments.

May copy how others are playing.

Negotiates roles and sets up events.

Will respect other children’s property.

More willing to share and ask to share.

Pre-formal towards the formal play curriculum

1 2 3 4 5 6

Response to Interventions: facilitated, spontaneous & interactional

ASSESSING PLAY

In natural contexts

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TARGET SETTING & PROGRESS INDICATORS COGNITION & COMMUNICATION

Pre-formal learners with profound and complex needs do not follow neuro-typical

development pathways of development; they will follow a personal pathway through the

route-maps (see Routes for Learning) and they will not necessarily move on to the next

numerical step.

Consideration has to be given to their physical, sensory and other needs that impact on

their learning abilities. (see Routes for Learning)

The school recognises the idiosyncratic nature of their learning and the pace of learning for

children who developmentally remain largely in the parameters of 0 – 18 months

developmentally.

Targets are set against potential progress within R4L islands. Targets are personalised and

what is outstanding progress for one child may not be for another.

The following examples provide guidance on what may be judged as outstanding progress:

Pupil A: has a degenerative condition. Assessment at the end of the school year showed that he/she was within milestone 9 and he/she was consolidating their learning. (Consolidation- Children are competent and fluent in their responses, behaviours, communicative intentions and reasoning when in a familiar setting.) Regression has to date been consistent in the previous 2 years. Outstanding progress target for this young person is to remain working within the milestone.

9 Responds consistently to one stimulus

Milestone: CofL Consolidation

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Pupil B: has complex medical needs and profound physical difficulties. Assessment at the end of the school year showed that he/she was within milestone 9 and he/she was at the acquisition stage of development. (Acquisition- Children learn new responses, behaviours, communicative intentions and reasoning.) Progress has been made over the past 2 years that indicate that an outstanding progress target for this young person is to remain working within the milestone and for progress to be categorised as consolidating learning. Good progress would be to develop fluency.

Pupil C: has complex and profound learning difficulties and disabilities. Assessment at the end of the school year showed that he/she was within milestone 9 and he/she was at the generalisation stage of development. (Generalisation- Children have mastered responses, behaviours, communicative intentions and reasoning in different settings or contexts, or with different materials, stimuli and adults.) Progress has been made over the past 2 years that indicate that an outstanding progress target for this young person is to consolidate their progress in the next step (island). Alternatively outstanding progress for some pupils may be to maintain or reactivate their learning. (Maintenance- Children maintain their level of response and performance. Reactivation- Children

regain responses, behaviours, communicative intentions and reasoning.)

At the beginning of each academic year pupils’ may be re-baselined.


Milestone: CofL Acquistion


Milestone: CofL Generalisation

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PROGRESS IN PLAY

Progress in is monitored through the play route-map and that uses the same indicators for

each developmental stage as those used for R4L.

These being:

Acquisition- Children learn new responses, behaviours, communicative intentions and reasoning.

Developing Fluency- Children are becoming more competent in acquired responses, behaviours, communicative intentions and reasoning.

Consolidation- Children are competent and fluent in their responses, behaviours, communicative intentions and reasoning when in a familiar setting.

Generalisation- Children have mastered responses, behaviours, communicative intentions and reasoning in different settings or contexts, or with different materials, stimuli and adults.

And Maintenance- Children maintain their level of response and performance.

Reactivation- Children regain responses, behaviours, communicative intentions and reasoning.

Level of Facilitated Access to Play (FA2P)

Facilitated - Non-facilitated Supported Access to Play Continuum This continuum is designed to look at the levels of adult support required to enable access to play for pupils with profound physical and medical needs.

Level of facilitated access to play Fully facilitated Requires some

support Independent

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Currently the school is developing a video analysis tool with Exeter House School in Salisbury

to analyse progress in play. The data captured will inform pupil progress along the route-

map.

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THE SEMI-FORMAL ASSESSMENT SUMMARY The semi-formal curriculum recognises that many of the young people have a range of complex learning difficulties and disabilities; and it is this combination of two or more challenges that the curriculum is designed to meet by a personalised learning approach based on:

becoming literate communicators

becoming mathematical thinkers

the acquisition of early learning skills

which encompasses

the development of thinking skills

play (emotional, cognition and social dimensions)

creative learning

movement

Our learners are learners who have a range of severe and complex needs; all have physical

difficulties linked to a combination of other severe difficulties such as cognitive processing

needs, sensory needs or complex health needs. They are in the range P4 – P8 for most if not

all of their time in school.

We must recognise that they may face challenges with information processing: that they may have sensory and auditory processing difficulties, sensory processing (integration) and perceiving sensory patterns. They often have difficulties with their working memory, in generalising and problem solving. It is important to recognise that there are

many differences in individual profiles of this

group of learners, and these may well be

spikey learning profiles; but broadly they can

be expected to move through

developmental milestones if they have the

sensory, physical and cognitive ability to do

so. However, it is important to remember

that this group of learners do not have

delayed development as this suggests, given

time, they can ‘catch up’ with their typically

developing peers.

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ASSESSMENT OVERVIEW The semi-formal curriculum is assessed through PIVATS and the school’s own PIVATS styled

document ‘Semi- formal Thinking Skills, Early Learning Skills & Play’; these provide

information on pupil progress. The PIVATS for English have been expanded to provide a greater range of steps to enable greater accuracy in pupil assessments. The school has also developed a document that moves from R4L into PIVAT assessments for English and Maths. This will be updated during 2016 ready for inclusion on SOLAR.

Alongside these sits Semi- formal Thinking Skills, Early Learning Skills & Play that enables

the school to assess progress in thinking skills, pre-requisite or early learning skills as well as social and emotional development. This document has been devised to provide an assessment tool that enables the curriculum to be matched to pupil learning developmental needs. Recording will from September 2015 be through bespoke SOLAR templates that will replace the PIVATS documents and the learning plans. In addition evidence that confirms achievement will be stored in SOLAR; this will replace the impact evidence files.

ASSESSMENT IN THE CORE SUBJECTS

PIVATS FOR P LEVELS

PIVATS P scales: these are on SOLAR and now replace the hard copies previously

used. They cover assessment for P levels in the core subjects of the national

curriculum and PHSE from P4 – P8.

PIVATS is:

A school-based assessment instrument based on the P scales

A system to inform target setting for pupils of all ages whose performance is outside national expectations

A tool that uses a common structure and language to track and judge pupil performance. PIVATS is used when making summative assessments and complements all other forms of

assessment and should be used to help make a ‘best fit’ judgement and is part of the school’s

assessment strategy to inform effective, rigorous target setting.

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End of KS1 P4e - P5a

End of KS2 P4e - P6a - P7a

End of KS3 P4e - P8a

SEMI-FORMAL

CURRICULUM

PIVATS

FOR P LEVELS

Ass

essm

ent

Ind

icat

ors

P6

– M

S3

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TARGET SETTING IN THE CORE SUBJECTS

Target setting for semi-formal pupils is

personalised based on the data capture from

previous years and not on age related expectations

due to the complex and severe learning difficulties

and disabilities each individual encounters.

Progress Descriptors:

o Consolidated o Expected o Above Expected

All pupils are set challenging targets that are indicators of their ‘expected progress’ over the

school year.

Historically progress was based on progression guidance indicators, median and upper

quartile.

Pupils whose rate of progress is ‘above expected’ will have their targets adjusted

accordingly so that levels of challenge remain high. This will be seen as outstanding

progress.

With the changes to the National Curriculum ‘expected progress’ for pupils in KS1 – KS3

being assessed through PIVATS equates to the previous median indicator; adjusted to take

account of historical progress data for the individual.

‘Consolidated’ progress is when pupils make lateral progress within a PIVATS indicator.

Interventions

are triggered

when data

capture shows

that pupils are

not meeting

their expected

rates of

progress and

progress is

being

consolidated or there is a regressive condition impacting on their learning.

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ASSESSING THE THEMES & TOPICS

Semi- formal Thinking Skills, Early Learning Skills & Play.

STEP enables the school to assess progress in thinking skills,

pre-requisite or early learning skills as well as social and

emotional development. It has been devised to provide an

assessment tool that enables the curriculum to be matched to

pupil learning developmental needs.

STEP assesses progress through the themes and topics (see Themes & Topic booklet)

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THE FORMAL ASSESSMENT SUMMARY

Key Stages 1 – 3

The Core Subjects

P level, PIVAT milestone & Learning Steps are indicators of progress.

End of KS1 P6 - P7+

End of KS2 P7 - P8+

End of KS3 MS1 +

FORMAL

CURRICULUM

PIVATS

FOR P LEVELS

PIVAT MILESTONES

BRIDGING FROM P8

MS1 to MS3

Ass

essm

ent

Ind

icat

ors

P6

– M

S3

Above MS3

Learning Steps

LS4 – LS9

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Assessment

PIVATS FOR P LEVELS

PIVATS P scales: these are on SOLAR and now replace the hard

copies previously used. They cover assessment for P levels in the

core subjects of the national curriculum and PHSE from P4 – P8.

PIVATS is:

A school-based assessment instrument based on the P scales

A system to inform target setting for pupils of all ages whose performance is outside national expectations

A tool that uses a common structure and language to track and judge pupil performance. PIVATS is used when making summative assessments and complements all other forms of assessment and

should be used to help make a ‘best fit’ judgement and is part of the school’s assessment strategy to inform

effective, rigorous target setting.

PIVAT MILESTONES

PIVAT Milestones (MS1 – MS3):

these are to replace the existing

PIVAT levels as they become

available from Spring 2016. (MS3

is designed to lead into expectations for

year 4.)

Until then the existing PIVAT

indicators will continue to be

used as a bridge P8 to Learning

Step 4.

Learning Step 3 acts as a bridge

from PIVAT MS3 into aged related expectations for year 4 in the core subjects.

Formal pupils at Fountaindale have a range of complex learning difficulties and disabilities

and they typically work below aged related expectations of their mainstream peers.

Progress is therefore measured through step descriptors that equate to aged related

expectations for mainstream pupils; but are not necessarily to be achieved within that year

group (ie learning step 4 equates to year 4 but we would not normally expect to see our year 4 pupils working

at this level).

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Learning Steps

The Core Subjects

These subject assessment learning steps and record sheets for the formal curriculum at Key

Stages 1, 2 and 3 are designed to support the ongoing assessment of pupils in each subject.

Learning Steps are to be used on an individual basis as pupils move from MS3 into Step 4. To

support that transition and enable the teacher to make secure judgements about

attainment and progress Learning Step 3 may be used as a bridging tool from MS3 to Step 4.

The assessment criteria are derived from the new 2014 curriculum and therefore arranged

in steps rather than levels.

There are fewer assessment objectives than teaching objectives. The selected objectives are

important milestones in learning, and therefore give us a strong sense of how the child is

progressing.

The learning steps documentation should be read

alongside the national curriculum documentation.

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TARGET SETTING

Target setting for formal pupils is personalised based on the

data capture from previous years and not on age related

expectations due to the complex learning difficulties and

disabilities each individual encounters.




school year.

Historically progress was based on progression guidance indicators, median and upper

quartile.



progress.

With the changes to the National Curriculum and the removal of NC levels ‘expected

progress’ for pupils in KS1 – KS3 being assessed through PIVATS equates to the previous

median indicator; adjusted to take account of historical progress data for the individual.

‘Consolidated’ progress is when pupils make lateral progress within a PIVATS indicator or

learning step.

Interventions

are triggered

when data

capture shows

that pupils are

not meeting

their expected

rates of progress

and progress is

being

consolidated or

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there is a regressive condition impacting on their learning.

ASSESSMENT & TARGET SETTING

Key Stages 1 – 3

The Foundation Subjects

P Scales and Learning Steps are used as progress indicators from

September 2015.

P Scales

‘P SCALES PERFORMANCE ATTAINMENT TARGETS APPLY TO KEY STAGES 1, 2 AND

3’

‘P SCALE DESCRIPTORS P4 TO P8 DESCRIBE PUPILS’ PERFORMANCE IN A WAY

THAT INDICATES THE EMERGENCE OF SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

IN EACH SUBJECT. THE DESCRIPTORS ARE CHARACTERISTIC OF THE TYPES OF

ATTAINMENT THAT THE LEARNERS ARE LIKELY TO DEMONSTRATE.’

A P level statement of progress is broken down into 5 steps (e –

a) and is recorded through SOLAR.

LEARNING STEPS

These subject assessment learning steps and record sheets for the formal curriculum at Key

Stages 1, 2 and 3 are designed to support the ongoing assessment of pupils in each subject.

Learning Steps are to be used on an individual basis as pupils move from P8 to LS1.

The assessment criteria are derived from the new 2014 curriculum and therefore arranged

in steps rather than levels.

There are fewer assessment objectives than teaching

objectives. The selected objectives are important milestones in

learning, and therefore give us a strong sense of how the child

is progressing.

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TARGET SETTING

Target setting for formal pupils is personalised based on the data capture from previous

years and not on age related expectations due to the complex learning difficulties and

disabilities each individual encounters.




school year.



progress.

‘Consolidated’ progress is when pupils make lateral progress within a P level indicator or

learning step.

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