Pupils’ progress is closely monitored at GHF so that we can provide the best possible opportunities and most appropriate levels of support for all pupils.  All assessment activities aim to ensure that our pupils are able to make excellent progress in their learning whilst taking into account the needs of individual pupils.

The aims and objectives of assessment at GHF are:

• to enable our pupils to demonstrate what they know, understand and can do in their work;
• to allow our teachers to plan work that accurately reflects the needs of each child;
• to help our pupils understand what they need to do next to improve their work;
• to provide regular information for parents that enables them to support their child’s learning;
• to contribute towards accountability data;
• and to help leaders evaluate and continually improve on the quality of provision for all pupils.

While designing our approach to assessment, we have kept in mind the problems with the previous ‘Levels’ approach in order to ensure these do not reoccur. A key principle of our assessment system is that it should inform teaching and learning and not fundamentally be a means to recording and measuring progress.

‘Assessment is a good servant but a terrible master’

(Dylan Wiliam)

Most of all, learning will come first in our approach: assessment will support it, not get in its way. Assessment will be focussed on the content of our curriculum but it will not be the driver of it. Our curriculum is driven by the aims set out in our Curriculum Policy.