How School Is Organised and Ways to Help Your Child in School

How School is Organised and Ways to Help Your Child in School

Explaining the Key Stages

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a national statutory framework which sets standards for development, learning and care of children from birth until the end of their Reception year in school at age 5. Within the EYFS there are seven areas of learning and development. All areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected. Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive. These three areas, the prime areas, are: • communication and language • physical development • personal, social and emotional development. In additions there are also four specific areas of learning, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied. The specific areas are: • literacy • mathematics • understanding the world • expressive arts and design. During their Reception year in school children are assessed continually so that the teacher can complete the EYFS Profile for each child. This profile builds a picture of each child’s achievements in the seven areas of learning and informs their teacher in Key Stage 1 of their abilities. The results are sent to the Local Authority at the end of the year. The assessment process for the EYFS profile is very informal and based on the teacher’s everyday observations of the children at work and play. The children themselves are unaware that they are being assessed.

Children enter Key Stage 1 at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Year groups in this Key Stage are Year 1 and 2. Children follow work from the National Curriculum. Children in Year 1 are assessed, throughout the year, using school based procedures where teachers mark pieces of work against nationally agreed guidelines. In Year 2 the children are also assessed, by their class teacher, throughout the year using the national criteria but may also take part in tests or tasks in May. These tests and tasks are known as Key Stage 1 SATs (Standard Assessment Tests). These results are reported to the National Assessment Agency (NAA) and the schools performance is compared against other schools nationally and locally. From this assessment children are awarded, by their class teacher, a National Curriculum Level. By the end of Key Stage 1 the expected level for a child is 2B. Whilst this is the target level for children of this age some children will attain at a level lower than this eg 2C, 1A, 1C or W. Other children may achieve at a level higher than this and be awarded 2A or 3. These results are then used to measure the children’s progress from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2.

Key Stage 2

Key Stage 2 consists of Years 3 to 6.

From September 2014 the government have introduced a new National Curriculum which removes the ‘levels’ in subjects. As a school we will continue to assess children’s progress and will report their achievement in terms of: • emerging towards that expected of their age • at the expected progress • exceeding the expected progress Throughout the Key Stage children are regularly assessed by the class teachers to monitor progress. At the end of each year the children in Years 3 to 5 take part in formal nationally set tests which re then marked by the class teacher. The results of the Year 4 tests are again reported to monitor progress. At the end of Year 6 the children take part in Key Stage 2 SATs. These are formal tests in English, Maths, Spelling Grammar and Punctuation and may be assessed in Science. By the end of Key Stage 2 the national average level is 4. Whilst this is the target level for children of this age some children will attain at a levels target level for children of this age. Some children will attain at a level lower than this eg 3, 2, 1 W or N. Other children will attain at a higher level than this and achieve a level 5. These results are then used to assess the children’s progress from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2. Children are expected to make two levels progress between the Key Stages eg a level 2 is expected to reach level 4. This process will continue in 2015 and 2016 when the government will decided how children’s progress will be assessed in the future. At St Paul’s the children’s progress is tracked through regular assessments in order that we can monitor their attainment. We use the results of these assessments to aid us in identifying the next steps in a child’s learning and also to target support towards those children who need it.

How can parents help their children?

There are many ways in which you can help your children in their work.

Reading

• Read with them. Listen to them read, at least ten minutes a day, and if they get stuck encourage them to build the word using phonics, look at the words around the word to see if they can work out what it should be or if there are pictures use them to try to identify the word. • Try to avoid reading for them if they appear to be stuck. • Read to your child making a special event of it and trying to make the story interesting by creating the characters. • Encourage them to read anything around them to develop a love of reading. • Join the local library so that they have the opportunity to choose the books they want to read.

Writing

• When your child is first experimenting with their writing encourage them to make marks on the page and to explain what they have written. • As they start to develop ‘real’ writing skills and form letters encourage them to form the letters correctly. (There is a sheet available in school showing the direction letter should be formed in). • As their writing skills progress, encourage them to join the letters together to develop a cursive style. • Encourage them to leave spaces between the words and to start writing at the left hand side of the page. • Get them to help with the shopping by creating their own shopping list that they can tick off when you are out. • Help to foster a love of writing by encouraging them to write for a range of purposes eg thank you letters, story writing, present lists or writing a menu for a meal. • Help them to develop their spelling skills by learning any spellings they are given. • Look for patterns in words to build an understanding of ‘families’ of words.

Mathematics

• Help them to learn number bonds so that they can quickly recall the ways to make 5, 10 etc. • Develop their recall of subtraction facts so they have quick mental recall. • Help them to learn their multiplication facts so that they have instant recall up to at least the twelve times table. • Help them to learn to tell the time starting with the hour and half hour then moving onto quarter past and quarter to then minutes past and minutes to. • Play number games with them involving numbers around us eg adding the digits on a number plate, estimating the change when you are shopping.

Other things you can do

• Set time aside to sit with your child to do their homework so that they develop a routine of regularly completing the tasks they have been set.

• If you have internet access there are websites that you can encourage your child to use to help them in developing their skills. There are links to some of them via the school website at:

www.st-pauls-stafford.staffs.sch.uk

Some of the sites are:

www.familyreading.org.uk

www.supermathsworld.com

• Help develop their touch typing skills via the link to the BBC site. • If they are studying a topic in school help them to carry out research by visiting the library or looking information up on the internet.

To help your child foster a love of learning it is important that you make learning enjoyable. If a child feels that they are having fun they are more likely to succeed, however, if they feel that they are under pressure to succeed then this can inhibit their learning. Try to create a relaxed situation where they feel they are getting quality time with you. Avoid leaving these sessions to the last minute so that they are struggling to finish the work on time.

Children develop at different rates and it is important that you recognize this and avoid pressurizing them to be like someone else. If you have concerns about your child’s progress talk to the teacher about it to see if there is anything you can do to help them.

In line with national guidance we are teaching your children new methods of computation, in mathematics, which are recognised as helping them to understand not only how to get to the answer but also how they arrived at that answer. If, at any time, you are not confident in supporting your child in the work they are doing please get in contact with the school and we will arrange for you to meet with us to discuss the issue. If there are enough people who need help in understanding a particular area then we can organise a workshop.

To help all children succeed in their learning it is important that we work as a team supporting them. We need to develop a love of learning in our children by making it as much fun as possible. Children have a natural curiosity and we need to build on this to help them prepare for their futures.