Curriculum And Assessment Guide

Year 1 to Year 6

This guide is intended to support parents of our primary school children Year 1 to Year 6. It would be impossible to set out in detail everything your child would learn during their six years of statutory primary education, but by providing an outline of typical content and some background information about how the curriculum and assessment works, hopefully this information will help parents support their children in making the most of their learning at Wolverton.

English, Maths and Science are considered the core subjects in both primary and secondary education. The National Curriculum sets out in some detail what must be taught in each of these subjects, and they will take up a substantial part of your child’s learning week. Alongside these are the familiar foundation subjects: Art, Computing, Design & Technology, Foreign Languages (age 7+ only), Geography, History, Music, and Physical Education. For these foundation subjects, the details in the curriculum are significantly briefer: schools have much more flexibility regarding what they cover in these subjects.

Much of the publicity about the changes to the curriculum has focused on ‘higher expectations’ in various subjects, and it is certainly the case that in some areas the content of the new primary curriculum is significantly more demanding than in the past.

High Achievers

If your child is achieving well, rather than moving on to the following year group’s work at Wolverton School we will encourage more in-depth and investigative work to allow a greater mastery and understanding of concepts and ideas.

New tests were produced for the summer of 2016 onwards to assess work from the new curriculum.

Tests your child will take

Lots of schools use tests at all stages of their work. For the most part, these are part of a normal classroom routine, and support teachers’ assessment. However, at certain stages of schooling there are also national tests which must be taken by all children in state schools. Often informally known as ‘SATs’, the National Curriculum Tests are compulsory for children at the end of Year 2 and Year 6.

Children in these year groups undertake tests in Reading, Mathematics, and Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling.

The new National Curriculum Tests for children in Year 2 and Year 6 take place each summer from 2016. Tests for Y6 pupils are sent away for marking, and results are reported to schools and parents at the end of the year.

Where previously these tests – and other teacher assessments – were graded in levels (normally numbering between Level 1 and Level 6 in primary school), from 2016 the tests results are reported as a scaled score, with a score of 100 representing the expected level for each age group. The school will provide accompanying information to parents to explain how children are progressing at the end of the year.

To see the curriculum overview grids which outline the topics your child will cover over our two year rolling programme click here. Your child will cover all of the topics shown and therefore cover the content of the National Curriculum by the end of each phase.