The Department for Education has published today the government’s response to the ‘Primary assessment in England’ public consultation. Details are set out in a statement made to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening.
The response confirms the government’s intention to establish a settled, trusted primary assessment system for the long term, and specifically to:
move to a more flexible approach of assessing English writing from the 2017 to 2018 academic year onwards
change the starting point for primary school progress measures to the reception year – with a new statutory assessment to be introduced in reception from 2020
remove statutory end of key stage 1 assessments once the reception baseline assessment has become fully established, from 2023
remove the duty for teachers to assess pupils against statutory reading and mathematics frameworks at the end of key stage 2 from the 2018 to 2019 academic year onwards
improve the early years foundation stage profile by clarifying the descriptors underpinning the Early Learning Goals and reviewing supporting guidance
introduce an online multiplication tables check to be taken by pupils at the end of year 4 from the 2019 to 2020 academic year.
The government has also published today its response to the parallel consultation on the recommendations of the Rochford Review of assessment arrangements for pupils working below the standard of national curriculum tests.
We are very grateful to everyone who took the time to respond to these consultations.
If you have any queries, please contact the assessment policy team at PrimaryAssessment.CONSULTATION@education.gov.uk or the Rochford Review team at Rochford.Review@education.gov.uk.
Email on behalf of Assessment Policy Division by the Faith Schools Policy Team
Krishna Bhan
Director
Hindu Council UK