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The below visual summarises the triangulation of intent, implementation and impact across our planning, curriculum delivery and assessment. Please hover over each of the titles to find out more information and click on the links to look at key documents or to find further information on our website.
Progressive planning is completed half-termly for each of the curriculum subjects delivered across the school. Each plan is broken down into three key areas; Intent, Implementation and Impact and demonstrates how every pupil will make progress from the first lesson to the last. The Intent identifies SMART, pupil centred objectives for the half term. Implementation demonstrates the ways in which practitioners will ensure that the objectives are achieved, including the activities that take place, the resources used as well as classroom management. The Impact is seen within the success criteria, where the intended progress is identified as well as the skills that each pupil will have acquired in order to achieve their objective.
Each class has a Year Plan that is created from topic overviews for each subject. Topic overviews are created by subject leaders and are based across a ‘Year A’ and ‘Year B’ model to ensure pupils obtain a breadth of topics. Topic overviews are reviewed regularly and class teachers’ feedback to subject leaders in relation to how the topic can be taught. At the start of each academic year, class teachers compile the Year Plan alongside planned off-site trips and focus stories. This ensures the topics flow and pupils are able to contextualise and generalise their learning. In EYFS, their Year Plan consists of weekly topics that cover prime and specific areas of the early learning goals. In Post-16 and the Community Classroom, topics are focused around preparing for life after Amwell View and being able to function in social contexts. Please click below for an example of a Year Plan.
An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) review meeting is held with the parents annually to discuss their child’s progress against the EHCP outcomes. These outcomes focus on the child’s individual needs and are in relation to personal development, social and emotional aspects. Pupils have between 5 and 7 EHCP outcomes and they cover the breadth of the curriculum. Outcomes are reviewed annually and are commented on by teachers to identify how they have achieved the outcome and new ones are also set for the next year. EHCP outcomes consider the 'How, What, When and Context’. This is considered both in the planning and review of outcomes. The review of EHCP outcomes will identify how they have approached learning, the level of support the pupil has had, generalisation of skill and the time frame. This is supported by media evidence which is shared by teachers and with parents and carers on Tapestry.
Priority objectives are set by the class teacher each half term. The priority objectives are broken down from the pupils EHCP outcomes that focus on their individual developmental needs. The priority objectives sit alongside the National Curriculum subject areas and the topic areas provide the context for the skills to be developed. The skills are specific to each individual pupil. Each pupil has between 13 to 14 objectives per half term. EYFS aged pupils have 6 objectives the cover the 7 areas of learning in EYFS and our young people with PMLD have 8 objectives to meet their developmental needs. Priority objectives are assessed half termly by class teachers and specialist teachers. Progress evidence against objectives is recorded on the Tapestry app and shared with parents. Please click below to see an example of the priority objective record sheets.
Varying assessment tools are used to measure pupil progress. Formative assessment tools include the use of success criteria and in EYFS the use of Tapestry. Summative assessment takes shape in the form of class teachers writing narratives at the end of each half term to depict how each pupil has made progress against the learning objectives set for them. At the end of every term, teachers use B Squared as an assessment tool in regards to set descriptors.
As part of our formative assessment, teachers use success criteria in all lessons as a way of evidencing progress against the half term priority objectives. Each lesson would have its own success criteria. On the criteria it identifies the half termly priority objective at the top. This is broken down into smaller weekly steps underneath that and then there are comment boxes for each week underneath that on the criteria. Alongside the comment boxes there are level of prompting options that can be circled to identify the level of support the pupil needed to complete that aspect of their learning. In an ideal world you would see the level of prompting needed reduce each week.
Routes for Learning (RfL) is used as an additional tool to plan for progression for some identified pupils. RfL is a Welsh initiative developed by teachers to improve and assess social, communication and cognitive skills of learners with profound and multiple learning difficulties, and additional disabilities. Route Maps offer a number of pathways for learning, encompassing early developmental milestones. Each pupil following RfL has their own personalised RfL Route Map. RfL complements our existing B Squared assessment tool by providing additional breadth to the descriptors. Please click below to look at the Routes for Learning Map.
Tapestry is an online learning journal. It is used across the school to record formative assessment and summative assessment. Teachers upload photos and videos throughout the half term to show the progress and development in each subject area against priority objectives. These are then shared with parents through Tapestry. EYFS use Tapestry as their formative assessment for each pupil, whereas classes from KS1 – Post 16 use Tapestry alongside success criteria. In EYFS, they attach Early Learning Goals and Characteristics of Effective Learning to each observation. Teachers also upload photos and videos that show pupils achievements outside of priority objectives and share them with parents. Parents are also encouraged to share weekend and holiday news as well as achievements at home. Please click below to go to the Tapestry page on the school website.
At Amwell View we use the online assessment tool ‘B Squared Engagement and Progression steps’ as a form of summative assessment each term. When pupils start at Amwell View, they are baselined on B Squared and their level is recorded on an Attainment sheet (click here to see the template). Teachers tick off statements that pupils have achieved in the ‘Engagement’ and ‘Progression’ areas each term during assessment window. Their level is then recorded on their Attainment sheet. Pupils are baselined on ‘Engagement Steps’ and when they have completed ‘Step 6’ in each subject, they move onto ‘Progression Steps’ which is grouped into the National Curriculum subject areas. Teachers use the B Squared assessment to support pupils’ objective and outcome setting each half term.
For all pupils in Post 16, they are enrolled onto the AQA Unit Award Scheme (UAS). It is not a qualification, but UAS allows all pupils to have their achievements formally recognised. Pupils are rewarded with a certificate of achievement each time they successfully complete a unit of learning. This allows us to build up a portfolio of certificates to evidence their skills, knowledge and experience over time. We then share these portfolios with college to help them identify a starting point for when the pupils join them at Post 19. The UAS we use alongside our bespoke curriculum and teachers identify units in which pupils have achieved the necessary criteria as part of their day to day learning.
Formal observations are conducted by school leaders as a way of ensuring that the teaching standards are being met and in turn, pupils are receiving a meaningful, challenging and engaging curriculum. This supports leaders and Governors to identify areas of strength and development, which informs the schools self-evaluation and key priorities as well as the teacher effectiveness document that identifies areas of development within performance appraisals. Post observation feedback also allows practitioners to reflect on their own practice and identify ways in which they would like to develop their skills further.
At Amwell View, we value teachers’ perspective and their input into the running of the teaching and learning curriculum. We encourage teachers to create ‘learning circles’ to brainstorm how we can improve areas of the curriculum and the running of a classroom. The learning circles focus on school improvement by designing and leading projects that link to the school development plan and areas that teachers identify could be improved.
Learning walks are used by school leaders and subject leads as a way of monitoring and evaluating the impact of the curriculum delivery across all the key stages. They are regular informal observations that help to paint a picture of what is being delivered in class day to day. Subject leaders use learning walks to help identify the strengths and areas for development within their subject. Learning walks are completed in addition to the monitoring of planning and assessment that individual teachers do. School leaders use learning walks as a supportive tool to enable conversation around teacher development points and also to help support the quality delivery of teaching and learning aspects across the school. Teachers are open to other practitioners informally observing each other practice which helps to gain ideas, strategies, feedback and to support a consistent approach.
Each subject leader has put together a handbook that summarises their subject and how it is taught within the curriculum at Amwell View School. Each subject has a topic overview that was developed by the subject leads and informs the topics that are taught across the key stages for each curriculum subject. These are populated onto a year plan for each class. Each subject lead has written a subject statement that identifies the ‘Intent’ ‘Implementation’ and ‘Impact’ of their subject across the key stages. Alongside this, each subject has a policy and action plan that is written by the subject lead. As well as all of the above, the handbook picks out key bits of information for each subject, such as the resources available and how the subject can be delivered in different teaching spaces and also how to plan for the subject area. Please click below to go to the curriculum page where you can look at the subject handbooks.
Practitioners are encouraged to engage and participate in professional dialogue in order to develop areas including planning, curriculum delivery, policy and procedure as well as behaviour management strategies and leadership skills. Professional dialogue occurs in formal and informal settings including Staff meetings, team meetings, quality circle time, subject specific workshops, working parties and in open forums. Staff are encouraged and empowered to share ideas, strategies and approaches to solve problems, extend the curriculum and develop the whole school ethos as a collective.
