Benefits

Explanation

Clear understanding about the longer term journey your child is on

• You will always see your child’s attainment in relation to the key milestones throughout their Primary education

Positive language we can use with parents/carers and children about current strengths and capability

• We will focus on using positive language, acknowledging what children can do and the strengths they have shown so far
• Children naturally progress at different rates and the scales do not assume a ‘standardised’ progress rate, which can often be unhelpful for children (as well as parents & carers!)

Not framing all discussion in the limits of ‘what your child can do compared to others their age’

• The Government’s approach to standardised testing tends to lead to a black and white judgement about whether a child performs ‘in line with other pupils of their age’
• Within any cohort, there can be a difference of up to a year in ages, and it can be harmful to take a ‘one size fits all’ approach
• Typically 24 – 31% of pupils nationally do not meet this standard We feel it is detrimental for such a large proportion of pupils to feel they are not good enough, especially when they do actually have every chance to accelerate progress and meet the standard in the future. In fact, a motivated and positive child is the most likely to make that kind of leap when they are ready!

Clear indicators of what your child can do next to succeed, and move up the scale

• The Learning Scales are accompanied with clear documentation describing what children can do at each stage. This includes the learning behaviours that you are likely to recognise in your child
• The documents also set out the clear next steps your child will need to make to progress onto the next stage towards independency

No limits!

• The scale is a continuum and means we can support children who accelerate more quickly more effectively. It will be clear where they are going next on the scale and this will support parents and carers  to understand more about what the school is doing to support ongoing progress