AIMS

To provide a consistency of approach in marking throughout the school so that it may best meet the needs of the various audiences and purposes it serves.   We mark children’s work in a positive manner that reflects the learning objectives taught during the lesson and the ethos of the school.

We mark written work regularly and consistently in ways that highlight strengths and shortcomings, using approaches that are understood by children and parents.

 Marking should be accessible to children, be manageable for teachers and measure progress against targets, school or national expectations.

PURPOSES OF MARKING

To point out precisely what was good and what needs to be done to improve next time.
To provide an opportunity to assess children’s work and progress.
To provide a means of communication between teacher and child, a two way process.
To be able to reward the child for successful work and provide an incentive for improvement.

THE PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING PRACTICE

To mark selectively focusing on the purpose of the work, identified success criteria relating to the level and ability of the child.
To mark strategically alerting the reader to work that is marked in greater depth or writing more extended comments on batches of work.
To highlight common errors but using any notation sparingly.
To involve children in marking: to mark with the child whenever possible and work towards a level of self-assessment by the children themselves.

THE PROCESS OF MARKING

Marking may be done by:

teacher alone

teacher alongside child

child alone

other children

teaching assistants

Work should have as a minimum requirement the teacher’s initials to show they have seen the work.
Key errors will be corrected but staff will be conscious of ensuring that negative responses and over marking are avoided.
All work should be acknowledged although not all work may be marked in depth - some work may be corrected on a class basis.

Methods of marking will be communicated to parents.

Children will mark their own work where appropriate.
Incorrect spellings may be shown by underlining when this is the focus of the learning objective.
Teachers may show the correct spelling on the work or the children may be requested to seek the correct spelling themselves and/or write out the correct spelling three times.

RESPSONSIBILITIES

Individual teachers will mark within the guidelines of this policy. The co-ordinator together with the Headteacher will be responsible for monitoring the policy and practices, ensuring consistency and accuracy and developing practice.


Dallington CE Primary School Marking Policy Key Stage One and Two


Marking is primarily done to inform planning and provide feedback to children and parents, in order to allow for self-assessment and to raise standards.
It can be written or verbal
It can identify areas to revisit
Concepts to explain again
Areas which need practice and consolidation
It should offer praise, encouragement and guidance.


English

Work will be marked with children when possible, discussing ways to improve i.e. Targets. The teacher will focus their detailed marking upon one group for each piece of work and will relate to defined success criteria or to scaffold prompts. High frequency words may be corrected. Achievement will be indicated with areas for further development highlighted. Marking should refer to the success against the lesson’s learning objective.

Basic grammatical errors, including spelling and punctuation, to be corrected. Suggestions to enable the child to improve a piece of creative or factual writing may also be made.

Any errors which the child may reasonably be expected to know should be corrected. Specific teaching and learning points from the lesson must be corrected.

Opportunities should be given for children to self correct their work and, if necessary, improve its content.

Spelling will be marked according to spelling ability. For able spellers, errors should be underlined and 'Sp' written in the margin. The child should then be encouraged to find the correct spelling independently and self correct the error. For other spellers the incorrect spelling should be underlined and the correct word written above or in the margin. If the teacher feels the child should know, or learn, the word it should be written at the end of the work for the child to copy.

In work where the content is of prime importance, e.g. a piece of historical research, spelling corrections should be kept to a minimum. Marking should focus on the factual accuracy and presentation of the piece. If there are a large number of errors the child should be given the opportunity of rewriting the corrected piece. This should be done in a positive way encouraging the child to produce an excellent piece of work.

Mathematics

Where a wrong answer shows lack of understanding or absence of necessary skills the question will be marked with a dot and problem area addressed by teacher.
Where a wrong answer shows a mistake or lack of concentration the question will also be marked with a dot. This means that the child must try the question again. (.) Once corrected the teacher will mark with a tick to show this is now correct.  Any number reversal should be corrected along with errors of basic English within mathematical terms. Persistent reversal of numbers should be discussed with the SENCO.
Further questions may be added to check understanding/consolidate learning.   Marking should refer to the success against the lesson’s learning objective.

 General

Star points will be given for an outstanding piece of work. This may reflect an all round excellence; A particular aspect e.g. presentation A child’s personal achievement/building of confidence; a child’s persistence and organisation.

Children in the infants will also be given stickers for good work. In both Key Stages achievement will be recognised in the Achievement Book.