Marking Policy

When a child first starts school, oracy is the key to the assessment of need and development. This policy does not seek to undermine or deprecate the importance of the spoken word but endeavours to address issues relating to the assessment of recorded work.

Marking is the most common form of assessment used in schools. Once children begin to produce written work it is vital that their responses are assessed in a systematic manner.

In the early years of a child's school life the vast majority of marking needs to take place when the child is in attendance. Once a child approaches Year 2, however, he/she may become capable of comprehending and acting upon marking which has been carried out without him/her in attendance.

The question of marking within the classroom raises issues of classroom management. The most effective way of assessing children's work is for the teacher to move around the classroom and mark work at the children's desks (or sit and work with the children). This minimises the need for children to move around the classroom and ensures that queues, which are a recipe for disruptive behaviour, are not allowed to build up. There may of course be occasions when a member of staff needs to sit at his/her desk to mark work. When this is necessary strategies should be developed to ensure that only a small number of children, no greater than four, are queuing to have their work marked at any one time.

All marking which occurs within teaching time should take place with the child in attendance and relate to the lesson which is being taught at the time.

At the end of each lesson workbooks/sheets should be collected by the teacher. They should be returned to the pupils at the beginning of the next lesson which requires that particular workbook. Only in exceptional circumstances should a child be asked to complete a further piece of work before the preceding work has been marked. The list below summarises other aspects of our marking policy;

* Regardless of the subject, pupils should be aware that a high standard of presentation is always expected of them.

* When children are set, and complete, a piece of work the teacher should always ensure that there is visual evidence that the work has been marked.

* All work should be dated either by the child or the teacher.

* Where the work has not been completed within the time allowed a written comment to that effect should be made on the work.

* When appropriate, remarks should be written to indicate that individual attention is being given.

* Marking should be constructive and, wherever possible, encouraging.

* Over-marking should be avoided. When a particular type of error has been corrected, pupils should be encouraged to find similar mistakes themselves.

* This policy does not relate to work which has been produced specifically for display. Nor does it relate to art work and other practical work where a verbal response from the teacher is usually more appropriate.