About Riccall Community Primary School
We're a semi-rural primary school, located between York and Selby in North Yorkshire. We're slightly smaller than national average (192).
An ex-mining community, Riccall is a commuter village with areas of social housing. Our FSM uptake is below national average (11%). The community and socio-economic backgrounds are varied; our ward is rated as 0.06 on the social deprivation indicator. 19 pupils are FSM Ever 6; 3 pupils are in receipt of pupil premium for LAC/adopted from care. There are a variety of family backgrounds represented in the school and we have 7% classed as minority ethnic groups. We have 3 children with English as an additional language, from Czech Republic, Lithuania and Poland. On role, we currently have 7 children on Educational Health Care Plans (4 for learning needs and 3 for medical needs, which impact upon learning).
How are you using NTS Assessments?
We are using the resource as end-of-term assessments for Years 1-6.
Why did you choose this resource?
Teachers feel that the papers match the White Rose Maths planning that they deliver in class. In addition, the format of NTS Assessments is close to the SATs, they therefore help to prepare the children for these by getting them used to the format.
What are the benefits of NTS Assessments?
The scaled scores and the SATs-like format.
Do you find NTS Assessments to be flexible?
Not really, but we don’t want them to be. We’re looking for an objective method of assessing the children’s attainment and progress and they suit our needs very well.
Do NTS Assessments engage your learners?
Some find it intimidating initially, but this is why we need to expose them to this format so that it is less intimidating and they can show us what they can do in future assessments, especially the SATs.
How effective have NTS Assessments been in helping you to identify strengths and weaknesses?
Very. The question level analysis means that teachers have an insight into what the children understand and can apply. It also allows us to draw up whole school trends, which influence school policy. We will use NTS Assessments to track progress and achievement over time.
How have NTS Assessments helped to direct your teaching plans?
The question level analysis means that teachers have an insight into what the children understand and can apply. This then has a direct input into future lesson planning.
Have you found the resource easy to use?
Yes. The instructions are clear and similar to previous assessments we have used.
Would you recommend NTS Assessments to other schools?
Yes. They are easy to use and effectively prepare children for their SATs.
Closing statements
- Strongly agree that NTS Assessments give us robust, detailed diagnostics to complement teacher judgement.
- Agree that the measures and reports make it easy for us to track pupils' progress from term to term
- Agree that the standardised scores are useful to give us a clear picture of how our pupils’ attainment compared to national averages
- Agree that the assessments have helped us to track progress and support pupils in a year of uncertainty.