Hilltop Primary School is a two form entry school in Medway. We have recently become an academy and are working closely with our colleagues in the other schools within our new Trust to ensure that all children achieve their potential.
One of the first things we did together was align our Assessment Procedures. At Hilltop we have used PUMA and PIRA across the whole school for quite a while and also helped with the trials for the more able papers in PUMA in Year 6. The other schools were so impressed with how accurate the standardised scores were when we compared them to SATs test outcomes at the end of Year 6 they too have adopted the tests.
Using these tests rather than old SATs papers, that do not match the current National Curriculum, has been very helpful in identifying gaps of knowledge. Using the MARK assessment tool has helped teachers focus on specific areas and topics that their classes or individual pupils need additional support in. It does all you would hope for from an online assessment tool including breaking down pupils and cohort scores into individual curriculum strands.
I am sure that the PiRA and PUMA tests have allowed my teachers to continue to teach at a high level, ensuring the school results remain above the National averages for Reading, Writing and Maths combined.