Tackley CE Primary School are a small village primary school with 92 children on roll.
Their Headteacher was kind enough to answer the following questions for us.
How are you using New PiRA and New PUMA?
At the end of term to assess children’s progress with the teaching content, to give standardised scores, and to report to parents where their children are working.
Why did you choose these assessments?
We have previously had really good experiences using the older editions of PiRA, PUMA and GAPS.
What are the benefits of New PiRA and New PUMA?
The assessments provide standardised scores which give an indication of where children are working in comparison to the ‘norm’ and indicate children who may be falling behind or need additional teaching time.
Are the assessments flexible?
Yes, and they come with clear instructions about how to use the papers to ensure effective standardisation.
Do the papers engage your learners?
Children find the format clear and easy to use. It is familiar to them.
How effective have the assessments been in helping you to identify strengths and weaknesses?
They help to identify key areas that children are performing well in as well as those that they need extra help with. Results can be broken down per individual pupil or by class/group.
How have you used the tests to track progression and achievement?
We compare standardised scores with the previous term and use these to report to parents. We are able to give specific feedback to parents about areas their children need to continue to work on.
Have New PiRA and New PUMA helped to direct your teaching plans?
Yes. The areas that the children are less secure on become more of a focus for the new term.
Do you use MARK (My Assessment Reporting Kit) for inputting scores and for the reports?
Yes, it is an excellent analysis tool for QLA to give clear feedback about areas that children are performing well/less well on.
Closing thoughts
Would you recommend PiRA, PUMA, MARK and Shine to other schools?
Yes!
"The assessments save us time in analysing areas of strength and weakness."
"The measures and reports make it easy for us to track pupils’ progress from term to term."
"The standardised scores are useful to give us a clear picture of how our pupils’ attainment compared to national averages."
"The assessments give us robust, detailed diagnostics to complement teacher judgement."
"The assessments have helped us to track progress and support pupils in a year of uncertainty."