Assessment

At Mill Ford we use a spectrum of assessment tools to track pupil progress. To help break down individual barriers to learning and to track lateral as well as hierarchical progress we use MAPP. Using MAPP we address outcomes in a pupils EHCP and with parents agree individual learning goals. This method for tracking progress helps us to ensure skills learnt are personalised and committed to long term memory, so that pupils are able to use these skills in everyday life. This is because MAPP enables us to track progress in independence, fluency, maintenance and generalisation. Progress in each of these areas is tracked using a 10 point scale.

Assessing and tracking progress in independence enables us to ensure pupils make progress in being able to do more for themselves, which is important to their self worth, the contribution they can make and their ability to do things for themselves as they move towards adulthood.

 Assessing and tracking progress in fluency helps us to ensure pupils are able to do things accurately and confidently and if they aren’t making progress in this area we can ensure we intervene to enable progress in this important aspect to happen.

Assessing and tracking progress in maintenance helps us ensure things are committed to long-term memory so that the skills can be used over time. Generalisation is also important to ensure a skill is embedded and can be used outside of school.

As well as MAPP we use the 5 areas of engagement to observe the progress of our informal learners. For our semi-formal learners we use a range of other tools, as well as MAPP. We use the Pre-Key Stage standards which we have broken down into small steps to help us to track progress, as well as a life skills (including Preparing and Consuming food, Getting Around, Personal Needs and Safety Awareness) , social skills (including relating to adults and peers), physical skills, communication skills and an ICT tracker. We specifically track progress in these areas because they are areas, which parents and pupils have voiced as important to them, as well as being areas that enable us to ensure coverage of our ACCESS ethos. We have developed to enable us to ensure pupils make progress and when this isn’t the case we are able to intervene to support further.

Assessment Tool Kit Pathway

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Please click here to link to the DfE Performance Website for Mill Ford but please be aware that as a special school for children with learning difficulties our children are working below age related expectations.