Marking Policy

RATIONALE

In order to obtain a uniformity of approach, agreed purposes and to ensure continuity and progression, it is important to establish agreed policy and procedures for the marking of children’s work. We believe that the main purpose underpinning the marking of pupil’s work is that it aids learning.

AIMS

When marking children’s work we aim to:

To recognise, encourage and reward children’s efforts and achievements and to celebrate success.
To provide a dialogue between the teacher and the child and clear appropriate feedback about strengths and areas for development in their work.
To indicate how a piece of work could be corrected or improved again success criteria or assessment criteria.
To help pupils develop an awareness of the standards they need to reach in order to achieve particular levels of the National Curriculum.
To provide evidence of assessment made and help moderate the interpretations of Learning Intentions and levels achieved.
Make children aware of our consistently high expectations in all areas of their work.
Show the children that we appreciate and value their efforts.
Give opportunities for the children to value their own work and be really proud of their achievements.
Provide a correct balance between encouragement and correction.
Monitor effort, progress and achievement.
Identify individual children’s specific abilities and difficulties.
Identify needs for future planning of work and possible modification to programmes of work already planned.

Principles of Marking

If children are to develop as independent learners, with an awareness of their own strengths as well as areas for development (learning targets) it is essential that:

They are made aware of the Learning Intentions (LI) of tasks/lessons and of the criteria against which their work will be marked/assessed (Success Criteria – SC). “This is what we are learning and this is how we will measure to see if we have been successful.”
The learning needs of individual children are understood and work is differentiated according to their needs, and marked appropriately.
Children’s work is marked in such a way that achievement is acknowledged and praised and teaching points are highlighted.
Where appropriate, marking/feedback is linked directly to learning targets.

Wherever possible, marking takes place with the children e.g. when staff are working with a focus group. It offers guidance as to the extent to which learning intentions have been met and suggests the next steps children might take in their learning.

We also aim to ensure that:

There will be a natural progression in the system of marking as the children progress throughout the school.
There will be a consistent approach throughout the school.
Through appropriate marking children will develop analytical skills to assess their own work in a thoughtful way.
Children will be aware of the difference between the superficial marking and correcting of work, e.g. spelling and punctuation errors and marking which encourages children to appreciate their own efforts. They will be made aware of the meaning of symbols used when marking.
Marking will often indicate to children areas for development and set personal targets for improvements.
As a result of careful marking, children will be supported in making increased efforts to improve their standards of achievement.

GUIDELINES

Teachers will use a range of marking strategies which may include individual/group marking conferencing, whole class marking, written or verbal comments. Teachers will always be sensitive to the needs of the individual child, taking into account the child’s level of confidence and ability. Marking should always be constructive and aim to reinforce the teaching points of the lesson.

Teacher expectations – children should have a clear understanding regarding purpose and intended outcomes.
Method and tone of response – teachers will respond to work in a variety of ways appropriate to the context and the individual child’s needs.
Self marking – on occasions children may mark their own exercises; this will help to develop their self checking skills, independence and honesty!
Corrections – children should be allocated time to correct, finish work and revised spellings.
Appreciation – marking which indicates enjoyment, praise, appreciation of effort, recognition of improvement and progress, responds to a certain aspect of work.
Constructive criticism – marking should always be constructive but should also indicate to children areas for improvement/development. Pupils will be encouraged to become accustomed to criticism, supported initially by the teacher and then helped towards increased skills in constructive criticism of their own and others work.
Progression – marking will encourage children to move onto the next stage/level in their progress standard of achievement.
Past/future – comments on work which has been completed, ways in which similar work could be improved when tackled in the future.
Analytical skills – through encouraging re-reading and analysis of content and discussion or suggestions of ways in which work can be improved or developed.
Children will be trained to proof read and check their own work before submitting it for marking.
Collaborative work – children are given the opportunity to work together, developing such skills as the ability to be fair/supportive/constructive in their dealings with others. In addition to enable them to listen to adopt/reject the ideas of others concerning their own work, in an acceptable manner.

MARKING OF ENGLISH EXERCISES

All marking to be done in red pen and in a suitable handwriting style.
Work reflecting the teaching points of a lesson should always be corrected.

Exercises done by children in English books should have all errors relating to work previously taught highlighted. Children should be given the opportunity to correct their own errors by referring to the exercise and using dictionaries, word banks etc.

The aim should be that if children ‘look back’ in their English book for a ‘model’ they should not reproduce errors.

In Key Stage 1 it may be that the teacher has modelled for the child or has corrected the child’s work. In general in Key Stage 2 children should correct their own errors and work should then be re-marked.

When children make careless mistakes copying from questions etc it may be necessary to make them repeat the whole exercise.

MARKING STRATEGIES

Ideally work should be marked in the presence of the child.
Oral commence/feedback, written comment/feedback.
Sometimes grades/levels will be given and when appropriate numerical scores (e.g. marks out of 10).

SUPERFICIAL MARKING/CORRECTING ERRORS

Finish 16.10.07 - Indicates work to be finished and the date marked.

Finishü 16.10.07 - Indicates that work is finished and has been seen by the teacher.

ü - Indicates work correct.

× - Indicates work incorrect.

O - Indicates work to be corrected.

? - On a particular area of work means clarification is needed when the work is returned.

^ - Omission mark – something is missing.

~~ - Please use a better word.

∕∕ - New paragraph needed. Write where new paragraph should start.

∕ - Write where new line is needed.

O - Write WS in circle. Use when supply teacher covers work

O - Write ‘TD’ in circle, initial and date. Works has been marked orally and discussed with the child.

Spelling Errors - Will be marked according to Spelling Policy/Guidelines.

O - Indicates punctuation error.

O - Spelling

O - Grammar

O - Punctuation

CONCLUSION

The efforts of ALL children will be valued and through appropriate marking children will be encouraged to continually strive for improvement.

This policy should be read in conjunction with the following other school policies:

Equal Opportunities

Special Education Needs

Spelling

Presentation