Meridian Assessments Explained (Target Tracker)
How have levels of attainment changed?
Recent changes to the National Curriculum mean that the way we judge levels of attainment have changed. The ‘old’ levels which you may be familiar with e.g. 2c, 3b, 4a, 5c etc. are no longer used.
We now base our levels on whether your child is working below the age related expectation for their year group, working within the age group expectations, working securely at age group expectations or securely plus (exceeding expectations).
Schools use different systems for recording, however, the overall benchmarks for each year group should be the same. As this is a new way of judging attainment, we are still improving our assessment systems and pairing with other schools who use the same/ similar systems to moderate our standards.
The system that we use is called ‘Target Tracker’ to help us assess what your child can do, what level they are working at & what their gaps in learning are. As always, our assessment is ongoing every day, but at the end of each half term, class teachers use a computer system to update the levels of attainment for each child in their class, in reading, writing and maths. At the end of each term, teachers use this system to update the levels of attainment in all other subject areas.
The levels progress are as follows:
Below Year 1: ELG Emerging, ELG Expected, ELG Exceeding
Year 1: 1B (beginning), 1B+ (beginning+), 1W (within), 1W+ (within +), 1S (Secure), 1S+
( secure+)
Year 2: 2B, 2B+, 2W, 2W+, 2S, 2S+
Year 3: 3B, 3B+, 3W, 3W+, 3S, 3S+
Year 4: 4B, 4B+, 4W, 4W+, 4S, 4S+
Year 5: 5B, 5B+, 5W, 5W+, 5S, 5S+
Year 6: 6B, 6B+, 6W, 6W+, 6S, 6S+
What does my child's level mean?
Your child’s attainment level will consist of a number which correlates to the year group level they are working at (usually the year group they are in) and then a letter abbreviation as a measure of attainment. A plus (+) sign may also be used to show that your child has made further progress within a level.
B = Beginning
B+ = Beginning +
W = Working Within
W+ = Working Within
S = Secure
S+ = Secure +
‘Beginning’ means your child has just started working on some of the expectations for their year group
‘Within’ means your child is working within the level expected for their age, but not consistently.
‘Working within +’ means your child is working at a more competent level for their age group.
‘Secure’ means your child is working at the level of expectation consistently and is very secure in their understanding.
As a school we say that on average, a child should be working at W+ or S (Within+ or Secure) for their year group by the end of the Year.
Children working below their year group expectation
For a small number of children, they might be working on a year group level below or above that of their age. So, their level will have a number which does not relate to the year group they are in, e.g. a child with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in year 3 might be beginning to work at year 2 expectations (2B).
Where should my child be?
We all know that children develop at different rates & make different levels of progress during their time at school. Target tracker allows us to see that regardless of the level of attainment, your child is making progress.
Other assessment measures and tracking:
Tracking key assessment milestones
It is very important to us to ensure we make the correct judgements on assessment at the end of each year. In particular at the end of EYFS, Y2 and Y6. These three milestones are nationally recorded and we use their results to make predictions about the following year(s) and track the children’s progress in the subsequent years. Tracking children from this assessment data informs much of the discussion in our pupil progress meetings.