Management Information Sheet
Assessment Update
Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA)
The Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) will be statutory in schools from September 2021.
Schools will shortly receive their assessment resource pack. This will include important information about how they can get ready for the assessment in the lead up to the summer holidays.
If your school does not receive this delivery by the end of June, you should contact the RBA helpline on 0330 088 4171 or email receptionbaseline@nfer.ac.uk.
Schools will submit results directly to NfER using the online scoring system. Any technical queries or difficulties with using this system will need to be communicated directly with NfER using the email address above. No data for the RBA will be submitted to the local authority.
The RBA will be used to create school-level progress measures for the primary age range which will show the progress pupils make from reception until the end of key stage 2. Schools will not receive a copy of their data or any comparative data. Schools will receive a short narrative about each child which is intended to support in using the assessment for planning learning. Starting points across the curriculum and in learning characteristics will need to be established in the usual way, the RBA will not replace this.
RBA and the End of KS1 Statutory Assessments
The delay to the RBA becoming statutory has a knock-on effect on the final year for KS1 statutory assessments. The children entering the Reception year in September 2021, should be the final cohort to be assessed in a statutory capacity at the end of KS1. Therefore, the final administration of KS1 statutory assessments should be summer 2024 or once the RBA has become established.
Reception Baseline Confirmation Form
To help schools prepare for the RBA, headteachers were sent an email with a link to a short online form. This form captures key information about their school and gives headteachers the opportunity to nominate an RBA lead to oversee the day-to-day running of the assessment.
Headteachers should complete the confirmation form by Friday 18 June. If your school has not received a link, please contact the RBA helpline on 0330 088 4171 or email receptionbaseline@nfer.ac.uk.
Preparing for the Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA)
- Identify who will administer the RBA. It must be someone known to the child. It may be the class teacher, teaching assistant, Early Years Lead, SENDCo, or other suitably qualified professional
- Ensure NfER training is undertaken in summer 2021
- Ensure practitioners have time to read the guidance documents and information provided (listed on p.10 in the Reception baseline assessment and reporting arrangements (ARA)) and feel fully prepared prior to administering the check
- Ensure practitioners are clear on how adaptations can be made to be inclusive of all children
- Inform all staff, governors and parents about the RBA. DfE have produced information for parents
- Plan for administration to take 30 minutes for each child, including settling the child and submitting the data (20 minutes for the assessment)
- Keep the password for the e-portal safe ready to upload the information about each child in the first week of September
- Ensure internet access in the quiet space is allotted to undertake the RBA
- You will need space as activities are physical and practical
- Reminder it only covers three areas of learning, so will not give all the starting point information needed to inform teaching
- Don't forget to sign the headteacher declaration form at the end of the assessments and before 1 November 2021
Phonics - Autumn 2021, Year 2
The Standards and Testing Agency of the DfE have published this communication this week:
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Cancellation of the phonics screening check in June 2021 means incoming year 2 pupils will not have taken the check in year 1. As in the 2020/21 academic year, it will be statutory for schools to administer a past version of the check to year 2 pupils during the second half of the 2021 autumn term. Year 2 pupils who meet the expected standard in the autumn check will not be required to complete any further statutory assessments in phonics. Year 2 pupils who do not meet the expected standard in the autumn check will be expected to take the statutory check in June 2022. |
They have published administration guidance to help schools and LAs to prepare.
Data collection and submission guidance is also available to support local authorities.
Incoming year 3 pupils, who were due to take the statutory check in June 2021 are not required to take the autumn check. Schools are expected to maintain a programme of support for these pupils, which should be informed by formative assessment.
Guidance for writing reports
DfE have published guidance for schools about writing statutory end of year reports for parents of pupils at the end of key stage 1 (KS1) and key stage 2 (KS2).
Following the cancellation of the summer 2021 national curriculum assessments, the Department for Education (DfE) laid regulations to remove the requirement to report the outcomes of KS1 and KS2 tests or teacher assessments in this year's reports.
The Year 2 phonics screening check is part of the statutory assessments at KS1. If Year 2 pupils were able to complete the screening check in the autumn, schools may report the results using their own preferred format.
The guidance also contains information on other aspects of reporting, including attendance.