Management Information Sheet
Statutory moderation of writing at the end of KS2 - the Ofsted English Subject Review
Ofsted's recent publication includes a number of references to the impact of statutory moderation on the teaching of writing. The report does not distinguish between perceptions of statutory requirements, and the actual requirements and may therefore have caused some alarm.
Teachers and school leaders who have attended our Moderator Led Assessment Networks (MLANs) on the assessment of writing in Year 6 have been given a clear message that we do not expect portfolios of evidence to be produced. These messages will be reiterated at our upcoming Statutory Assessment Briefings that will be held in April. The Teacher Assessment (TA) Guidance makes clear that evidence to support teacher assessment judgements will come from pupils' day-to-day work, in whatever books they have written in, and can come from a range of subjects, not just English lessons.
The subject review also makes reference to the independence of writing. Section 6.2 of the TA Guidance spells out what is and is not considered to have been 'produced independently' and schools are encouraged to read this carefully, particularly the final paragraph in this section which this year makes explicit reference to writing schemes and frameworks.
If you have any queries, or would like to book onto the Senior Leader Assessment Briefing in April, please email us at assessment@norfolk.gov.uk.