‘Assessment’ is the word used to describe all the things which schools do to see how your child is getting on, what they are learning and what they know and understand. It is important to know how each child is getting on so that schools can make sure that each child is progressing and developing according to their abilities and that their learning needs are well understood by the educational professionals who work with them.

Your child’s progress will not just be based on ‘tests’ but also on how they learn both in class and in other settings and takes a variety of different forms, for example what young people make, say, write or do can all contribute to building up a picture of their learning, progress and possible next steps that can be shared in learning conversations with the young people themselves and with their parents and carers.

Written work will be used to assess your child but so will their ability to take part in class discussions, make presentations, be in a production or team, produce drawings or projects etc.

Parents and carers will be involved both informally in discussion with teachers, looking at their child’s work and also formally through parent’s nights, profiles and reports.

As an Authority some of our schools may wish to reference the Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSA) informing parents that pupils at P1, P4, P7 and S3 complete online standardised assessments in literacy and numeracy as part of everyday learning and teaching.

The assessments help to identify children’s progress, providing diagnostic information to support teachers’ professional judgement.

The assessments are as inclusive as possible to accommodate the needs of children and young people who require additional support. There is no pass or fail and children and young people do not have to revise or prepare for these assessments.

There will be several opportunities for you to discuss your child’s progress throughout their learning journey.

This may be through informal discussion with the teacher or at Learning Conversations that might take various formats including the more traditional and familiar Parents Evening or Afternoon. For some this may be through more formal, focussed meetings with other agencies.

Homework

Schools will provide information on the purpose of homework, the school policy on homework, what can parents do to support homework and how homework is shared – use of homework diaries etc.