In New Zealand primary schools we follow legislated guidelines from the Ministry of Education and are required to report on student progress and achievement in two ways: for their first three years of schooling students are assessed based on their chronological age. This is called anniversary reporting, and it means that students are assessed as they turn 5 (school entry assessment), 6, 7 and 8. If a child doesn't start school near their birthday, then this anniversary report occurs after they have been at school for 1, 2 or 3 years. As students move into Year 4 and pass their 8th birthday, they are then all assessed at the end of Year 4, 5 and 6, regardless of their chronological age or how long they have had at school.
At Amesbury School we report on student achievement four times a year: we have two sets of student conferences, and two sets of reports. Student conferences are run in Terms 1 and 3, and student reports are completed mid way through the year and at the end of the year.
Students who are 5, 6 or 7 years of age are assessed on the anniversary system, meaning their reports are completed when they are half way through their school year, usually based on their chronological age, and their end of year report usually occurs when they have their birthday. To make this system manageable for teachers and teams, reports are written and moderated in cohorts, meaning your child will receive their anniversary report within 5 weeks of their birthday (or after their 1st year at school) and their half year anniversary.
The anniversary reporting system runs until a student turns 8. Once students have turned 8 they are assessed against national standards for their year level, rather than their actual chronological age or how long they have had at school. At this point at Amesbury students move onto the mid year and end of year reporting cycle.
This can cause a little confusion at times, as it can mean our very oldest students receive 2 mid year 4 reports, and our very youngest students do not receive a mid year 4 report at all: they have their 'After 3 years at school' anniversary report mid way through their Year 4 year, and at the end of that year they have then moved off the anniversary reporting system, and they receive an End of Year 4 report.
School reports are written and moderated in teams. Your child's literacy teacher will write the basis of the report, with other teachers who work with your child also adding in comments and information about other areas of learning. Teams then all moderate the reports together, as teams are collaborative. This means your child's report has had the input of all teachers in their team.
This term student conferences will be held in the last week of term (Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th September) except for Gemma's conferences. Gemma will be away on leave at that time, so her conferences will be held the week before, on Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th September. Our online booking system for conferences will be opened in a couple of weeks and an article will be sent home letting parents know who to book with and how they book a conference. We encourage students to also attend conferences, with Year 3-6 students leading their own conferences.
If you have any questions about the reporting system at Amesbury School, please do not hesitate to contact your child's whanau teacher for more information.
Warm regards,
The Amesbury Team
