Policies
Feedback and Marking Policy
Policy Statement
Effective feedback and marking stimulate and challenge students to achieve their best and focus on how they can improve. The aim of this policy is to provide all members of our school community with a systematic and consistent approach to giving feedback and marking work.
At Sunny View School, we believe effective feedback and marking should:
redirect or refocus either the teacher’s or the student’s actions to achieve a learning objective;
be specific, accurate and clear;
encourage and support further effort;
provide specific guidance on how to improve and not just tell students when they have made errors.
Key Principles
Our Feedback and Marking Policy has at its core a number of key principles.
Learning objectives and success criteria should be shared and understood by all.
The main purpose of feedback and marking is to promote progress towards achieving the learning objective.
Feedback delivered closest to the point of action is most effective, and as such feedback delivered in lessons is more effective than comments provided at a later date.
Feedback and marking is part of the teaching and learning cycle which aims to provide an appropriate level of challenge to students in lessons, allowing them to make good progress.
Persistent errors and patterns of errors should be corrected, rather than every error made.
Written comments should only be used where they are accessible to students according to age and ability.
Time must be given in class for students to reflect upon feedback and consider how they will make progress in the future.
All students’ work should be reviewed by teachers at the earliest appropriate opportunity so that it might impact on future learning. When work is reviewed, it should be acknowledged in books.
Feedback and Marking in Practice
It is vital that teachers evaluate the work that students undertake in lessons, and use information obtained from this to allow them to adjust their teaching. Feedback occurs at one of three common stages in the learning process:
Immediate feedback – at the point of teaching
Summary feedback – at the end of a lesson/task
Review feedback – away from the point of teaching (including written comments)
The stages are numbered in order of priority, with feedback closest to the point of teaching and learning likely to be most effective in driving further improvement and learning, especially for younger students.
What is looks like
Includes teacher gathering feedback from teaching, including mini-whiteboards, book work, etc.
Takes place in lessons with individuals or small groups
Often given verbally to pupils for immediate action
May take the form of mini plenaries during the lesson to check progress
May involve use of a teaching assistant to provide support or further challenge
May re-direct the focus of teaching or the task
May include highlighting/ annotations according to the marking code
Takes place at the end of a lesson or activity
Often involves whole groups or classes
Provides an opportunity for evaluation of learning in the lesson
May take form of self- or peer- assessment against an agreed set of criteria
May guide a teacher’s further use of review feedback, focusing on areas for development
Takes place away from the point of teaching
May involve written comments/annotations for students to read/respond to
Provides teachers with opportunities for assessment of understanding
Leads to adaptation of future planning, grouping or tasks
May lead to targets being set for students
Monitoring
Lesson observations/ learning walks
Some evidence of annotations or use of marking code/highlighting
Lesson observations/ learning walks
Modification of planning based on assessment
Evidence of self- and peer marking
Evidence of teacher feedback/marking
Acknowledgement of work completed
Written comments and appropriate responses/action
Adaptations to planning
Annotations to indicate future groupings
Effective Feedback and Marking Strategies
The expectation is that the following strategies are used by teachers at Sunny View School to mark, assess and provide feedback:
Verbal Feedback
This means the discussion of work and direct contact with the child. This is the primary strategy used with young children but it can be used with students of all ages. Where appropriate, the discussion should be accompanied by the marking code symbol (VF) in the student’s book or on their work.
Success Criteria
Success criteria checklists can be used in all subjects and shared with students before commencing an activity or piece of work. These should be differentiated where appropriate.
Next Steps and Targets
Quality next steps and/or targets should be used to extend learning. The emphasis should be on both success and areas for development against the learning objective and, if used, success criteria.
A focused comment, either verbal or written, helps the student to close the gap between what they have achieved and what they could have achieved. These may take the form of a reminder, scaffold or example comment.
Reminder comments are used to prompt the student about improvements they could make to their work.
For example:
What else could you say here?
Say something about what would happen next.
Think of some adjectives to describe the landscape.
Scaffolded comments provide more support than reminder comments in moving towards meeting the learning objective.
For example:
What else do plants need to grow healthily?
Describe the expression on the man’s face.
Think of a word to describe the scene.
Example comments give students a choice of words or phrases. It may be the case that giving students a choice will trigger them to think of their own response.
For example:
Choose one of these or your own:
"He ran around in circles looking for the rabbit"
"The dog couldn’t believe his eyes"
Which sounds better?
"First open the packet of seeds and take one seed out. After that, put soil into the plant pot."
OR
"Open the packet of seeds, take one out and put soil in the plant pot."
Self-Marking
Students can self-mark most pieces of work where the answer is either correct or incorrect. This is an effective way to help students avoid repeating the same errors in the future. Where work is regularly self-marked, teachers should check and comment in books periodically (at least once a month).
Peer Marking
Students are encouraged to support each other and feedback on learning and achievement. They should be given the opportunity to act as response partners (or talk for learning partners) and pair mark work.
Students should be trained to do peer mark and ground rules set and displayed such as listening, confidentiality, etc. Students should first point out things they like then suggest ways to improve the piece but only against the learning objective or success criteria. The pairing of students should be based on ability and trust.
Responding to Feedback and Marking
Detailed marking of work with next steps or targets should be carried out regularly. In Primary, this should be at least every two weeks, with writing usually the focus. In Secondary, this should be every 4 to 6 weeks, depending on the frequency of lessons in the subject.
It is essential that time is given for the student to respond to detailed marking with written prompts during lesson time. This enables them to work towards closing the gap and improving their work 4 further. The expectation is that students should spend roughly twice as long reflecting on and improving their work as a teacher spends marking it.
Feedback and Marking in Preschool
For our youngest students, verbal feedback is the primary way in which we help them to make progress. The focus in Preschool is on behaviour specific praise, for example:
I like the way that you waited patiently for your turn without getting upset.
I can see that you’re ready to listen because your eyes are looking at me and you’re sitting still.
I can see you have done this by yourself. What do you need to do next?
That was a kind thing you did when….
I like the way you used English words to say that.
In Reception, a triangle system is used on work to indicate a student’s progress towards meeting the learning objective.
