Assessment

Assessment is central at Da Vinci school, in preschool as much as in primary school. A thorough assessment system runs throughout the year, as much to measure how far a child has come and help them progress as to improve the teacher's own practice.

Preschool carries out the essential task of preparing the child for the independence they need in order to secure the basic learning — the knowledge and skills that underpin everything taught in primary school.

Bilingual reports, at regular intervals

Throughout each year, what children have learnt is assessed at regular intervals and the results systematically shared with parents in the form of termly reports, in French and in English, with detailed, individual comments on what has been learnt, where the difficulties lie and what has been put in place. These reports were developed with our partners to meet both the standards of the international programme and the criteria the Éducation Nationale expects of a French school.

Three moments of assessment

What assessment is for changes according to when it falls in the school year.

At the start of the year, diagnostic assessment allows the teacher to take stock of each child's circumstances, needs, profile and prior learning, and to set individual and class-wide objectives.

During the year, formative assessment gathers information on the quality of the learning taking place. It tells the teacher where the children stand and how to adjust their teaching — not least by making use of the small class sizes. It happens naturally, every day, through quizzes and presentations for the older children, and through observation of behaviour and psychomotor development for the youngest. A portfolio brings together the child's work, the teacher's comments and the steps taken to help them progress.

At the end of the year, summative assessment measures the skills acquired against the final objective of the learning.

No marks out of 10 or out of 20

Da Vinci school does not use the French system of marking out of 10 or out of 20, which dwells on gaps rather than on progress. As in international schools the world over, children's work is assessed against three levels: secure, developing, not yet secure — judged against what is generally expected of the age group.

By pairing each level assessed with a way of addressing it, the child is offered learning readjusted around their weaker points — far more effective than a bare mark on a piece of work. Competency-based assessment therefore recognises what the child can do, helps them build confidence, and grants them the right to make mistakes by valuing recent progress.

The only pressure a child feels at Da Vinci school when faced with assessment is that of succeeding — never the fear of failing.