Last month you may have read about the assessment requirements being mandated for schools from 2025 by the Minister of Education.

Years 3-8

Under the requirements, mainstream state schools will need to undertake twice-yearly assessments for students in Years 3-8 in reading, writing and maths. The tools available are PAT and e-AsTTle.

Westburn teachers already use these tools as part of their Overall Teacher Judgement (OTJ) of students' progress; this informs the reports that parents receive on Hero.

Year 1

Additionally, phonics screening checks for students at 20 weeks and 40 weeks at school will need to be undertaken. The Minister has not yet identified the assessment tool to be used for these checks.

Again, Westburn teachers undertake assessment of phonics as part of structured literacy teaching, and this informs teachers' OTJ and therefore students' reports on Hero. If the assessment tool that is mandated is different to the one we already use, we will move to the new tool instead.

If you have any questions about the assessments undertaken in your child's class, please feel welcome to chat with their teacher and/or team leader about them.