EMMAUS
A Catholic and Church of England
Voluntary Academy
Effective Marking and Feedback Policy
Our School is committed to providing relevant and timely feedback to pupils, both orally and in
writing. Marking intends to serve the purposes of valuing pupils’ learning, helping to diagnose
areas for development or next steps, and evaluating how well the learning task has been
understood. Marking should be a process of creating a dialogue with the learner, through
which feedback can be exchanged and questions asked; the learner is actively involved in the
process. Research shows that marking is an important factor in pupil learning, so this policy is
crucial for our school.
We aim to:
• Provide consistency and continuity in marking throughout the school so that children
have a clear understanding of teacher expectations;
• Use the marking system as a tool for formative ongoing assessment;
• Improve standards by encouraging children to give of their best and improve on their
last piece of work;
• Develop children’s self-esteem through praise and valuing their achievements;
• Create a dialogue which will aid progression;
• Develop consistent processes across the school to teach pupils to respond to feedback,
self assess, peer assess and evaluate their own learning.
Guiding Principles for Marking and Feedback:
Marking and feedback should;
 Be manageable for staff
 Be positive, motivating and constructive for children
 Be at the child’s level of comprehension
 Be written in handwriting that is legible and a model for the child
 Give children opportunities to become aware of and reflect on their learning needs
 Give recognition and appropriate praise for achievement
 Give clear strategies for improvement
 Provide information for the teacher on the success of the teaching
 Be consistently followed by teachers and TAs across the school in line with the Effective
Marking and Feedback policy
 Positively affect the child’s progress.
Types of Marking and Feedback
Summative feedback/marking:
This usually consists of ticks, dots, circles etc. and is associated with closed tasks or exercises
where there is a correct/incorrect answer.
Formative feedback/marking:
With oral and written feedback, in the course of a lesson, teachers’ comments to children
should focus firstly on issues about the learning intention and
IEP/writing/maths target, and secondly, on an individual basis.
Quality Marking and Feedback
At Emmaus, we see the marking of work, throughout the curriculum, as an expression of the
child’s own achievement as well as a method of guidance and highlighting teaching points.
To ensure ongoing development and so that each child realises their full potential all marking
must be constructive, clear and appropriate in its purpose, productive in its outcome and child
centred.
When quality marking, teachers should focus first and foremost upon the learning intention
and/or success criteria for the task. The emphasis should be on both successes and next steps
of learning.
Non-negotiable Procedures for Marking and Feedback
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All marking is to be carried out in green pen
All marking is to be done in a clear legible hand aligned to the school handwriting script.
The marking code is to be followed in all cases.(see Appendix)
The marking code should be accessible to all pupils in the learning environment
All pupils’ work is to be at least ‘light’ marked by Teacher or Support Staff.
Quality Marking and Feedback in the Early Years Foundation Stage
In the Foundation Stage, marking and feedback strategies include:
 Verbal praise;
 Short and narrative observations (for learning journeys and learning stories);
 Verbal dialogue with children about their play, work and pictures;
 Achieved success criteria to be marked by either a tick or highlighted;
 Symbol (VF) to be used when verbal feedback has been given to the child and a phrase
identifying what has been spoken about;
 Children give oral response to learning stories;
 Parents are encouraged to contribute their comments to the learning stories;
 Labels with the success criteria for the activity for every piece of work.
Quality Marking and Feedback in Key Stage One
In Key Stage One, marking and feedback strategies include:
 Verbal praise;
 Labels with the success criteria for the activity for every piece of work;
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Clear learning intentions and success criteria to mark against;
Achieved success criteria to be marked by either a tick or highlighted;
Symbol (VF) to be used when verbal feedback has been given to the child and a
phrase/word identifying what has been spoken about;
Next steps to be clearly marked either on the label with the appropriate success criteria
or written and/or explained to the child;
A manageable/appropriate amount of success criteria to be given to the children for
each piece of work to ensure it is accessible for the children;
Teachers to use their professional judgement to decide when it is appropriate to give the
children and interactive next step to either consolidate extend or extend their learning;
Teachers to use their professional judgement to determine the level of detail in the
response given to the child;
Peer and self assessment used when appropriate and to be marked in purple pen;
Children to self assess their work by completing the appropriate smiley face;
Children to be given time (when appropriate) to respond to feedback and carry out
improvements.
Quality Marking and Feedback in Key Stage Two
In Key Stage Two, marking and feedback strategies include:
 Verbal praise;
 Clear learning intentions and success criteria to mark against;
 Symbol (VF) to be used when verbal feedback has been given to the child and a
phrase/word identifying what has been spoken about;
 Next steps to be clearly marked;
 Teachers to use their professional judgement to decide when it is appropriate to give the
children and interactive next step to either consolidate extend it their learning;
 Teachers to use their professional judgement to determine the level of detail in the
response given to the child;
 Peer and self assessment used when appropriate and to be marked in purple pen;
 Children to be given time (when time is available within the school day) to respond to
feedback and carry out improvements;
 Success criteria to be either clearly displayed in the classroom or the child’s book.
Evaluation
Monitoring of the policy will be done through work scrutiny led by the Headteacher and SLT
leads as appropriate. It will be monitored for whole school consistency and evaluated for
impact on pupils’ outcomes.
Reviewed September 2015 Signed
Next Review September 2016