National Curriculum 2014 Estimated Bands
This HelpCard is about how the NC2014 Estimated Bands feature functions
An automatic Estimated Band is created by School PUPIL TRACKER Online for every child.
An automatic Estimated Band cannot be created for a child if their NC2014 Record is empty.
You can see the Estimated Band in two locations:

On the Class or Group record beneath each child’s name

On an Individual Record to the right of a child’s name
Please note that Estimated Band will not show if your school has switched the Estimated Band
feature OFF in the SET UP HELPER.
Using Estimated Bands ... they are estimates
The automatic Estimated Band judgements for each child is a guide to help support a teacher in
‘banding’ or benchmarking a child. School PUPIL TRACKER will try its best to calculate an accurate
band judgement – but this is no replacement for the professionalism and skill of teachers and
practitioners and the Estimated Band is only as accurate as the assessment judgement data a
teacher has recorded. The Estimated Band judgement is a feature to guide you – School PUPIL
TRACKER Ltd takes no responsibility for the accuracy or dependency of this feature – it is every
school’s responsibility to ensure benchmarking of each child is done so professionally and
consistently across your school.
Please remember that when you have used the Auto-fill to create Estimated Bands - our Bands,
including the Depth of Learning Rating of the child, are all estimates. SPTO knows all the data that
has been entered and uses this to estimate a child's learning - but you know the full abilities of a child
and so may disagree with an Estimated Band and can edit and amend it.
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Introduction
Take note about the Estimated Band
In order for us to support you in creating accurate Estimated Bands, you must ensure you are
entering assessments that are accurate, honest and consistent. The manner in which your school
assesses and teaches the new curriculum are also important factors and you must ensure that your
school has modified the Estimated Band settings to suit your school. Please see Section 1.
Please follow the guidance below to attain the most accurate and detailed Estimated Bands. If you do
not follow this guidance, your Estimated Bands may not be as accurate as you wish as we can only
rely on the data you have entered.
1. When beginning to use the Records, we would recommend filling in the entire previous Band for a
child (i.e. the Band you know a child has fully completed).
2. Although you do not have to ‘back fill’ assessments for the system to begin working, more
accurate Estimated Band judgements will be created for a child if you do fill in as much historical
ACHIEVED information as possible.
3. When calculating an Estimated Band, School PUPIL TRACKER looks mostly at the aspects that
have been ACHIEVED. Those aspects judged to be WORKING TOWARDS, or MOSTLY
ACHIEVED count very little in an overall judgement.
4. There must be enough information inputted for a child for an Estimated Band judgement to
appear.
What does #2 or #3 mean at the end of the Estimated Band?
#2 and #3 are Depth of Learning Ratings - they refer to the depth and application of their
knowledge, their independence and connectivity of learning.
Please read Section 4 below on how School PUPIL TRACKER can calculate Depth of Learning.
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Section 1: How do we change the settings to suit our school?
There are a variety of settings to support you and to ensure the Estimated Band matches your
expectations.
The key questions are:
1. Is your school teaching and assessing prior learning of pupils? For example, a Year 2 child has
gaps in learning in the Year 1 objectives. Will the teacher:
[A] Address these earlier-learning gaps by re-teaching, assessing and recording these earlier
objectives; or
[B] Teach only the objectives from the current year group and ignore prior assessment gaps
and move on.
2. When does your school expect pupils will achieve objectives? For example, a Year 2 pupil is taught
Year 2 objectives through the year. Do you expect that:
[A] average pupils will move through the objectives and achieve them spaced out through the
year. You expect that an average child must have achieved some objectives by the end of
autumn term and they will have achieved even more objectives by the end of spring term
[B] average pupils will only be Working Towards objectives (and will not have achieved any of
them) at the end of the autumn term, and then by the end of the spring term, the average child
will have Mostly Achieved many of the objectives (and still not achieved any of them).
If your answer is [B] to either of the above questions - you should look at your settings.
Please go to the SET UP HELPER and click on
Now click on
And follow the guidance in the NC2014 Estimated Bands options pod.
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Section 2: How does School PUPIL TRACKER calculate an Estimated Band?
School PUPIL TRACKER will look at each child's NC2014 record and make a judgement of what
Golden Code best fits a child's current attainment - this is called the Estimated Band.
For each child, SPTO will look at the distribution of judgements, as shown in the example below,
before making an estimation of a child's Golden Code. You may view this overview in each child's
Evidence File tab in their Pupil Record Card.
1.1 In the example above, SPTO has judged that this child is working at Y2 Low. The child has
attained some of the Y2 objectives and all of the Y1 objectives.
1.2 In the second example above, SPTO has judged that this child is working at Y2 Mid as the child
had attained more of the Y2 objectives.
1.3 In the third example above, SPTO has judged that this child is working at Y2 High as the child
has attained a high number of the Y2 objectives.
1.4 In this forth example above, the child's record for Y1 shows they have not attained a number of
Y1 objectives, but they have begun to attain some of the Y2 objectives. SPTO has judged that this
child is working at Y1 High as gaps in their prior learning drag down the estimation. This is consistent
with DFE benchmarking and testing samples.
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Section 3: How does the Estimated Band decide on Low / Mid / High
When looking at objectives across a band of year group objectives, SPTO will use a default threshold
percentage to assign a judgement of Low, Mid or High.
Low judgement
Mid judgement
Pupil's record shows they have
begun attaining objectives in a
year band.
Pupil's record shows they have
begun attaining many of the
objectives in a year band.
High judgement
Pupil's record shows they have
begun attaining the greater
majority of the objectives in a year
band.
0-33%
34-66%
67-100%
Your school may change the 0% and
33% threshold
Your school may change this
threshold
Your school may change this
threshold
Using the setting above, a child who has achieved 10% of the objectives from Year 2 will be classed
as working within the Y2 Low Band.
A child who has achieved 45% of the objectives from Year 2 will be estimated as working within the
Y2 Mid Band.
Please see Section 6 in this document to find out how to change the threshold percentages for your
school.
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Section 4: How does the Estimated Band calculate Depth of Learning [Mastery]?
For full information on Depth of Learning, please see our guide at
www.spto.co.uk/documents/depthoflearning.pdf
If you are using the Detailed Tracking National
Curriculum 2014 records you will be making
judgements as shown on the right (a Year 4
child's Mathematic record).
You have the ability to record when an objective
has been Achieved.
You now have the ability to make individual
judgements about whether a child is applying
their learning of an objective across the subject
- you can decide that a child has Greater Depth
in that objective.
School PUPIL TRACKER looks at all these
Greater Depth judgements and knots them
together to see what the Depth of Learning
Rating of a child would be.
School PUPIL TRACKER will look at the long
term picture and knit these mini-judgements of
depth together. The more mini-judgements of
depth a child has recorded, the more SPTO will
judge that a child is better and better at Depth
of Learning and begin to give children a Rating
of #3 or #4 automatically.
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To calculate Depth of Learning, SPTO looks at the full record of a child's Attainment and Greater
Depth judgements.
The example below shows that a high proportion of judgements about this child are in the Greater
Depth range. The teacher has used the Greater Depth judgements to build up a picture that this child
is developing their Depth of Learning across the subject.
Depth of Learning Rating of #3
If a child has more than 19% of the recorded objectives classed as Greater Depth, a child will be
given an Depth of Learning Rating of #3.
A child would need to maintain the number of Greater Depth judgements above 19% in order to keep
their Depth of Learning Rating of #3.
Depth of Learning Rating of #4
If a child has more than 49% of the recorded objectives are classed as Greater Depth a child will be
given an Depth of Learning Rating of #4.
A child would need to maintain the number of Greater Depth judgements above 49% in order to keep
their Depth of Learning Rating of #4.
Please remember that when you have used the Auto-fill to create Estimated Bands - our Bands,
including the Depth of Learning Rating of the child, are all estimates. SPTO knows all the data that
has been entered and uses this to estimate a child's learning - but you know the full abilities of a child
and so may disagree with an Estimated Band and can edit and amend it.
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Can School PUPIL TRACKER give a child a Depth of Learning Rating of #1?
School PUPIL TRACKER cannot know whether a child has a Depth of Learning Rating of #1.
This judgement cannot be made from the evidence entered into the records by a teacher and must be
judged by the professional knowledge and observation of the teacher.
Some of my children have Depth of Learning Ratings of #2+ or #3+ or #4+ What are these?
In order to more accurately allow progress and ARE comparison calculations, School PUPIL
TRACKER breaks down your Depth of Learning Rating into finer steps, which include the use of the
plus. This gives a greater degree of detail to your data analysis.
A Depth of Learning Rating of #2+ is above #2 but below #3
A Depth of Learning Rating of #3+ is above #3 but below #4
A Depth of Learning Rating of #4+ is above #4
What percentages of Greater Depth convert to Depth of Learning Ratings?
Percentage of Greater Depth
Depth of Learning Rating
0-9%
#2
9%-19%
#2+
19%-29%
#3
29%-49%
#3+
49%-69%
#4
69%+
#4+
You may adjust these percentages.
Please go to the SET UP HELPER and click on
Now click on
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Section 5: How can I check an Estimated Band?
You may check a child's Estimated Band by:
1. Choose a name from
2. Now click on the
tab.
3. Now choose the subject you require from
This will show you the entries for a child (example shown below):
The Estimated Band takes account of the spread of assessment judgements as shown above. In the
case of the above example, the child is estimated to be working at Year 1 High
Assessment judgements show the child has achieved around two thirds of the Year 1 objectives.
Assessment judgements show the child has not achieved around one third of the Year 1 objectives.
Assessment judgements show the child has achieved about 20-30% of the Year 2 objectives.
The Estimated Band is judged to be Y1 High, even though some Y2 objectives have been achieved,
due to the high proportion of Y1 objectives that have not been achieved yet.
The Estimated Band is based on all the data entered for a child, and also looks at the gaps in
records or bands where you have begun to enter data. For example, if you tick off to say a child has
achieved 15 out of 20 objectives in Y1 Writing (as shown in the example above), you are also telling
the system that the child cannot and has not yet achieved the other 5 out of 20 objectives in Y1
Writing, which will have an impact on the calculation of the Estimated Band.
The Estimated Band looks are prior data as it mirrors the manner in which the DFE assesses pupils
by looking at a range of objectives across a Key Stage - not just the objectives from the child's
current year group. Gaps in pupil achievement in prior learning will show up when they are tested or
assessed under DFE conditions.
A Band with no judgement information recorded by the teacher will be ignored in the estimation.
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Section 6: How do we change the LOW/MID/HIGH percentage thresholds?
Please go to the SET UP HELPER and click on
Now click on
And follow the guidance in the NC2014 Estimated Bands options pod:
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Section 7: Common questions
Why does the Estimated Band say ‘?’
A child’s Estimated Band may say ‘?’

You may find this soon after the launch of the new curriculum in
September 2014. The next time you record a judgement for a child
by clicking on a descriptor in a child’s NC2014 Record, the
Estimated Band will refresh and be created.

A child may not yet have enough information in their NC2104 Record for SPTO to make a
judgement.

Estimated Band will may calculate a Band for a child who is attaining below Year 1 threshold
standards - you should use the EYFS Estimated Band for this.
Why does the Estimated Band calculate a LEVEL?
Your school has chosen to calculate the Estimated Band as a LEVEL. This is an option chosen by
your school. See Section 4 in www.spto.co.uk/documents/nc2014_faq.pdf
How is the Estimated Band calculated from the Foundation Stage?
Please see the Help Card below for further details:
www.spto.co.uk/documents/fsbooklet.pdf
How do I use Auto-fill?
The Auto-fill feature of School PUPIL TRACKER will calculate the Estimated Band ofr each child and
fill this into each child's row in the SHORT TERM grid.
Please see Section 1.6 of this Help Card:
www.spto.co.uk/documents/nc2014_booklet.pdf
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Section 8: DFE Expected Standard and the Estimated Band
Does the Estimated Band include the DFE Expected Standard?
The DFE has published Interim Key Stage Standards for use in Year 2 and Year 6 to support
teachers in making judgements of pupil attainment for official Teacher Assessment returns.
The Key Stage 1 and 2 Interim Standards
have been installed to our National
Curriculum 2014 Records.
You may see these highlighted in Year 2 and
Year 6 with green EXS (Expected Standard)
in the individual grids.
Key Stage 1 Standards
The DFE has stated that a child must Achieve ALL the Year 2 Expected Standard objectives in order
to meet the End of Key Stage 1 Expected Standard.
When calculating an Estimated Band for a Key Stage 1 child, the DFE Expected Standards will be
taken into account. A child will not be given Y2High unless they have Achieved ALL the Year 2
Expected Standard objectives.
Key Stage 2 Standards
The DFE has stated that a child must Achieve ALL the Year 6 Expected Standard objectives in order
to meet the End of Key Stage 2 Expected Standard.
When calculating an Estimated Band for a Key Stage 2 child, the DFE Expected Standards will be
taken into account. A child will not be given Y6High unless they have Achieved ALL the Year 6
Expected Standard objectives.
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