Assessment, as Dylan Wiliam says, is the bridge between teaching and learning. The biggest and most important single factor that influences learning is what the learner already knows. This is why assessment is so important. We need our teaching to be agile, taking into account where our children are, rather than where we would like them to be, and then build our teaching around this. 

While we use summative assessments at various points in the year, this only provides us with some information about our children. Assessment has to be minute by minute, lesson by lesson and day by day, with the teaching and learning adapting to the evidence we find. 

Our Assessment Principles provide a framework for the importance of assessment and our expectations around it. you can see the principles below, or read the full document at the bottom of the page.