Celebrating children’s learning and achievement

At Pocklington CE VC Infant School, we are committed to ensuring that every child makes strong progress from their individual starting points.

Assessment is an important part of teaching and learning. It helps teachers understand what children already know, identify their next steps and provide additional support or challenge where needed.

Children’s progress is assessed continually through observations, conversations, their work and carefully planned assessment activities. Alongside this ongoing assessment, children complete statutory national assessments at the end of Reception and in phonics.

Statutory assessment results 2025–2026

Statutory assessment	Pocklington CE VC Infant School 2026	Latest national figure*
Reception: Good Level of Development	74.6%	68.3%
Year 1: Met the expected standard in the Phonics Screening Check	78.3%	80%
Year 2: Met the phonics standard by the end of Year 2	83.3%	89%

*The national figures shown are from 2025, as national results for 2026 have not yet been published. We will update this page when the 2026 national comparison figures become available.

Reception: Early Years Foundation Stage Profile

At the end of Reception, teachers complete the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage Profile. This considers children’s learning and development across 17 Early Learning Goals.

A child is considered to have achieved a Good Level of Development, commonly known as GLD, when they have reached the expected level in:

• communication and language;
• personal, social and emotional development;
• physical development;
• literacy; and
• mathematics.

In 2026, 74.6% of our Reception children achieved a Good Level of Development. This was above the latest published national figure of 68.3%.

The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile is not a test. It is based on teachers’ knowledge of each child gained through their everyday learning, play, interactions and experiences throughout the year.

Year 1 Phonics Screening Check

The Phonics Screening Check is a short, individual assessment completed by children in Year 1. It checks whether children can use their phonics knowledge to decode and read a selection of real words and unfamiliar “alien” or pseudo-words.

In 2026, 78.3% of our Year 1 children met the expected phonics standard.

Children who do not meet the expected standard in Year 1 continue to receive carefully targeted phonics teaching and support. They complete the statutory check again in Year 2.

Phonics by the end of Year 2

By the end of Year 2 in 2026, 83.3% of children had met the expected phonics standard.

We recognise that children learn at different rates. Teachers use assessment information to identify individual gaps, adapt teaching and provide additional support so that children develop the reading skills they need for the next stage of their education.

Assessment in Key Stage 1

National assessments in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Key Stage 1 are no longer statutory.

We continue to assess children carefully throughout Years 1 and 2. Teachers use children’s everyday work, observations, discussions and appropriate assessment activities to evaluate:

• what each child knows and can do;
• the progress they are making;
• any gaps in their knowledge or understanding;
• whether they need additional support or further challenge; and
• how well prepared they are for their next stage of education.

Parents and carers receive information about their child’s progress through parent consultations and the annual written report.

Understanding performance information

Assessment results provide useful information, but they represent only one part of a child’s learning and development. Cohorts vary from year to year, and percentages can be affected significantly by a relatively small number of children.

We are proud of all our children and celebrate achievement in its widest sense, including children’s confidence, creativity, communication, independence, resilience and personal development.

School leaders, teachers and governors analyse assessment information carefully. It is used to identify strengths, establish school improvement priorities and ensure that all groups of children receive the support they need to flourish.

You can also visit the Department for Education’s Compare School and College Performance service for published information about schools in England.