Guest Posted April 26, 2012 Posted April 26, 2012 Hi I'm wondering if i can just get a bit of reassurance and help. I am an NQT in an FS2 setting and am being moderated next week. The focus areas are PD and PSRN. I was just wondering if anyone can help me with what to expect? What do I need to do/prepare etc? A little bit panicky especially as OFSTED are due anytime also! Much help and advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Guest Posted April 26, 2012 Posted April 26, 2012 Hi, Don't panic! I think it differs a bit depending on your LA, but mine have always been less formal than I was expecting and the modorators have always been very friendly and helpful. Last time I had one (2 years ago) I had to show 3 learning journeys and tracking documents (one higher ability, middle and lower) and talk her through the evidence I had to show how I had made my judgements. She then chose a child from my class list and we both observed them doing an open ended/problem solving activity. We then both made a note of any scale points that there was evidence towards from this observation and compared with each other. We then had a look at this child's learning journey to see if the observation was typical of the level that they were working at. It didn't matter if I didn't get every scale point that she did or if I put the odd one one that she didn't as it was only one observation so is only providing some evidence towards a scale point. I always get myself worried about moderation, but it is never as bad as you think! There is not really much you can do to prepare, other than planning to have suitable resources out that will allow the children to explore and develop child initiated activities (presumably in your focus areas of PSRN and PD) and make sure that your learning journeys/tracking documents (or whatever you use in your school/LA) are up to date and you can talk about the evidence that has been collected. Try not to panic and good luck, it will soon be over with for this year! Rosie
Guest Posted April 26, 2012 Posted April 26, 2012 What have you been asked to prepare? Have you received any info from your LA about how the moderation process works there? LAs do it in different ways, for instance in our LA all schools being moderated attend a half day session where we give them all the info they need to understand the process and then we visit the schools on 3 separate occasions from January to just before the data is submitted. If you are unsure of what to expect / have ready you should contact the profile moderation manager at your LA to put your mind at rest.
Guest Posted April 26, 2012 Posted April 26, 2012 Thanks to both of you! I will try and find out what i need from the LA. ?
Guest Posted April 27, 2012 Posted April 27, 2012 Hi Are you going to an area moderation or are the LA moderators coming into you? I find that the two are a little different. I've had them come in the last two years and they have chosen the three children when they arrived after they looked at the scores then as RosieC said above they then did a joint observation on one of the chosen children. The years previous to the last two and this year I have had area moderation. I have chosen the three children's evidence I have wanted to take to show achievement against the scale points. My areas are also PD and PSRN this year! Don't worry I have always found it very supportive. It's basically about knowing your children. Hope it goes well. Becs
Froglet Posted April 27, 2012 Posted April 27, 2012 I was moderated yesterday and in my time teaching reception have had 3 moderations - all of which were fine (far more pleasant experiences than the KS1 SATs moderations I've also had!). My LA/moderator sent me a timetable and details of what would be involved in the moderation. The things I got ready were: - my whole class tracking grid - learning journeys - maths books (which have very little in but still) - individual trackers (these are just a personal thing where I keep an overview of how much recorded evidence for each point I have). I had to group my children into 3 lists - those likely to achieve 8+ in PSRN/PD, those likely to get 4-7 points and those likely to get less than 4. The moderator chose 1 from each group and I had some input to this - e.g. pointing out that one of her first suggestions had only joined the class in January so there wasn't as much evidence for her. She reviewed their current scores and evidence then we did a half hour observation together where actually we just talked about the children. She had a chat with the head too getting a bit of background and some idea of quality assurance (i.e. had I been on any assessment/moderation training recently, how did we moderate internally? Did we do any with other schools? etc. All very calm, pleasant and supportive - I find it really nice to get an opportunity to talk to another EY professional (I work in a small school where I'm the only person with any EY experience at all)! Relax, don't worry and take it for the supportive thing I believe it's meant to be.
Guest Posted April 28, 2012 Posted April 28, 2012 thank you so much! I have got to make the list of children expecting to achieve 1-3 4-8 and 9 points except none in my class will get the 9. I also have got to do a paired observation. it sounds like most people have had a good experience of LA moderation which is very reassuring.
Guest Posted May 8, 2012 Posted May 8, 2012 Can I ask what you whole class tracking grid looks like HelenD26...
Froglet Posted May 9, 2012 Posted May 9, 2012 Can I ask what you whole class tracking grid looks like HelenD26... Basically it's an Excel spreadsheet. There's a page for each area of learning (2 for CLL because they wouldn't fit on one!). The descriptor for each point is across the top and there is space for children's names down the left hand side. There is also an initial page which is a summary of all the others. When I update it I put '1' into the box for each point that I give to a child. The spreadsheet totals them and then the totals are linked to the summary page which also has formulas to calculate school percentages for 6+ and 8+. I have the percentages from the previous year for the school and LA on that page too just so I can make a comparison. I do find it useful but I confess it's mostly like that because I'm a bit of a spreadsheet addict and like 'playing' with Excel!
Guest Posted June 13, 2012 Posted June 13, 2012 I used to do moderation for the LA. All we were looking for was that the teacher could see where their children were in terms of the E.Y.F.S. and that they had had a clear way of planning where they should be going next. That, alongside good judgements, was the main focus. We were really wanting people to do well and always tried to be supportive. We were quite nervous ourselves, there was such a lot to take in as every school does things differently. The more you understand your own system, the easier it is for the moderator to follow what you do. Wishing you the very best of luck.
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