Rationale for Changes to Feedback in the Junior School
We are continuously striving to improve our teaching practices and ensure that the time we spend on feedback is meaningful for your child’s learning. As part of this, we are considering a change in how we mark students' work in the Junior School. Our aim is to make feedback more effective for students and enabling teachers to spend more time interacting with your child during lessons.
Why Are We Changing the Feedback System?
Through extensive research and reflection, we’ve found that traditional written marking, while helpful in some cases, can be time-consuming and often doesn’t benefit all students equally. In fact, it can sometimes lead to generic feedback, confusion, and missed opportunities for meaningful dialogue between teachers and students.
We believe that marking should be:
Formative – helping children understand their progress and where to improve.
Timely – immediate feedback during or shortly after the lesson, so children can act on it right away.
Specific – tailored to each child’s individual needs, so feedback is meaningful.
Actionable – clear steps that children can follow to improve.
Most importantly, we want the feedback to move learning forward not just serve as a record for people to review
What Is the Proposed New Feedback Approach?
Instead of collecting books at the end of each lesson and writing comments, we propose moving to a more interactive, in-the-moment approach:
Live Feedback: Teachers will provide immediate, personalized feedback during the lesson, engaging directly with students as they work.
Instant and Relevant: This feedback is timely and specific to what the child is doing in that moment, ensuring it’s useful and meaningful.
Actionable: Children can immediately act on the feedback they receive and continue to learn in real-time.
Interactive: Teachers will engage in a “live dialogue” with students, writing feedback directly in their books while explaining their thoughts verbally. This eliminates the need for students to interpret written feedback on their own, which can be tricky for some children.
Will There Still Be Marking in Books?
Yes, but it will look different. Rather than writing long comments after the lesson, teachers will work with students during lessons, adding quick feedback directly in their books either in the form of comments, symbols, or diagrams. We will then use a simple triangle symbol to show the children how well they have achieved the learning objective.
This approach will allow us to provide more meaningful feedback without overwhelming teachers or students.
What About Younger Children?
For our younger students, feedback will be designed to be clear, visual, and easy to understand. This simple system will help the children to know exactly where they are in their learning and verbal feedback can help them to improve. The goal is for all children, regardless of age, to receive feedback that supports their learning.
Will This Make Books Messy?
We understand that books are an important record of a child’s learning journey, and we want them to take pride in their work. While the new system may result in more annotations, these will be seen as a sign of active learning and engagement. Our teachers will model how to use the feedback in a constructive way and maintain a balance between presentation and creativity. We will also review this process as we go along to ensure that students continue to value their books as a meaningful reflection of their learning.
What About Self-Marking in Maths?
In the older years, we plan to encourage some self-marking in subjects like Maths. This allows children to quickly assess their understanding, giving them instant feedback and helping them identify areas for improvement. Every child will leave the lesson knowing how they got on in that lesson.
Will You Notice a Difference?
While the feedback may look different, we believe this approach will ultimately provide more valuable insights into your child’s learning. Rather than seeing extensive written feedback after each lesson, you may notice more direct, personalized interactions with your child’s work in the classroom.
In Summary
This change is about making feedback more meaningful and actionable for your child. We believe it will better support your child’s learning and give them the tools they need to improve continuously within the lesson, when they can still do something about it.