The document introduces Climbing Frames, a pupil assessment system designed to track progress under the new National Curriculum. Climbing Frames uses assessment frames organized in steps corresponding to curriculum years to monitor attainment of annual objectives. It is designed to identify pupils who are on track, above expectations, or falling behind in enough detail to provide targeted support. The system includes assessment frames for all subjects, pre-levels for SEN students, and thinking skills. Data can be accessed through an app to generate reports and analyze attainment at the individual, class, and cohort level.

1. Introducing
Climbing Frames
Assessing pupil progress under the new
National Curriculum

2. Climbing Frames? Tell me more
 How is assessment changing?
 What is Climbing Frames?
 How does Climbing Frames relate to the new National
Curriculum?
 Will Climbing Frames meet Ofsted’s scrutiny?
 What is included in Climbing Frames?
 How will Climbing Frames help me track pupil
progress?
 What data will I get from Climbing Frames?
 How else will the Climbing Frames app help me?
 Can I see an example?

3. How is assessment changing?
From To
Skills and processes Knowledge
Personal progress End-of-key stage objectives
Best-fit judgements Can/can’t assessments
National scheme Local internal assessment

4. Internal assessment
Your responsibility now.
Track pupils so that you
know who is on, ahead or
falling behind expectations,
enough to be able to
intervene and set them back
on course in a timely
fashion.

5. What is Climbing Frames?
Subject assessment frames
organised in steps that correspond
closely to the years of the NC.
Accompanying reports allow you to
monitor the acquisition of annual
objectives but also to recognise
progress that exceeds or falls short
of this.
Can be used like Assessing Pupil
Progress (APP) to measure
attainment and progress every half
term.

6. Benefits
 Identifies who is on, above and falling off trajectory
in enough detail to do something about it
 Gives your SLT useful data about individuals, classes,
subjects and cohorts
 Is manageable
 Is affordable
 Is inclusive
 Addresses the new National Curriculum
 Satisfies Ofsted
 Is consistent with NAHT and STA guidelines

7. How does Climbing Frames relate to
the new National Curriculum?
 The content and wording of the assessment
frames have been kept as close as possible to the
wording in the NC
 The objectives have been adjusted to allow you
to assess them more easily
 They have been condensed, simplified and
prioritised to avoid an unmanageable workload

8. Will Climbing Frames meet Ofsted’s
scrutiny?
Our scheme satisfies Ofsted's scrutiny because:
 It measures attainment and progress against age-related
expectations laid down in the NC
 It monitors pupil progress with great sensitivity e.g. each half-term,
unlike one-off tests
 It quickly alerts teachers to slow progress or disappointing
attainment
 It provides a level of detail that helps teachers to diagnose and
target curriculum topics, cohorts and groups
 It offers consistency of assessment across subjects and years
 It also covers pre-levels, so a truly universal scheme
 It offers management information
 It gives useful reporting to parents

9. What is included in Climbing
Frames?

10. It covers all NC subjects
Frames are provided
for all National
Curriculum core and
foundation subjects in
Key Stages 1-3.
Local RE syllabus can be
added.
English
Mathematics
Science
History
Geography
Art & Design
Design & Technology
Computing
PE
Modern Foreign Languages

11. It offers closer monitoring
in the core subjects
The core subjects are split into strands and sub-
strands for finer grained assessment.

12. It includes pre-levels
Five pre-levels
suitable for pupils
with SEN.
They cover P-scales
and the gap which
has opened up
between P-scales
and the new NC.
PRE-LEVELS
Experience stage
Responsive stage
Interactive stage
Engagement stage
Insight stage

13. Pre-levels are sized to be the equivalent
of annual steps for other pupils
They offer equality of progress
measures.
Developmental rather than
numerical frameworks are more
meaningful.
You can convert between P-
scales and pre-levels.

14. It includes frames for
thinking and learning skills
1. Seeking and keeping ideas
2. Thinking critically
3. Working with others
4. Using reflection and feedback loops
5. Solving problems
6. Flexing the imagination
7. Building models and theories
8. Thinking for the future

15. It includes access to the
Climbing Frames app
Record assessments
on tablets, laptops
and PCs.
Crunch the numbers.
Generate in-depth
analysis.

16. Management information comes
in easy-to-read formats
 Data summaries adapted
for each subject
 Analyse individual, class
and cohort attainment
and progress
 Simple colour-coded
reports
 App makes it easy to
print and share with
pupils and parents

17. How will Climbing Frames
help me track pupil progress?

18. A three-step plan
 Climbing Frames picks up changes with
greater sensitivity than old levels
 Most pupils will typically progress three steps
in the school year, compared with two in old
levels
 These steps are colour-coded – yellow (c),
orange (b) and green (a) – and tied to the year
number
 They work like a, b and c did in old levels

19. The teacher makes a periodic assessment of
each pupil against the year’s objectives…
Teaching has not yet started, or the child is still
working on previous years’ objectives
Early but clear progress made
A good basic level of attainment reached
Secure and consistent attainment reached in
virtually all objectives
Alert! Very low attainment or very slow progress
C
B
A

20. ..and adds this to the pupil record

21. Typical expected progress over a year
Christmas
Made a good start
on the year’s
objectives
Easter
Most objectives
secured, even if
not yet consistent
Summer
Virtually all
objectives secured
and consistent

22. More insightful than a tick list
Other schemes just rely on
tick lists (got it/not got it).
Climbing Frames monitors
progress towards mastery to
allow for intervention during
the year.

23. Calculating progress
Calculate progress by counting the steps made
from the start of the year to the current point.

24. And across larger strands…
You can make a balanced judgement, weighing
the sub-strands to arrive at a fair average mark.

25. Children who are ahead
Rashid is a high-flier in Mathematics.
He starts Year 5 already achieving well against
the new year’s objectives and soon completes
them.
5b 5a
5b 5b 5a

26. Children who are ahead
Rashid’s teacher now moves him on to cover the
Year 6 objectives.
His green status does not change, but the numbers
in the box give him credit for his raised attainment.
5b 5a
5b 5b 5a

27. Children who are falling off trajectory
A clear box signals to the teacher that the child has
not yet reached c in the current year.
It should always contain the letter and number of the
last step achieved.

28. Peter starts Year 4 on target in Composition.
But by Spring half-term, he has not reached the
expected step – 4b.
Children who are falling off trajectory

29. Red alerts! Children who are behind
By the end of Spring term, Peter has been working at
the same level for four half-terms.
He is therefore flagged with a red alert for slow
progress, highlighting a need for intervention.

30. Red alerts also flag children who are three or more steps behind,
thus trailing by one year or more:
Peter begins Year 4 on a 2a in Grammar, punctuation and
vocabulary, when he should be working at a 3a. He is therefore
flagged with a red alert for low attainment.
Red alerts! Children who are behind

31. Children who are behind
Many pupils with low attainment nonetheless make
good progress:
By the end of Year 4, Peter has reached 4b in Grammar,
punctuation and vocabulary. Not quite green, but an
impressive leap of 5 steps forward.

32. What data will I get from
Climbing Frames?

33. Data can be captured and presented at
individual level…
Rachel
4A
Year 4
24/04 (End of Spring term)
+3
+2
+2
+2
+2
+2
+1
Since September
+2
+2
+3
+2
4c
4c
4b
N/A
N/A
4a
5c
4b
4a
4b
4b
4b
4a
N/A
N/A

34. …at class level

35. …and at cohort level
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Not yet reached c c b a Working on next year's
objectives
Numberofpupils
Attainment against this year's objectives
Year 3 attainment in maths (Summer term)

36. How else will the Climbing
Frames app help me?

37. Fast, effective reporting
 Saves time on assessment admin
 Easy and intuitive to use
 Automated colour-coding gives
at-a-glance progress reports
 Ensures accuracy
 Easier to share with parents,
pastoral tutors and your
leadership team
 Ensures consistency of
assessment throughout school

38. More in-depth analysis
 Filters by pupil characteristics
such as gender, ethnicity, SEN,
EAL and Pupil Premium
 Facilitates swifter and more
effective interventions
 Helps offer support at individual
level for teachers and children
 Helps make evidence-based
decisions
 Provides meaningful data for
Ofsted
Pupil Premium
Students Only
EAL Students Only
SEN Students Only
FSM Students Only

39. Overviews of relevant teaching
approaches
 The app links every sub-strand in the assessment
frameworks for maths, English and science to a series of
multi-point summaries
 These summaries provide an overview of the key issues
teachers need to address if they wish to improve on this
area
 They include teaching approaches, links to thinking skills
and opportunities to make links across the curriculum
 In the future, we hope to add summaries to every subject
area in the app
Click here to view a sample multi-point teaching summary

40. Links to expert CPD resources
 The app also links to in-depth
articles and resources from the
acclaimed Teaching Times Best
Practice Library
 Articles focus on teaching
approaches and practical advice
 Resources include themed lesson
plans, cross-curricular classroom
activities and webquests
 Also features links to carefully
selected external resources

41. Example assessment
frame
English
Key Stages 1 and 2

49. About Sue Hackman
 Sue Hackman was the Chief Adviser on School Standards to several
Secretaries of State at the DfE between 2006 and 2013.
 She was responsible for accountability, assessment, inspection,
school improvement, pedagogy, catch-up programmes,
international policy and deprivation, as well as the core subjects.
 Prior to joining the department, she was a National Director of the
National Strategies under the last government.
 Sue was a teacher for many years, and her experience spans all key
stages.
 As well as being a local government adviser, she is an experienced
school inspector and a well-known writer with over 90 titles.
 Her assessment experience includes roles as a moderator, syllabus
writer and chief examiner.

50. www.climbingframes.org.uk
Tel: (0121) 224 7599
Fax: (0121) 224 7598
Email:
climbingframes@imaginativeminds.co.uk
Find out more