We have a set of things the children need to achieve.
For instance in maths:
I can solve problems for length and height by telling what is longer or shorter/taller or shorter.
I can count, read and write numbers to 100 in numerals and count in jumps of 2, 5 and 10's.
Writing might be:
I can write the correct spellings in simple sentences I hear my teacher say.
Reading:
I can say what might happen next in a story.
We assess based on these statements.
All my recent schools use target tracker, this is a piece of software where you click in statement for each child to show if they are beginning to do the statement, working within the statement and exceeding the statement. It then tells you which level the child is at, at any point of the year.
Other schools use tick charts or other software.
We teach circular, so we don't just teach for instance capacity once a year, but will revisit it several times. Then when we mark books we click a statement based on how the children did.
It can be a pain in the backside to do, as we tend to know our children well, but it does make quite clear what level a child is at.
Also, we mark books/work every day and work with all the children on a daily basis, so I doubt she is being missed.
In addition, senior leadership teams take the books regularly and moderate the levels we have given them against the work in the books.
In addition to that, we have staff meetings where we look at each others books and agree a level that a child is working at.
What I am trying to say is, we don't just guess and there is quite a lot of us having to prove stuff and talk about our children in detail.
Is there a parents evening coming up? Or just ask if you can have a look at your child's books. As a general guide, always look at the independent work. If your child is getting all the questions right every time, you may have a problem. Same as if they are getting them all wrong.
(I am year 1 btw)
Hope this helps, but I will keep checking back incase you would like more detail/questions