Reducing workload and improving insight: How Lawdale Junior School uses a blend of paper and online NFER Assessments

For Annette Rook, Headteacher at Lawdale Junior School, the decision to extend the school’s long-standing use of NFER Tests (paper assessments) into NFER Online Assessments (NOA) was driven by a clear and practical aim: reducing workload while maintaining high-quality assessment data.

A balanced approach: combining online and paper assessments

Lawdale Junior School currently uses a mixed model, combining online and paper assessments across year groups. This reflects both practical considerations and preparation for statutory testing. 

"We’ve used NFER Tests for a long time now. We just wanted to reduce the administrative burden on teachers and support them with marking and analysis. We continue with paper tests for our year 5 pupils so that they can practise a paper test leading into year 6."

Reducing marking and speeding up access to data

One of the most immediate benefits of NFER Online Assessments (NOA) has been the reduction in marking for teachers. 

"The teachers are happy with NOA because of the marking - it saves time. The majority is marked, so they don’t have to do that, and it reduces their workload."

Faster access to assessment data has also changed how the school responds to outcomes. 

"It’s more immediate. Sometimes I’m having to wait for teachers to mark, and then you’ve got holidays in between. With NFER Online Assessments, we’ve got that data now before the holidays. We can send off some homework to support areas that they struggled with on the assessments, and then when they come back in, we can go over it again."

Using NFER data as part of a wider assessment picture

At Lawdale Junior School, NFER Assessments form part of a broader, triangulated approach to understanding pupil progress. Rather than relying on a single measure, the school uses multiple data sources to build an accurate picture. 

"Sometimes they don’t perform well on a test, but they’re doing very well in class. So, we try and work out what the discrepancy is. We triangulate all our data, look at it, and see where we think they really are performing."

The school completes three assessment points each year and uses the data to track progress at every level. 

"We can track individual children’s progress, cohort progress, class progress. We can see children who are falling behind, children who are doing really well, and then we put interventions in place."

Identifying gaps and informing planning

Question-level analysis plays an important role in shaping teaching and learning. 

"We’re looking at specific questions they’re finding difficult. Whole cohorts finding different areas tricky."

These insights feed directly into future planning. 

"They go to the top of our list of things to address immediately after the tests and in the weeks following, we can fit those in."

Advice for other schools

Annette highlights both simplicity and flexibility when using NOA: 

"Once your pupil data is uploaded, it’s quite simple to operate. It’s good to have that option of very quickly allocating tests. It reduces the paperwork, the marking, the workload. You can also clearly see how many credits you’ve got left, which ones you’ve used, which ones you haven’t used."

Find out more 

Visit the NFER Online Assessments page for more information on using NOA in your school or MAT.