Frequently Asked Questions

How much progress should a child being assessed on PIVATS make?

There is no standardised progress measure recommendation regarding number of PIVATS steps progress over a year. This is due to the fact that individual needs vary so widely. Therefore, we would recommend setting targets based on the knowledge, and understanding, of each child's need and what good progress would look like for them.

In addition to this, many children with SEND who are being assessed using PIVATS may have very 'spiky' profiles. There may be some criteria which can be achieved quite readily and strands through which they can make progress quite quickly and others that take much longer.

If a child seems to be making very slow progress we would advise looking closely at what the child has already achieved and which strategies were put in place to support that achievement and then consider any criterion that they may be 'stuck' on and see if similar strategies can be used to help them access this or whether there are different approaches that have not yet been used that may help.

It is also important to consider the child's SEND/area(s) of need, for example communication and interaction/cognition and learning, and consider what is being done to address these, in addition to specific scaffolds and strategies being put in place to support the pupil in accessing the curriculum.

If a child has achieved most of the criteria but has been 'stuck' on one for a while (and if different strategies have been applied to help the child move on in this) then we would advise the child is not held back but moves on to the next stage. The unachieved criterion would then be recorded and continue to be worked on or may be returned to in the future when the child is more ready to achieve it. An example of this might be handwriting.

What do I do if a child cannot achieve one of the criteria?

If a child has been working on one of the criteria for a while and appears to be making little progress, there are several things you may consider.

Firstly, discuss which criteria the child is still working on with the SENDCO. It could be that they can offer different strategies or ideas than those that have been tried. They may have experience teaching in the year group that the young person is working at, or they may just have a different idea to try out!

If yourself and the SENDCO agree that all strategies have been tried and that the child is still working on that specific criterion and this is holding them back from making progress in other areas, then you can move the child onto the next stage or milestone. We would recommend that you make a record of which statement has been assessed as not yet achieved and continue to work on this, drip feeding it into different contexts and subjects. Move the child onto the next stage or milestone so that they can continue to make progress with their learning.

 

How do I know which milestone and stage to place the child onto?

When initially placing a child onto PIVATS you would read the PIVATS milestone descriptors that are in the top right-hand corner of each page. To make it a little easier we have these available on one document. You would then choose which stage is the best fit for the child using your knowledge of where they are up to with their learning. You then begin assessing them from that point. If, as you begin highlighting statements you find that they have achieved very few, you could check the previous milestone or stage. If you find they have achieved everything then you would move onto the next page.

 

Do I have to use all the subjects included in PIVATS?

No not at all! PIVATS is designed so that you can use the sections that each child needs to help move learning forwards. This may be one subject or all the sections in PIVATS 5.