Personalised assessments
Personalised assessments in Reading and Numeracy for learners in Years 2 to 9 are statutory and available to take throughout the school year. The purpose of the assessments is to help support progression in reading and numeracy skills.
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Personalised assessments in 2024 to 2025
After learners have completed these assessments, schools have access to feedback on learners’ skills, progress, age-standardised scores, and a range of reports to help plan teaching and learning.
Requirements for this academic year are set out in the 'personalised assessments administration handbook'.
Accessing the assessments
To access the assessments you will need to log in to Hwb. Once logged in, select the personalised assessments icon on the homepage or from the menu.
This video shows how to log in to Hwb and access the personalised assessments website.
Guidance for schools
- During this academic year, personalised assessments in Reading and Numeracy are statutory for use in Years 2 to 9. Teachers are advised to read the 'personalised assessments administration handbook' which sets out the requirements for this year.
- Schools can schedule assessments at a time they consider most beneficial to support teaching, learning and progression.
- Teachers are asked to ensure that all their learners use the familiarisation assessments on Hwb to try out the question types in advance of taking the assessments.
- Detailed practical information on scheduling and delivering the assessments (including checklists), and on accessing reports, is available in the user guide on the assessment website.
- Age-standardised and progress scores for assessments taken from September 2023 take account of ‘learning time’ to support a better understanding of progression under Curriculum for Wales.
- Scores for assessments from September 2023 onwards will be calculated in line with a re-standardisation using the 2022 to 2023 cohort of learners as the reference cohort.
Support and guidance for schools
Support and guidance is available from the assessment website. After accessing the website click ‘Help’ to access videos, a user guide, training materials and familiarisation assessments.
For support on managing school users’ Hwb accounts please contact hwb@gov.wales or 0300 0252525.
For support on the personalised assessments, please contact the Assessment Helpdesk (for schools only) on 029 2026 5099 between 8am and 5pm, Monday to Friday or help@personalisedassessments.wales.
Administration handbook
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Administration handbook 2024 to 2025
Contains the legal requirements for assessment arrangements.
Guidance for practitioners on individual learner feedback and progress reports
Webinars for teachers
Webinars for teachers are available on the personalised assessments system.
School Case Studies
These school case studies highlight the use of personalised assessments to target and improve learner outcomes.
Using personalised assessments to complement their approaches to assessment at Ysgol Min y Ddol and Ysgol Merllyn
Information for parents and carers
Information for parents and carers is also available.
More information
- Personalised assessments are adaptive, meaning that questions are selected based on the responses to previous questions. This provides a tailored assessment experience for each learner and will help all learners develop their skills through understanding what they can do, the things they may need to work on, and what their next steps might be.
- Learners are required to take each assessment once during the academic year. Schools also have the option to use the assessments once more during the academic year.
- The assessments provide schools with information on the skills of individual learners, groups and whole classes.
- There is no ‘assessment window’ for personalised assessments; timing is at the school’s discretion.
- Learners can take the personalised assessments in small or large groups, depending on the school’s preferences and facilities, and schools do not need a large number of devices.