These performance descriptions outline early learning and attainment before level 1 in eight levels, from P1 to P8.

The performance descriptions can be used by teachers in the same way as the National Curriculum level descriptions to:

• decide which description best fits a pupil's performance over a period of time and in different contexts
• develop or support more focused day-to-day approaches to ongoing teacher assessment by using the descriptions to refine and develop long-, medium- and short-term planning
• track linear progress towards attainment at National Curriculum level 1
• identify lateral progress by looking for related skills at similar levels across their subjects
• record pupils' overall development and achievement, for example, at the end of a year or a key stage.

Performance descriptions across subjects

The performance descriptions for P1 to P3 are common across all subjects. They outline the types and range of general performance that pupils with learning difficulties might characteristically demonstrate. Subject-focused examples are included to illustrate some of the ways in which staff might identify attainment in different subject contexts.

P1 (i) Pupils encounter activities and experiences. They may be passive or resistant. They may show simple reflex responses, for example, startling at sudden noises or movements. Any participation is fully prompted.

P1 (ii) Pupils show emerging awareness of activities and experiences. They may have periods when they appear alert and ready to focus their attention on certain people, events, objects or parts of objects, for example, attending briefly to interactions with a familiar person. They may give intermittent reactions, for example, sometimes becoming excited in the midst of social activity.

P2 (i) Pupils begin to respond consistently to familiar people, events and objects. They react to new activities and experiences, for example, withholding their attention from unfamiliar forms of interaction. They begin to show interest in people, events and objects, for example, smiling at familiar people in familiar circumstances. They accept and engage in coactive exploration, for example, focusing their attention, when prompted, on sensory aspects of stories or rhymes in the target language.

P2 (ii) Pupils begin to be proactive in their interactions. They communicate consistent preferences and affective responses, for example, reaching out to a familiar person in a new setting. They recognise familiar people, events and objects, for example, vocalising or gesturing in a particular way in response to a favourite visitor to their modern foreign languages sessions. They perform actions, often by trial and improvement, and they remember learned responses over short periods of time, for example, showing pleasure each time a particular character appears in a story dramatised in the target language. They cooperate with shared exploration and supported participation, for example, taking turns in interactions, imitating actions and facial expressions, with a familiar person using the target language.

P3 (i) Pupils begin to communicate intentionally. They seek attention through eye contact, gesture or action. They request events or activities, for example, pointing to key objects or people during modern foreign languages sessions. They participate in shared activities with less support. They sustain concentration for short periods. They explore materials in increasingly complex ways, for example, reaching out and feeling for objects as tactile cues to events in sessions simulating life in other cultural settings. They observe the results of their own actions with interest, for example, listening to their own vocalisations during sessions in which the target language is used. They remember learned responses over more extended periods, for example, following the sequence of a familiar routine in modern foreign languages sessions and responding accordingly.

P3 (ii) Pupils use emerging conventional communication. They greet known people and may initiate interactions and activities, for example, prompting another person to join in with a familiar interactive sequence in the target language. They can remember learned responses over increasing periods of time and may anticipate known events, for example, pre-empting sounds or actions in familiar interactions in the target language. They may respond to options and choices with actions or gestures, for example, by nodding or shaking their heads at appropriate points during an interaction in the target language. They actively explore objects and events for more extended periods, for example, scanning the pages of a magazine written in the target language. They apply potential solutions systematically to problems, for example, showing or giving an object in response to a request in the target language.

Performance descriptions in MFL

From level P4 to P8, many believe it is possible to describe pupils' performance in a way that indicates the emergence of skills, knowledge and understanding in MFL. The descriptions provide an example of how this can be done.

P4 Pupils attempt to repeat, copy or imitate some sounds heard in the target language. They may perform familiar or simple actions on request using repetition, sign or gesture as prompts. They listen and may respond to familiar rhymes and songs in a foreign language.

P5 Pupils attempt one or two words in the target language in response to cues in a song or familiar phrase. They respond to simple questions, requests or instructions about familiar events or experiences. Responses may be through vocalisation, sign or gesture and pupils' responses may depend upon repetition and support.

P6 Pupils respond to others in a group. Their attempts to communicate in the target language may rely heavily upon repetition and gesture, and they may use facial expression and/or intonation to enhance meaning. They communicate positives and negatives in the target language in response to simple questions. They match and select symbols for familiar words, actions or objects presented in the target language.

P7 Pupils introduce themselves by name in response to a question in the target language. They contribute to using the target language for a purpose, for example, using ICT skills to access the internet and exchange information, with guidance from other pupils or adults. They listen, attend to and follow familiar interactions in the target language.

P8 Pupils listen attentively and know that the target language conveys meaning. They understand one or two simple classroom commands in the target language. They respond briefly using single words, signs or symbols. They may need considerable support from a spoken model and from visual clues. They may read and understand a few words presented in a familiar context with visual clues. They can copy out a few words with support. They label one or two objects. With some support, they use the target language for a purpose, for example, requesting items in simulations of real life encounters in the target language.