Member of Staff Responsible Assistant Head Teacher

Walton High School

Assessment and Reporting Y7 to Y11

Member of Staff Responsible – Assistant Head Teacher

Governors’ Committee Responsible: ICT

Rationale

The prime purpose of assessment and reporting is

• to help students to learn more effectively
• for teachers to learn about the changes brought about in students’ knowledge and understanding, abilities and attitudes
• for teachers to make effective planning of future work for each student
• to inform students of where they are, what progress they have made and what they need to do to improve
• to allow students to reflect on their own learning, behaviour and attitudes
• to inform parents of their child’s progress and approach to learning
• to provide parents information in order to support their child’s learning
• to provide information to the school’s senior, middle managers and governors as part of their monitoring of school achievement and intervention strategies

Principles of Assessment

All departments will ensure assessment is

• Appropriate to its purpose, valid and reliable
• Integral to the teaching and learning process
• Understood by the learner, is regular and with feedback
• Linked to our system of rewards and used to motivate
• Recorded in a way which is manageable and supportive of progression
• Communicated with students and parents as appropriate (see below)
• Inclusive of students during the whole process
• Through assessing their own achievement
• Through involvement in discussion with teachers
• As a result of discussions, used to set future learning targets with the teacher
• Through taking responsibility for aspects of their own learning

Common principles of summative/reported assessment

Teachers in all departments will provide a Working at Level/Grade every term for every student

• Key stage 3 using national curriculum levels and internal sub levels
• GCSE/BTEC using national grades

At the start of the academic year teachers in all departments will provide an end of year Negotiated Target based prior achievement/baseline assessments/national indicators and in discussion with the student

Every term teachers in all departments will provide “soft data” on each student’s Effort, Behaviour and Homework in terms of Excellent, Good, Satisfactory - but could do better and Requires immediate improvement

As part of its monitoring and tracking systems, the LG and Middle Managers will look at the assessment data compared to school generated targets as a means of determining progress and any necessary intervention

Class teachers will use assessment data and negotiated targets in order to inform planning to maximize the potential of individual students

Parents will be provided with guidance on grades awarded for effort/behaviour/homework and levels of attainment. In particular how KS3 sub-levels relate to future GCSE grades and how they can monitor their child’s progress. (Appendix 1)

Common marking principles for formative assessment

In most subjects good informal day to day practices centre on the use in teaching of a combination of observation, questioning, discussion and the marking of pupil work. (This is assessment for learning)

Formative assessment includes routine marking of students’ classwork and homework and should provide support for students in meeting their negotiated targets.

Each department has a clear marking and feedback policy based upon the school’s Marking and Feedback Principles (Appendix 2) which is understood and implemented consistently across the department.

Departments need to take particular care that criteria for marking work are clearly understood by students and parents.

Common Principles for Reporting

The purpose of reporting is to inform parents of a child’s progress and provide support for the child and the parent for making further progress.

All parents will receive termly reports/feedback on their child’s progress as follows

• A full report in one term
• Two short reports in the other terms
• Parents’ Evening

The dates of these reports/parents’ evenings will be published at the start of the academic year (sample – Appendix 3)

Short Report – will consist of the following (Sample – Appendix 4)

Current

• Attendance
• Punctuality
• Achievement Points
• Subject current Working at Levels/Grades, Negotiated Targets and Soft Data

Full Report – will consist of the following (Sample – Appendix 5)

Current Data on

• Attendance
• Punctuality
• Achievement Points

Subject Reports consisting of

• Negotiated Target
• Current Working at Grade/Level
• Further evidence of current attainment which may be in the form of results from appropriate assessments
• Comments on the students approach to learning backed up by Soft Data grades on Effort, Behaviour and Homework
• Two/three strategies for improvement designed to help that child meet their target

Tutor Report consisting of

Tutor Comment Section – relating specifically to tutor group activities such as

• Tutor time work
• Attendance
• Punctuality
• Teamwork (in working groups)
• Leadership or other qualities eg initiative, helpfulness
• Personal presentation
• Reference to PDS (experience/achievement)

General Comment Section – relates to the “whole school picture” of the student

• Assembly (house contribution/follow up work)
• Planner
• Areas of responsibility
• Relationships with adults and students (could be in tutor section)
• Contribution to any school group/team eg
• Eco-warriors
• Sport’s team
• Music, Dance etc
• Academic progress (optional)

House Heads/Transition Coordinator should comment on the following areas:

• Summary of academic progress
• House/Achievement Points
• Behaviour record
• General pastoral progress

Both Tutors and HOHs may include strategies in their comments

Report Formats

Full and short reports will be published as PDF documents on parents/students SIMS Learning Gateway (SLG)

Paper copies available on request

Date of Latest Review: Summer 2015

Date for Next Review: Governors Free To Determine

1

Appendix 1 - Explanation of Data to Monitor and Report Student Progress at Key Stage 3 (years 7/8/9)

KS3 Levels and Sub-Levels

• KS3 levels are numbers that can run from 2 to 8 but will typically be 5 to 7 at this stage
• Each subject has a prescriptive guide from the Department of Education (DfE) as to what is required at each level and individual departments set and grade assessments accordingly
• To provide a finer description we use sub levels using the a/b/c convention used in Primary Schools

Eg 6a = 6.67 to 6.99

6b =6.34 to 6.66

6c =6.00 to 6.33

Baseline Assessment Data and Negotiated Targets

• We receive the KS2 SAT scores in English and Maths from our primary feeder schools along with other KS2 data eg science. Also many departments carry out their own baseline assessments in the Autumn Term of Y7.
• This prior achievement/baseline data is used to generate an indicator for each child and their teachers will discuss this with their students and set a negotiated target for the end of Y7.
• A similar target setting process is carried out at the start of Y8 and Y9 using achievement from the previous year as well as indicators to set the Negotiated Target for the end of that year.
• In order for parents to check their child’s progress, statistically national data suggests an average student would be expected to make two levels of progress in three years (about 2 sub-levels per year)
• However progress will not necessarily be linear as different areas in the curriculum are assessed
• As with all statistical data an individual student may make more/less progress depending upon their rate of development

KS3 Levels and GCSE Grades

A simple converter of your child’s achievement at KS3 and expected GCSE grade at KS4 is as follows-

But this is only a guide, assuming normal progress we would expect our students to make above average progress

Working at Levels (WAL) and Soft Data

• Each term your child’s teacher will be asked to provide the following
• A current working at sub-level using subject assessment criteria
• A grade for the following (soft data)
• Effort
• Behaviour
• Homework
• The grade will be one of the following
• E = excellent
• G = good
• S = Satisfactory but could be better
• R = Requires Improvement

Appendix 2

Walton High School

Marking and Feedback Principles

1

Appendix 32014/15Dates for Short Reports, Full Reports and Parents’ Evenings

• All Short Reports will be posted as PDF documents on our Parent Gateway (SLG). Paper copies available on request.
• To avoid duplication Short Reports will not be published in the same term as Full Reports
• Short Reports will provide for each subject Current Working at Grades/Levels, End of Year Targets, Behaviour, Effort and Homework Grades from subject teachers as well as whole school Attendance, Punctuality, Behaviour and Achievement data.
• Full Reports will additionally contain written comments from all Subject Teachers, Tutors and Heads of House and will provide strategies on how your child can improve their performance

• For Y7, Y8 and Y9 the Full Report will be posted as PDF documents on our Parent Gateway. Paper copies available on request
• Y10 and Y11 will receive their full report as a paper copy via their child

Any parent requiring logins for our Parent Gateway or paper copies should contact the school

Appendix 4WALTON HIGH SCHOOLY8 INTERIM (SHORT) REPORT2014/15

NAME: Tutor Group:

Please refer to the KS3 Guidance Document in the Shared Documents section for additional information that the data reported in this report is published from.

1

Appendix 5

<Forename> <Surname>

<reg>

Annual Full Report

Year 8

2014 - 2015

Tutor Report

Name: <Forename> <Surname>Tutor Group: <reg>

House:

Tutor:

New page

Head of House:

Attendance, punctuality and Achievement points to date:

This complete report has been read by a member of the Leadership Group

<Report Section>

Art