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Nicholas Breakspear School Marking Policy

“Consistently high quality marking and constructive feedback from teachers ensures that pupils will make rapid gains” OFSTED

“Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on learning and achievement but this impact can either be positive or negative” John Hattie

Assessment and marking at NBS is positive, showing students where they are and what they need to do to progress in turn building resilience and confidence to develop into independent-learners. All staff marking will be in green pen.

Every half term the following should be evident in books:

  1. Monitoring the quality and presentation of work
  2. Proof read the work: to include two literacy focuses per page
  3. Ask subject specialist questions: (2 marking stamps / 4 for core subjects)
  4. Give a summative grade (1 per half term)
  5. Evidence of self-assessment
  6. Evidence of peer assessment
  1. Monitoring the quality of work.
  • Staff should check for the quality of presentation and the volume of classwork and homework. This should include:
  • Title underlined
  • Date underlined,
  • Presentation of work demonstrates pride in subject
  • Pencils used for diagrams and rulers used for graphs.
  • Sheets stuck in.
  • AFL tracker in front of book filled out correctly.
  • Enough classwork / homework completed (is the group in line with others in terms of progress in SOW)
  1. Proofread the work to include two literacy focuses per page to errors
  • On every piece of marked work chose two literacy focuses per page and correct these.
  • Any more than two will confuse the student and progress will be limited. The literacy focuses are as follows:

Code / Meaning
SP / Spelling error- correct spelling will be shown at the end of your work. Write this in the back on your book.
P / Punctuation error- check for full stops, commas, apostrophes, speech marks, etc.
O / Circle around lower case means you should use a capital letter (should be used for proper nouns and start of sentences.)
Around a capital letter means you should use lower case.
H / Homophone- have you used the wrong meaning, eg. there/ their/ they’re
EXP / Expression- reread your work and check that the sentence or paragraph makes sense.
REP / Repetition- you have repeated a word, phrase or point.
WD / Word choice- wrong word has been used. This word does not make sense in this context.
GR / Grammar error, eg ‘we was’ instead of ‘we were’.
// / New paragraph
^ / Word is missing
AV / Advanced vocabulary
  • When incorrect spellings are identified the correct spelling is written in green pen by the member of staff. The student copies the correct spelling 3-5 times depending on the length of the word.
  1. Ask subject specific questions (2 marking stamps per half term / 4 for core subjects)
  • Within the stamp you should write a positive comment based on “what went well” (be specific)
  • The next box should contain a subject specific question to either close a gap in the students’ knowledge or stretch or challenge a student’s understanding.
  • Plan time for the students to read and respond to the feedback within the marking stamp; DIRT time at the start of the lesson(use DIRT time slide)
  1. Give a summative grade.
  • There should be a minimum of one summative grade per half term within each student’s book.
  • The grade can be in the form of a level or grade and should be linked to the assessment criteria of the subject / exam.

5&6 Peer assessment and self-assessment

  • Students use red pensto peer and self-assess.
  • Students proof read their own work and identify errors.
  • Students can identify “what went well” and “even better if” on their own and peers work.
  • Students can grade/level a piece of work (they should be given a success criteria for this)
  • Each piece of peer assessment will be signed and dated by the student marking it.

MONITORING PROCESS

Heads of department

  • Work scrutiny to be completed once every half term using the work scrutiny proforma
  • Monitor frequency and quality of marking within their curriculum area using the work scrutiny pro-forma
  • Copies to be sent to SLT link and presented through the half termly report.
  • Monitoring teachers’ marking as part of performance management
  • Identify areas of development and support development of team members

The Senior Leadership team

  • Complete book looks at least once every half term
  • Talk to students about the quality of marking and feedback through the review process and pupil voice surveys
  • Facilitate support for staff in developing effective feedback for students when marking.