The Warwick School
Key Stage 3 Assessment – a parent’s guide
Government legislation has led to significant changes in assessment through all Key Stages. At Key Stage 3
(Years 7-9), schools no longer use National Curriculum levels to assess the attainment of children towards and at the end of the Stage. With the removal of National Curriculum levels there is no longer any set criteria that differentiates standards of student’s achievements. Instead, schools are expected to devise their own system where children are assessed against expectations for their age or stage. These expectations, at Key Stage 3, are set by each school, or group of schools.
At Key Stage 4, GCSEs are being reformed and in doing so schools will be grading pupils using new 9 to 1 grades, where 9 is the highest grade, instead of the traditional A* to G grades.
In response to this at The Warwick School, we have looked at the latest research into how assessment helps to drive progress, alongside an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the old “levels” system, to develop our own system designed to empower students and parents to take more control of their own learning and progress. We understand that each student arrives with us at different standards and with different abilities. The term progress is used to denote the improvements made by each student during their secondary school career. The elements of assessment we employ at The Warwick School supporting progress for every student are detailed below;
1. Marking and feedback
Subject teachers regularly mark student work and provide feedback using the codes WWW, (what went well), EBI (Even Better If) and INT (I need to). These statements show students where they have produced work to a good standard and how they can improve this work.
Students are able to take their exercise books home so parents can see the work they are doing and how they can make more progress.
2. Progress grids
As the latest educational research highlights the limitations of using levels, letters or numbers to provide information regarding standards of attainment, we no longer use these in marking and feedback or on the progress grids distributed to students.
The progress grids have been developed using statements to denote the standard of work evidenced by students. Students can use the progress grids alongside teacher feedback to identify how to produce higher standards of work. Progress grids can also be used by students to help them plan as they show the criteria needed to be successful at different standards of work.
The progress grids can be found in the parents area of the school website; http://www.warwick.surrey.sch.uk/for-parents/key-stage-3-progress-grids/ and their appearance has been adapted to provide a consistent format for parents. There are “T” numbers alongside the statements with each “T” number denoting the estimated standard of work. These are purely to provide parents with an idea of the standards of work that their child is producing.
3. Interim reports
An interim report provides a snapshot of how each student is performing in three key areas; their behaviour in class, the amount of effort they are putting into their work both in class and at home and whether their progress is above, below or in line with where we would expect to see them at the point it is issued. Progress is based on how the student is performing in each subject, compared to an estimated progress trajectory towards GCSE. This trajectory is determined from Key Stage 2 performance. A student’s expected trajectory is indicated by the codes T1-T9 where T9 indicates the highest standard of attainment. As identified earlier in the document, both the expected and the assessed standard of work are estimated by the school and/or subject teachers and progress grids are available to provide information about the trajectory demonstrated by the student (as above).
4. Full written reports
Once a year each student receives a full written report. These reports contain all the information provided in the interim reports with the addition of a written comment by each subject teacher regarding each student’s progress in their subject. These comments are subject specific and detail areas of strength plus key areas that a student can improve to maximise progress.
5. Parent’s evenings
Once a year each year group has a parent’s evening. This is the opportunity to meet teachers, receive verbal feedback and ask questions regarding a student’s progress in each subject.
General Advice
In secondary school the work that children are taught is more specialised and in more depth for every subject, in comparison to primary school. There are few parents who understand all of the work their children are covering in every subject.
Support will develop from sitting with your child whilst they complete homework (in primary school this was mainly literacy and numeracy) to providing the environment in which your child(ren) can work independently.
Parental input also changes (in most, if not all subjects), from actively completing questions and tasks with your child(ren), to asking questions about what they have learnt; recording (and sitting with them through) a TV programme about a topic you know they are studying; or visiting museums, exhibitions, zoos, theme parks, sporting events, plays, musicals, etc. relevant to topics being studied in lessons.
Key Stage 3 student support and strategies
Some simple strategies a parent can use to monitor their child’s progress and provide support are listed below. There are further strategies on the school website; http://www.warwick.surrey.sch.uk/for-parents/presentations-to-parents/ and for any subject specific queries you can contact the teachers by e-mail using the format . The staff codes are listed on the school website for all teachers.
Read exercise books. These are where you will see the standard of work and the work completion that your child is consistently producing. You will be able to see if they are completing work in line with previous standards and taking the same care in their work that you are used to.
Read marking feedback. Use the written feedback from the teacher and improvement comments from your child to identify strengths and areas for development.
Speak to your child about their work. Check your child knows how to make improvements from feedback. Use the progress grids (in the books or on the website) to discuss how they can keep improving the standard of their work.
Check (and sign) the record book. A big difference between primary and secondary school is the organisation required regarding equipment and homework completion over the increased number of subjects. Regularly checking the record book will give you an idea of how your child is coping with the organisation and time management, allowing you to identify where they may be having difficulties.
Ensure your child completes homework. Use the record book to check that your child is keeping up with the increased homework demands and identify where you think they may be having difficulties. Where appropriate your support in planning a work timetable will be appreciated by your child and will model the organisational skills they are going to need throughout their education and work career.
Provide a good working environment for your child at home. Where possible provide a quiet space with a container of equipment (pens, pencils, rulers, etc) at home. Support your child in keeping this tidy and organised. Providing refreshments when they are concentrating for extended periods of time is appreciated and will also help them concentrate for longer on their work.
Contact your child’s teacher(s) if you have any questions. If you wish to discuss your child’s progress in any of their individual subjects further, please contact the subject teacher using their email address or by telephoning the main school number.