Parents
Assessment and Reporting
You can read about how assessment information is used with PLCs and the Blended Learning Platform at Kingsmead, here.
Assessment
Staff conduct interim, end of topic and other summative assessments according to their subject's scheme of learning. The assessments are marked, and staff record the students' results in their (electronic) class mark books.
In years 11 and 13, staff also conduct small, targeted ‘booster’ assessments at the start and end of each intervention cycle, in their period 6 sessions. These low-stake baseline and retests are used to measure the impact of these explicit intervention sessions and enable the students to experience success.
Cycles
There are six assessment cycles which are broadly aligned with the half-terms and departments’ schemes. At the end of a cycle, the assessment data of all students is captured and reported. With the exception of the performance subjects in KS3 (Art, Drama, Music and Technology), assessment data for all subjects, in all years, is captured at the end of each cycle. The assessment data for these performance subjects is captured at alternate cycles (two, four and six).
Key Stage 3
The students’ performance is measured by comparing their individual percentage scores to the average percentage score of a group of students with similar KS2 prior attainment. A detailed explanation of our key stage 3 assessment system can be found here.
Key Stages 4 & 5
In Years 10 and 11, students’ assessment is graded using GCSE and level 2 vocational grades. In sixth form, the assessments of Year 12 and 13 students are graded using A-level and level 3 vocational grades.
Grade descriptions |
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Expected Grade |
These are the grades that students are expected to achieve in their final exams, or at the end of their technical course. Key Stage 4 expected grades are derived from the Key Stage 2 SATS results and Department for Education’s Attainment 8 scores. To ensure that all students’ expected grades are realistic, but also sufficiently challenging, the grades are referenced against other national datasets, including Fisher Family Trust estimates. Incrementally lower expected grades for the end of Year 10 are also generated and used with GCSE subjects only. Similarly, in Key Stage 5, students’ expected grades are calculated using each student’s average GCSE and academic point scores and the Department for Education’s latest level 3 attainment estimates. |
Current Grade |
Current grades are determined on a termly basis by applying official grade boundaries to the marks (weighted in some cases) achieved by students across multiple assessments/components. It is, therefore, a live grade. The assessments used at each point are determined by the Subject Leader. The ‘Current’ grade column reflects the current level of students work and gives a strong indication of the grade that they will achieve at the end of the course. |
Mock Exam Result |
These are the grades that students have achieved in their most recent set of mock examinations. The grades are calculated by applying official grade boundaries to the marks achieved by students. |
Projected Grade |
The projected grades are professional judgements of what the students will achieve at the end of their study. In determining the projected grades, staff consider the students' performance in mock exams and other internal assessments, as well as any NEA. |
Progress Reports
Students’ progress reports are issued once per term for each year group. Reports will be printed and shared with students in tutor time, ahead of each Progress Review.
Progress reports include ‘Expected’ and ‘Current’ scores/grades for each subject studied by a student, as well as an expected score/grade check column, which indicates whether they are ‘exceeding’, ‘meeting’ or ‘working below’ their subject expected scores/grades. This column is coloured to give a visual indication of the progress being made by the students.
A written attitude to learning comment from each of your child’s teachers, explaining how well your child has met with their expectations, is also included.