Dated: June 2016 To be reviewed: Sept 2017 1

Ashfield School

SCHOOL ASSESSMENT AND REPORTING POLICY

Dated: June 2016 To be reviewed: Sept 2017 2

Contents

1.0 Principles and aims – life after levels 2014 1.1 Frequency - Key Stage 3/4. 1.2 Frequency - Key Stage 5. 1.3 Key Stage 3 – Communicating Attainment. 1.4 Key Stage 4/5 – Communicating Attainment. 1.5 Correcting spelling, punctuation and grammar. 2.0 Faculty Marking Policies. 3.0 Quality Assurance.

Dated: June 2016 To be reviewed: Sept 2017 3

1.0 Principles and aims – Life after levels

To establish and maintain a common set of standards and procedures for the way that students’ work is assessed, reported upon and monitored. To have a student friendly and informative whole school approach to assessment that allows for recognition, motivation and progress. To standardise assessment so that students across the school understand the system and see continuity across subjects and the school in terms of the key principles of assessment and reporting. To ensure assessment that will help pupils to improve their work and will inform teacher planning and monitoring.

To ensure consistency across the Ashfield School has developed a consistent grading system based upon the new 9-1 GCSE levels. The full life after levels system can be found in the appendix.

1.1 Frequency – Key Stage 3/4

There will be two data collection points for KS3 per year. In KS4 there are three points of data collection per year, one of which will be the results from a mock or end of year examination. A minimum of one substantial piece of work per half term should contribute towards the standardised assessments within each faculty area. Each student will have (in each faculty area) a best book or folder in which all standardised assessments and any other key pieces of assessed work which display progress will be kept. Staff should provide detailed written feedback on this work indicating the level achieved and what the student needs to address to improve the work and / or move onto the next level. Students will also have working books. The work in these should be routinely checked and highlighted boxes will give students the opportunity to progress in areas that have been identified as a weakness or this could provide an extension to an already sound piece of work. In addition to the above English, Maths and Science will sit formal (internal) examinations at the end of KS3 to establish end of key stage working numerical grades in those subjects. Year 11 will sit formal mock examinations mid-way through the year. The results of these exams will always be reported to parents.

Dated: June 2016 To be reviewed: Sept 2017 4

1.2 Frequency – Key Stage 5

There will be two data collection points per year for each year group. The assessments that feed into these will be standardised within each faculty. The data collection points will report on current attainment, current strengths and areas for improvement. A minimum of one substantial piece of work per half term should contribute towards the standardised assessments. Staff should provide detailed written feedback on this work indicating the level achieved and what the student needs to address to improve the work and / or move onto the next level. Students studying AS and A2 subjects will sit formal mock examinations each January. The results of which are reported to parents.

1.3 Key Stage 3 – Communicating Attainment

At Key Stage 3 students will be awarded a numerical grade that indicates their current progress towards their target grade. This will be fine graded with a + sign to determine students who are more secure in their grades than others, e.g. 4 – predicted to achieve the standard of a grade 4 student. (probable grade 4) 4+ - predicted to achieve the securely achieve the standard of a grade 4 student and could with a little more work achieve a grade 5. (certain grade 4) The level of achievement will be compared to national progress 8 estimates and students reports to parents will be colour coded based on their child’s progress compared to the national average for their entry ability. Red – below national average Amber – in line with national average Green – well above national average

1.4 Key Stage 4

At Key Stage 4 attainment is reported using a refined GCSE grading system. This uses a plus sign to identify how secure students are within a grade boundary. For the next year this will be a mix of the numerical grades (see above) and also GCSE letter grades (see below) An example for the potential report grades of a grade B student is given below. B+ - This means the student is 100% certain to achieve a grade B, and they have a chance of achieving a grade A. (CERTAIN B)

Dated: June 2016 To be reviewed: Sept 2017 5

B – This means the student has a good chance of achieving a grade B (around 80%). However due to variable test performance the member of staff cannot be certain this grade will be achieved.(PROBABLE B) C+ - This means the student is 100% certain to achieve a grade C, and they have a chance of achieving a grade B. (POSSIBLE B)

1.4 Key Stage 5

At Key Stage 5 attainment is reported using standard exam board grades or levels.

1.5 Correcting spelling, punctuation and grammar

At KS3 and 4 the following codes will be used.

Dated: June 2016 To be reviewed: Sept 2017 6

2.0 Faculty Marking Policies

Faculties will have their own marking policies to cover subject specific elements, however all areas of the school policy will be incorporated.

3.0 Quality Assurance

Quality assurance will be conducted by Heads of Faculty supported by their LT Line Manager and members of the faculty. Within each faculty area, there will be a calendar of quality assurance that will take place throughout the year. Each faculty will carry out samples of work via the QA cycle on a regular basis, this will inform the level of challenge and consistency/accuracy of assessment data. In addition to this LT will also carry out holistic work samples across a particular focus.

Dated: June 2016 To be reviewed: Sept 2017 7

Appendix

Life after levels at Ashfield School

Rationale

From 2017 GCSE grades will cease to exist in their current format, and will instead be replaced by numbers in the range 1-9, with 1 being the

lowest grade. In order to bring our assessment into line with this Ashfield school will be implementing a 5 year learning programme with

consistent use of the numerical system from year 7. This will enable students, staff and parents to clearly identify which students are falling

behind and which are doing well.

Rough letter grade vs number grade equivalence

As can be seen below there is no direct translation for a particular number equating to an exact letter, however it is thought that a grade 4 will be

approximately a grade C. It can also be seen that the top grade of a 9 will be made up only of the very top of the old A* grade; this is projected to

be around 3% of students nationally.

Dated: June 2016 To be reviewed: Sept 2017 8

Ashfield schools new system Students will arrive in KS2 with a standardised test score from English and Maths. This score will determine the traget grade (TAG) they will be

set; this TAG will include both a final year 11 target and an end of year target. (see below). The TAG is highly aspirational in terms of progress

8 scores. In most cases if students hit their TAG they will be at least 0.5 grades above the national average.

Dated: June 2016 To be reviewed: Sept 2017 9

nu

rtu

re

Wel

l Bel

ow

av

erag

e

Bel

ow

ave

rage

Just

Bel

ow

aver

age

Age

rel

ate

d

aver

age

abo

ve a

vera

ge

wel

l ab

ove

av

erag

e

Exce

pti

on

al

KS2 points 80-84 85-89 90-94 95 -99

100 -104

105-110

111-120 121+

Ks2 level

Below 3C 3C 3b/3a 4C 4b/4a 5C 5B/5A

Level 6

Expected

progress

Expected

progress

Expected

progress

Expected

progress

Expected

progress

Expected

progress

Expected

progress

Expected

progress

New grade

Old Grade

9+ A**

EP 11 9 A*+ (9)

8+ A*+ (8)

EP 11 8 A*

EP 10 7+ A+

7 A

EP 11 EP 10 EP 9 6+ A

6 B+

EP 10 EP 9 EP 8 5+ B

EP 11 5 C+

EP 11 EP 9 EP 8 EP 7 4+ C

EP 10 4 D+

Dated: June 2016 To be reviewed: Sept 2017 10

EP11 EP 10 EP 9 EP 8 EP 7

entry point 3+ D

EP 11 EP 10 EP 9 EP 8 EP 7 entry point 3 E+

EP 11 EP 10 EP 9 EP 8 EP 7 entry point

2+ E

EP 10 EP 9 EP 8 EP 7 entry point

2 F+

EP 9 EP 8 EP 7 entry point

1+ F

EP 8 EP 7 entry point

1 G+

EP 7 entry point 1- G

entry point

The blue, yellow and green columns identify the 3 distinct streams of students’ ability on entry.

As you can see we will also incorporate the + grade system for further refinment in both target setting and reporting.

What does a plus grade TAG mean?

The plus grade signifies that students are expected to get the said grade in most subject areas, however they should also be getting the grade

above in 1 or more areas of their progress 8 curriculum.

What does a plus grade on a report card mean?

Within our reporting system the + grade indicates that staff are certain that the student will achieve the said level by the end of the year.

Dated: June 2016 To be reviewed: Sept 2017 11

The new report card – exemplar KS3

Student name Year KS2 score TAG (Y8) TAG

Ryan Taylor 8 108 3+ 6+

Subject Behaviour for learning score predicted Y8 Grade Progress difference

from TAG

Maths 3 4 0.5

English 4 3+ 0

Science 2 2+ -1

Humanities 4 3 -0.5

French 4 3+ 0

Drama 4 4+ 1

Music 4 4 0.5

Overall ebacc progress estimate -0.2

Dated: June 2016 To be reviewed: Sept 2017 12

The main thrust of the new system Is to focus in on the progress students are making from their given starting points. In order to make this

easier for parents to understand the following colour coding will be used;

Excellent progress (above TAG)

Good progress (progress 8 of 0.3 or aboveon TAG)

Progress watch, just below TAG but within error margins for

dataAverage progress (progress 8 of 0)

Progress concerns, interventions and extra help may be

requiredImprovement required (progress 8 below 0)

There will also be an overall progress estimate, which for KS3 will include Ebacc subjects only, and for KS4 will include the full complement of

weighted progress 8 subject areas. An example of a Y11 report card can be seen below;

Dated: June 2016 To be reviewed: Sept 2017 13

Dated: June 2016 To be reviewed: Sept 2017 14

Roll out

For academic year 2015-16 the school is still working with NC levels and GCSE letter grades other than in English and Maths Y10 (who are

already on the new GCSE).

From September 2016 the school will move onto the new number system, with all faculties developing differentiated schemes of work and

methods of assessment to ensure that the tracking of students progress is as robust as possible. They will also ensure there are clear links to the

new 5 year programme of study, which aims to prepare students for the increased rigour of the new GCSE system.

General Data Protection Regulation All data within this policy will be processed in line with the requirements and protections set out in the General Data Protection Regulation.