QueenElizabeth’sGirls’School

AparentalguidetoKeyStage3AssessmentwithoutLevels

Year9(2016/17)NowthatthegovernmenthaveremovedNationalCurriculumLevelsatKS3allschoolsneedtoadoptanewwayofassessingstudents.Schoolsneedtofollowamodelfromtheapprovedgovernment-fundedpilotsandtheonewehaveoptedforisoneofthemostpopularwithschoolsthatwasdevelopedatDurringtonHighSchool,WestSussex.

Theprinciplesbehindtheapproachareasfollows:

• It is important to let students and parents/carers know the progress being made, relative tostudents’startingpointsfromtheendofKS2.

• Thereshouldbenolimittowhatstudentsthinktheycanachieve–theiraspirationsshouldbehigh.• Theprogressofallstudents,fromallstartingpoints,shouldbecelebrated.• Theapproachwillsupportthehome-schoolpartnershiptobetterunderstandwherethefocuson

improvementlies.Howdoweassessstudents?Whenstudentscometosecondaryschool,weroutinelymakeuseoftheirKS2MathslevelandKS2English(reading)leveltodeterminetheirstartingpointfromwhichtomeasuretheirprogress.Alongsidethisourschool looks at the results from the Cognitive Ability Tests, which highlight strengths and areas fordevelopment. Nationally, there is a strong correlationbetween this data andhow students performatGCSE,asshowninthetablebelow:

Priorability(KS2Level)

GCSE(New)

GCSE(Legacy)

5a+ 9-8 A*5 7-6 A-B4 5-4 B-C3-2 3-1 D-G

Teachersuse this information in theirplanning, teachingandassessment. Whenplanning their lessons,teachersthinkaboutthetopictheclasswillbedoing,bybreakingitdownintofourthresholds:

Threshold Description ShouldachieveExcellence Aimedatstudentswithastartingpointofahighlevel5inKS2 9-8(A*)atGCSESecure Aimedatstudentswithastartingpointofalevel5inKS2 7-6(A/B)atGCSE

Developing Aimedatstudentswithastartingpointoflevel4inKS2 5-4(B/C)atGCSEFoundation Aimedatstudentswithastartingpointoflevel2-3inKS2 3-1(D-G)atGCSE

Teacherswillusetheinformationtheyhaveaboutthestartingpointofeachstudent,tohelpeachstudentmoveupthroughthethresholds–withtheaspirationbeingthatallstudentswillaimtowardsexcellence.

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ReportingtoParents/CarersinYear9

A data report will be sent home four times a year. When making judgements on students’ progress,teacherswilluseavarietyofpiecesofwork.Thismaytaketheformofatest,anassessedpieceofwritingor other piece of work. At each assessment point, subject teachers will determine which of the fourthresholdsthestudentiscurrentlyperformingwithin.

CurrentThreshold ExpectedGCSEoutcomebasedoncurrentperformance

Excellence 9-8(A*)Secure 7-6(A/B)

Developing 5-4(B/C)Foundation 3-1(D-G)

Inaddition to theCurrentThreshold, teacherswillmake judgmentson students’progressbycomparingthe Current Threshold to the KS2 starting point. Progress is measured individually for each student inrelationtotheirstartingpoint.

ColourExceptionalprogress Blue

Goodprogress DarkgreenExpectedprogress Lightgreen

Lessthanexpectedprogress OrangeCauseforconcern Red

Please note that students at each KS2 starting point can be judged to be making exceptional, good,expectedorlessthanexpectedprogress.

Exceptional progress does not necessarily mean that a student will achieve a top GCSE grade. TheExpectedGCSEBandgivesanindicationoflikelyoutcomeatGCSE.Finally,teacherswillmakeajudgmentaboutstudents’AttitudetoLearning.AssessmentFeedbackSheetsThesecanbefoundinstudents’exercisebooksandgiveanoverviewoftheunitortopiccompletedandtheexpectationsintermsofcoreknowledgeandskills.Feedbackisgiventoeachstudentasfollows,

• WhatWorkedWell?(WWW)• EvenBetterIf(EBI)

Thisisparticularlyimportantwhereastudentisnotmakingexpectedprogressasitshowswhatactionisrequiredtosupportimprovement.

Youwillfindanexampleofastudentreportonpage3.

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Example

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FrequentlyAskedQuestions(FAQs)

1. My daughter achieved a level 5 inMaths at KS2 and in her first data report ismaking ‘less thanexpectedprogress’.Whyissheunderachieving?

Thereisaverystronglinkbetweenteacherexpectationofwhatstudentscanachieveandthenhowtheyachieve.Withthisismind,whenwereviewedourKS3curriculum,weraisedthebarofexpectationacrossthewholeofKS3aswewanted to stretchand challengeall students. This is in linewith thenewGCSEspecificationsthatincludethenewgrade9atthetopend,morerigorandtheremovalofcourseworkinsomesubjects.StudentswithahighstartingpointatKS2,willthenbeassessedrelativetothiswhentheyjoinus–sothecriteriainthesecureandexcellencethresholdwillbedeliberatelychallenging.Asaresult,youshouldnotbealarmedthatyourdaughterisnotyetmakingexpectedprogressinthefirstterm.Whatisimportantishowsherespondstothefeedbackgiventoherbyherteachersandthatshecontinuestoprogress.

2. Whenmydaughtergetsherdatareportandthereis ‘lessthanexpected’ insomesubjects, it’snotverymotivationalisit?

Wewanttobehonestwithourassessmentofstudents.Forstudentstomoveonwiththeirlearningtheyneedtoknowtheirareasforimprovement,sotheycanaddressthem.Itwouldbeunfairtogivestudentsafalseimpressionoftheirperformance,asthatwouldnotflaguptothemwhattheyneedtodotoimprovetheirprogress.

3. MydaughterhasTargetGCSEBand7-6butinMathsherexpectedGCSEbandis5-4,whichthereportsaysisExpectedProgress.Whyisthis?

ItwillonlyshowasExpectedProgressifastudentisatthetopofthe5-4range.Shouldtheyfallanylowerinforthcomingassessmentsitwillbeflaggedupasbeing‘lessthanexpectedprogress’inafuturereport.

4. Mydaughterhasmostly1sforAttitudetoLearning,butisstillmaking‘lessthanexpectedprogress’insomesubjects.Whyisthis?

Formost students, there shouldbea correlationbetweenAttitude to Learningand theirprogress i.e. iftheseareallstrong(graded1)wewouldexpectthemtobemakingatleastexpectedprogress.However,theremaybeexceptionstothis.Forexample,astudentwithahighKS2startingpointinEnglishandMathsmaybemakinggoodprogress in somesubjects,but less thanexpectedprogress inothers.Thismaybeparticularlysoforpracticalsubjectsforexample.

If you have any queries/questions about your daughter’s progress within a subject, please do nothesitate to contact their subject teacher. If your queries are more general i.e. across a number ofsubjects,pleasecontactyourdaughter’sHeadofYear.

Pleaseusetheboxbelowtogivefeedbackaboutthenewassessmentmodeloraskquestions.

AssessmentWithoutLevels–FeedbackandQuestions

StudentName:Form:Pleasereturntotheschoolreception