Assessment
All assessment information should help learners to improve their learning. The use of good quality, consistent information plays a significant role in promoting improvement from learner level through to system level. It needs to be valid, reliable, manageable and meaningful for teachers, learners and other audiences. The assessment within the school, and across primary/secondary clusters, is designed to provide coherent information that demonstrates a shared understanding so that it can be used consistently across subjects and year groups.
Teaching &
Learning
Quality Marked
Assessments (QMAs)
All students complete a Quality Marked Assessment (QMA) during each half term. The task and success criteria for QMAs are shared with students and parents/carers on the Learning Plans. QMAs are assessment tasks that are carefully marked by teachers, where students are given formative feedback that they must respond to.
When undertaking Formative WWW/EBI Teacher Marking, students’ work is formatively marked in green pen for:
- a ‘What Went Well’ (WWW) comment: a subject specific formative comment
- an ‘Even Better If’ (EBI) this is a subject specific task that is actionable and furthers learning and/or addresses misconceptions. It should support continuous improvement and encourage a growth mindset. The EBI task can ask students to revisit a task that has been previously completed, or be built in to the next lesson’s task.
Teaching &
Learning
Monitoring and tracking
students’ progress within
and across year groups
To monitor and track learner progress against their potential targets, predicted grades and Attitude to Learning grades are submitted by classroom teachers to the SIMs Assessment Manager at regular intervals throughout the year. Teachers take account of relevant evidence, encompassing transferable skills as well as knowledge and understanding.
SIMS information is shared with Learning Directors, the School Leadership Team, Heads of Subject, Form Tutors and School Governors. The information is also shared with learners to support them in achieving their potential.
Elfed High School provides both qualitative and quantitative information in annual reports to parents/carers, informing them of progress in all national curriculum subjects. These reports provide learner specific information in the form of teacher specific comments and predicted grades and target grades. In addition, Interim All Achieve Reports are issued to update parents/carers throughout the year.
Teaching &
Learning
Assessment Terms
The whole school system is based on the following terms:
Levels (1 – 8 *see below) | during transition to the new curriculum, student work may be awarded a level, and transferred to a GCSE prediction using each subject’s ‘Mapping of Levels’ document |
Grades (A* – G (U) / A – E (U) | indicate GCSE (grades A* – G) U is unclassified |
L1/L2 P/M/D | indicate Level 1 or Level 2 vocational courses at Pass,
Merit or Distinction
|
Grades 3, 2 and 1 | indicate Entry Level assessments (3 is high) |
Target level/grade: | an aspirational level/grade for the end of year 11, based on prior performance as indicated through the use of FFT and CATS data. |
Predicted level/grade: | a realistic prediction of the grade at the end of year 11 based on current performance |
When determining this grade, considerations are: effort in class, organisation, engagement with home learning opportunities, Growth Mindset, motivation, behaviour
Outstanding | Students who ALWAYS show high standards in each of the above areas. |
Good | Students who USUALLY show good standards in each of the above areas. |
Inconsistent | Students who SOMETIMES meet standards in each of the above areas. |
Cause for Concern | Students who FREQUENTLY DO NOT meet expectations in most of the above areas. |
