Assessment

Assessment

Years 7, 8 and 9 Assessment:

The Department for Education (DfE) has removed the assessment system of National Curriculum levels and is not replacing it. By removing levels teachers have greater flexibility in the way they plan and assess students’ learning. Schools are expected to have in place approaches to formative assessment that support student attainment and progression. Progress and achievement should be communicated in terms of descriptive profiles, rather than numerical summaries.

Wood Green Academy has responded to this directive and has developed a system of Key Stage 3 assessment that uses subject specific criteria to indicate if a student in “on track” to achieve their GCSE Target Grade.

Current Performance:

Above Track	Based on current work and assessment, it is likely that your child will exceed their GCSE target grade/ number IF they continue to work at a consistent rate.
On Track	Based on current work and assessment, it is likely that your child will meet their GCSE target grade/ number IF they continue to work at a consistent rate.
Below Track	Based on current work and assessment, it is likely that your child will not meet their GCSE target grade/ number IF they continue to work at their current rate.

It is an expectation that all students make progress over time. The Progress Path below has been designed as a guide to what this progress may look like for most students:

(Year 7-11 Skills Development and Core PE; Year 9 Religious Studies/ Computing KS4 Entitlement):

These are non- GCSE/ qualification courses. However, students are regularly assessed to ensure they are challenged in lessons and that they make clear progress. Students will be assessed at their “Stage of Mastery” within these curriculum areas.

Excelling	Working well above expectation in the subject
Securing	Working beyond expectation in the subject
Achieving	Working at expectation in the subject
Developing	Working towards expectation in the subject
Emerging	Working below expectation in the subject

Year 10, 11, 12 and 13 Assessment:

Students will be given a predicted grade for each GCSE course. This is an indication of the grade/number that your child is likely to achieve at the end of the course, if they continue to work at the current rate.

New GCSE courses are awarded numbers (1-9) rather than traditional grades (A*-G). Legacy GCSE courses are still awarded A*-G grades.

New A level courses are awards A*-E grades.

With each prediction, a fine grade will be indicated:

+	Boost	Student is working at the top of this grade and should aim for the next grade
=	Firm	Student is secure in this grade
–	Fragile	Student is fragile in this grade and this grade is not yet secure

Supporting from Home:

Know your child’s current performance and GCSE targets in their subjects.
Check your child’s homework via ClassCharts and offer them help, support and encouragement.
Look through your child’s exercise books and folders to see the targets they have been set by their teachers to support progress. Encourage and support them to take on-board this advice.
Where a student has used purple pen in their books, this should show reflection and progress; praise and encourage your child when you can see this is having an impact on their work.

Literacy:

Encourage your child to read magazines, comics, newspapers and websites, as well as books.
Make time to read together.
Buy a book, book token or a magazine as a present or reward.
Consider getting a subscription to a magazine on nature, sports, science or another topic that interests your child.
Talk with your child frequently about what he or she is reading in addition to current affairs and relevant topics.
Encourage children to express and justify opinions.
Help your child to work out the meanings of unfamiliar words and encourage them to use a dictionary.
Look for opportunities for purposeful writing at home, and encourage your child to read and write letters, lists, messages, postcards, thank-you notes, etc.
Provide interesting stationery, journals, pens and stickers to encourage writing.
Play various word games to develop spellings and vocabulary, such as Scrabble.
Look through your child’s exercise books to see their strengths and areas for development.
Use sites such as BBC Bitesize, The National Literacy Trust, BBC Skillswise, or the Literacy Area on the Wood Green Academy website.

Numeracy:

Play numeracy based games with your child; perhaps compete to see who can best estimate the shopping bill in the supermarket, or even the journey time in a car.
Question them about sale prices when you’re out shopping; this can involve percentage reductions or ‘3 for the price of 2’ type offers. Best buy questions are increasingly popular on exams and are of great practical use. Compare offers on bulk buy products versus smaller packs with your child. Ask them how much it is for a single item when buying items in a multi pack.
When planning a journey, particularly if you are using public transport, encourage your child to take part. Can they read a timetable? Can they work out when you should set off to reach your destination on time
Involve your child in cookery, timings for meals can take serious working out! In particular, baking with your child can help as they may have to calculate proportions from a recipe. For example, if 600g of flour is required for a cake for 4, how much flour do I need for 6 people?
One of the most useful things for your child to do outside of school is learn their times tables! If times tables come naturally, this enables children to focus on how to solve the problem in hand rather than putting all of their mental effort into numerical processes.
If you see a graph in a newspaper or magazine, have a conversation with your child about what the graph shows.
Look through your child’s exercise books for comments by the teacher and their targets so you are aware of their strengths and weaknesses.
Use sites such as BBC bitesize, National Numeracy Trust, Nrich, or the Numeracy Area on the Wood Green Academy Website.

Wood Green Academy is an 11-19 over-subscribed National Support School specialising in Sport, Maths and Computing.

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