We use assessment to ascertain where students are in their learning journey and use this to inform classroom teaching, targeted support, and curriculum development.
Students are continually assessed in lessons and through homework tasks. Assessment in class takes a variety of forms, including:
- Low stakes quizzes
- Targeted questioning
- Mini-whiteboards
- Live marking
- Recall
Summative Assessment
Summative assessments are age-appropriate assessments, delivered in a timely manner, carefully mapped to the curriculum to ensure that substantive knowledge has been remembered, developing the components needed to build towards composites or end-points. Assessment outcomes allow feedback to be given to students and inform future teaching and possible interventions.
Students are assessed periodically in all subjects. Assessments take place at different times of the term for different subjects, depending on each department’s curriculum. Students will undertake a minimum of between two to four more formal assessments which will be reported upon in detail; the number of assessments of this nature undertaken depends on the number of teaching hours allocated to a subject.
Following a summative assessment students will be given valuable feedback and suitable time through DIRT work to secure any gaps in knowledge and understanding before moving on.
Parental involvement
It is important at St Francis Xavier School that parents and carers are involved in student progress and have the opportunity to share in their child’s learning. Marked assessments are sent home with cover sheets, in the form of “I can” statements, wherein staff have detailed the strengths and weakness which have been highlighted in the piece of work. We ask that students record the details of the assessment in planners and that parents and carers spend time with students revisiting assessments. Parents are asked to record in the student planner when they have seen the assessment and feedback, and are encouraged to comment with their thoughts. Staff will check planners in order to respond to parental views when necessary. Assessment front covers are also published on the parent portal.
Access Arrangements for Exams
Grading system
All assessments are graded with a 1-9 grading system which feed into the 1-9 GCSE grades which students are working towards by year 11. Our grading system works on a sliding scale so that allocated grades are age appropriate; for example, a grade 7 at year 9 will show progress in both skills and knowledge from a grade 7 in year 8.
A grade 4 is recognised as a standard pass and a grade 5 is a strong pass. A grade 7 is approximately equivalent to the “old” A grade. A grade 9 is recognised as an exceptional grade beyond the previous A* grade. In GCSE’s a grade 9 with be awarded nationally to around 4% of students in all subjects.
Termly reports
As well as receiving front cover reports for assessments, students, parents and carers are also provided with termly progress reports which inform of a current grade and attitude to learning in every subject. Progress checks are also published on the parent portal.
