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The Marlborough Science Academy

Assessment

Our aim is to provide an assessment system that is understood by students, staff and parents so that everyone can see how students are progressing. 

Assessment at Key Stage 3 
How we track progress

Each subject has produced an assessment grid of “I can” statements that are used to assess students’ progress. For some subjects, these are broken down into learning pathways: Developing, Securing and Extending, and each student is allocated to a pathway based on their average Key Stage 2 score. Students on the Developing pathway require more support with their learning, whilst those on the Extending pathway are more independent learners and require less support to access their learning.

Using the assessment grids, staff will decide if a student is “working towards”, “on track” or “showing greater depth” in their learning. Please watch the video below for more information about assessment at Key Stage 3:

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The assessment grids for each subject can be found here.

How we report to parents/carers

Once a term we send a grade card home showing the progress of each student. As well as progress information we also include the following:

MidYIS
Diagnostic tests used by the school to test the principal forms of reasoning. Scores range from 60 to 140, with scores between 85 and 115 showing an average ability in each area for a student’s age. Scores above 115 show a student is above average in a particular area and scores below 85 suggest a student is below average for their age and may need some extra support. For more information on understanding MidYIS click here

Attendance
The percentage of sessions a student has been present in school this year. There is strong correlation between a student’s attendance at school and the progress they make.

Lates
The number of times a student has been late to their lessons this year. 

Achievement Points
Broken down into the total number of:

  • House points
  • Values - worth 5 house points
  • Pinkies - worth 20 house points

Communication and Teamwork, Engagement with Learning and Home Learning Completion
For each grade card that is sent home, alongside the assessment information, staff also report on other aspects of a students' work. These include:

  • Communication and Teamwork - how effectively a student communicates both with staff and other students.  How well a student works collaboratively.
  • Engagement with Learning - the attitude a student shows to their learning, both class learning and home learning.
  • Home Learning Completion - this indicates how effective a student is at meeting home learning deadlines.

Each of these is graded by the class teacher as:

  • Outstanding
  • Good
  • Requires improvement
  • Not acceptable

Progress
Using the work and assessments produced by the students, each class teacher measures the progress of a student compared to “I can” statements in the assessment grid to say whether by the end of the academic year the student will be:

Showing Greater Depth

The student will have demonstrated a deep understanding of the skills and content of the assessment grid.

On Track

The student will have successfully demonstrated an understanding of the majority of the skills in the assessment grid.

Working Towards

The student will still have gaps in their knowledge when compared to the assessment grid.
Assessment at Key Stage 4 and 5 
How we track progress

As students are working through their courses, teachers predict the grade (MLO - most likely outcome) they think the student is likely to achieve at the end of Year 11 for Key Stage 4 or Year 13 for Key Stage 5. This prediction can then be compared with their end of Year 11 or Year 13 target to see if they are on track.

Target Setting
Targets are set to challenge students and encourage them to strive for their best. At Key Stage 4 students have targets to aim for by the end of Year 11. The targets are the grade a student would achieve if they were to make progress from their starting point that would put them in the top 20% of the country. We are supported in producing these by the Fischer Family Trust (FFT) who have access to the progress of all students nationally from prior years.

Whatever their targets are we encourage all students to aspire to exceed them. At Key Stage 5 we are supported by the DfE to produce similar targets for our sixth form students. Key Stage 4 targets are based on a student’s performance in their Key Stage 2 tests and at Key Stage 5 they are based on their GCSE performance.

Changes in Grades and School Performance
Since 2017, GCSE grades have changed from A*-G to 9-1. Click here for more information on how the grades compare. The measures that are used to compare schools have also changed over recent years, particularly with the introduction of Progress 8. Click here for more information on Progress 8.

How we report to parents

Once a term we send a grade card home showing the progress of each student.  As well as progress information we also include the following:

MidYIS
Diagnostic tests are used by the school to test the principal forms of reasoning. Scores range from 60 to 140 with scores between 85 and 115 showing an average ability in each area for a student’s age. Scores above 115 show a student is above average in a particular area and scores below 85 suggest a student is below average for their age and may need some extra support. For more information on understanding MidYIS click here

Attendance
The percentage of sessions a student has been present in school this year. There is strong correlation between a student’s attendance at school and the progress they make.

Lates
The number of times a student has been late to their lessons this year. 

Achievement Points
Broken down into the total number of:

  • House points
  • Values - worth 5 house points
  • Pinkies - worth 20 house points

Communication and Teamwork, Engagement with Learning and Home Learning Completion
For each grade card that is sent home, alongside the assessment information, staff also report on other aspects of a students' work. These include:

  • Communication and Teamwork - how effectively a student communicates both with staff and other students.  How well a student works collaboratively.
  • Engagement with Learning - the attitude a student shows to their learning, both class learning and home learning.
  • Home Learning Completion - this indicates how effective a student is at meeting home learning deadlines.

Each of these is graded by the class teacher as:

  • Outstanding
  • Good
  • Requires improvement
  • Not acceptable

Most Likely Outcome (Key Stage 4 and 5)
For each grade card, the class teacher reports a prediction for the end of Year 11 for students in Key Stage 4 and for the end of Year 13 in Key Stage 5. 

Fine Grades (Key Stage 4 and 5)
When a teacher predicts an MLO they use a fine grade. For example, a student who is predicted a grade 5 will be given a 5c, 5b or 5a. A 5c is just starting to show grade 5 skills, a 5b is a solid grade 5 and a 5a is the top end of grade 5, almost working at grade 6.

Meeting Expectations
Each time we send a grade card home we compare the MLO predicted by the staff to the student’s target. 

Working Beyond

Indicates a student is working above expectation.

Working At

Indicates a student is working at expectation.

Working Towards

Indicates a student is working below their expectation.

 

 

 

 

 

Meeting expectations should always be considered in conjunction with the Communication and Teamwork, Engagement with Learning and Home Learning Completion grades. If all of these are Good or Outstanding then a student should be congratulated even if they are working towards as the targets are challenging and students’ progress at different rates.

Should you have any questions about assessment at Marlborough please contact Mr A Stanton, Deputy Headteacher.