Assessment

Key Stage 3

In September 2018 we conducted an extensive review of the effectiveness and reliability of all assessment at Kingdown School to ensure assessments in all year groups are purposeful, accurate and reliable and provide relevant, meaningful and timely information to ensure students make sustained and substantial progress.

At KS3, all departments will now report a percentage attainment grade for knowledge-based assessments and summative assessments alongside an average percentage for students with a similar start point. Knowledge-based assessments test a students ability to retain the core knowledge required for the course they are studying, whereas summative-based assessments test a students ability to apply that knowledge. Feedback given from all these assessments aid each student to know their individual strengths and areas for development and enable all students to make progress across the key stage.

Each subject decides how many assessments they will conduct in order to fit into their curriculum; however, there will be at least one knowledge-based assessment and one summative-based assessment each term. We report this data home to parents at the end of Terms 2, 4 and 6.

Key Stage 4

For students in years 9 and 10, we issue a current attainment grade and a target grade for each student in all their subjects three times a year. In year 11 we issue twice a year a current attainment grade which students have been awarded based on a Mock Exam as well as a target and a professional prediction. This professional prediction is based on current attainment as well as attitude to learning. It indicates what a student is likely to achieve in each of their subjects in the summer examinations if they continue to work at their current level of effort and attainment.

Each subject designs their assessment points to fit with their curriculum; however, we report this data home to parents at the end of Terms 1, 3 and 6 for years 9 and 10 and report home for students in year 11 after the mock exam periods in November and March.

Attitude to Learning

In addition to the current attainment, at both key stages, we also grade each student’s attitude to learning in two categories: ‘Behaviour for Learning’ and ‘Preparation for Lessons’. Descriptors of the criteria used can be seen below. For each of these categories, teachers have graded each student using a scale where:

‘1’ indicates that your child is exceeding our high expectations and is ‘outstanding’ in that category.

‘2’ indicates that they are meeting our high expectations and are ‘good.’

‘3’ indicates that your child is not meeting our expectations, and therefore is a ‘cause for concern’.

Behaviour for Learning

Preparation for Lessons