Stonehenge School Amesbury

Assessment

Key stage 3

From September 2014 the Secretary of State has decided that the previous system of national curriculum levels were no longer a requirement.

We have therefore developed our own formative approach to KS3 assessment which means that students are able to receive feedback on each of the key skills that they will need in order to progress onto being secure in key aspects of knowledge before their GCSE studies. The system uses a series of statements for each subjects that are written as ‘I can’ statements. For example in English they may have the statement ‘I can use interesting vocabulary’.

During Key Stage 3 students are assessed against their ability to demonstrate certain skills in each subject. For each subject a student will be asked to demonstrate each skill in the work they complete over a period of time and then the teacher assesses how well that skill has been demonstrated, using the following four key words: emerging, developing, secured and mastered. Each of these key words mean the following:

Emerging: there is some evidence that the student has demonstrated this skill, but not with any confidence.

Developing: there is evidence of the student demonstrating this skill on a more regular basis, but not always correctly.

Secured: there is evidence that the student is demonstrating this skill correctly and on a regular basis.

Mastered: there is evidence that this students is demonstrating this skill correctly, with minimal support or intervention from the teacher.

Trackpoint and Data Analysis

Within Year 7, 8 and 9 parents/guardians/carers will receive 3 reports a year. The teacher will report on progress within the subject using the method described above. The report will also include and Attitude to Learning grades that reflect their effort in class and HW.

In Year 10 and 11 parents/guardians/carers will receive 6 reports a year (5 in Year 11). The teacher will report on predicted grade within the subject. The report will also include behaviour and homework grades.

GCSE RESULTS ARE CHANGING

GCSEs in England are being reformed and will be graded with a new scale from 9 to 1, with 9 being the highest grade. English literature, English language and maths will be the first subjects to be graded in this way from August 2017. The subjects with the highest numbers of candidates (e.g. arts, humanities, languages) will follow in 2018 and most others in 2019. This is happening as GCSEs are being reformed to make them more challenging, to keep pace with employers’ and universities demands. In the first year each new GCSE subject is introduced, students who would have got a grade C or better will get a grade 4 or better. Students who would have got a Grade A or better will get a 7 or better in the first year. Grade 9 will be more difficult to achieve than a grade A*. The extra top grade will also make it easier for employers and universities to distinguish between the most able students To see how the numbered grades compare to the current A* to G system, click here or Google “ofqual 9 to 1 postcard”. More information about when subjects will switch to the new grades is available on the Ofqual website here.

Information for candidates re the use of social media click here

 

GCSE Exam Success

The results from our Year 11 of 2017 again showed the hard work and dedication of our specialist teaching staff.  In a year of great challenge, with the newly reformed English and Maths GCSE we are very proud of the results that we have produced.

The grades achieved in English and Maths show that we were in line with National average based on similar intake of our students:

The attainment levels achieved by students across the school, in all of the subjects studied were also in line with National attainment, in comparison to schools with a similar intake to ours:

Our top performing students included:

  • Christopher Oddie – 3 A*, 4 As, 3 Bs
  • Seona Mauchline – 4 A*, 3 A, 2 Bs, 1 C
  • Stefan Ingram – 3 A*, 3As, 3 Bs
  • Bethany Dunford – 2 A*, 7 As, 1 B
  • Mara Eagle – 1 A*, 7 As, 2 Bs
  • Tom Jones – 1 A*, 3 As, 5 Bs

In terms of the new progress measure called Progress 8 (which measures the amount of progress made by a student in Ebacc subjects such as English, Maths, science, history, geography and MfL, plus their other option subjects) we scored an average of -0.31, again broadly in line with the national average, and a reflection of the wide and varied curriculum that we have on offer.