Academic Reports

Students sit summative assessments approximately three times in a year. Twice in the year, the results of these will be sent home to parents along with information regarding their attitude towards learning. These results will also be closely analysed by departments so that they can make appropriate adjustments to their curriculum to get the best out of students in their classes.

These assessments are cumulative. In other words, they revisit topics and content that has been taught previously to determine how well this knowledge has been retained. Detailed lists of topics, as well as revision resources, will be provided to students prior to the assessments so they can adequately prepare. Additionally, teachers frequently and systematically weave retrieval tasks into their lessons so that students are re-exposed to that material regularly.

Percentages

The results from each assessment will be provided in the report as a percentage. In addition to this, the average percentage for your child’s attainment band will be provided to give you a direct comparison of their performance against other students with a similar entry point.

In years 7-11, the attainment band is determined from the results of their KS2 assessments completed in primary school. In sixth form, this is determined by the average score of the GCSE grades they achieved.

These averages are to be used as a reference point only, and should be treated with caution, particularly in subjects where the cohort size is small.

Currently Working At Grade - for exam groups (Year 11 onwards) only

For exam groups, students will be provided with a ‘Currently Working at’ grade. Whilst it is difficult for teachers to provide an exact grade part way through a course, this will have been considered holistically, taking into account elements of students’ performance in classwork, homework, coursework and assessments. 

Depending on the subject itself, teachers will determine how much emphasis is placed on these elements to make the working at grade as accurate as possible. For example, in Art there will be a greater emphasis on classwork produced which may contribute to their coursework compared to Science where a written assessment provides a greater indication of the amount of knowledge retained. It is important to bear in mind the length of time your child has as they work towards their final exams.

Please note that for Year 13, these grades are different to the predicted grades provided for university applications.