Firstly, I must apologise that the intended communication to all Senior School parents, explaining the changes to the Assessment and Reporting schedule has not been sent out before now.
In brief, a review was carried out last year of our whole school assessment procedures in the Senior School, to ensure the most meaningful assessment of the right things at the right point in the curriculum. This has resulted in a more carefully coordinated calendar of assessment weeks, mock exams, public exams, monitoring reports and full reports, that is better designed to support students’ progress and academic outcomes.
As part of this review, it was decided that teaching staff should invest more time and energy into high quality marking and feedback throughout the year, that students respond to in a meaningful way to impact positively on their progress. Consequently, the total number of reports sent home during the course of the year has decreased in comparison with previous years, with the exception of the exam presentation years – Yr11 and Yr13. For students in all other year groups, you can expect to receive either a termly monitoring report or more detailed full report (including internal exam grades). Students in Years 11 and 13 will receive either a half-termly monitoring report or full report during the Autumn and Spring terms.
An important consequence of these changes is that you should find more constructive teacher feedback in your children’s work, that provides clear indications of what they have done well and what they need to do to improve. This is a development of our assessment practices across the Senior School and one we are confident will support all of our students in maximising their academic potential. Like all new initiatives, it may take a little time to bed in but please be assured that members of the senior management team are carrying out thorough reviews of marking across the school, to ensure that our high expectations are being met.
Christian Hughes
Deputy Head (Academic)
