The Kingsbrook School

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Assessment & Reporting

Assessment

Assessing pupils is important in schools because it helps teachers understand how well pupils are learning, and how they can help pupils to improve. 

At The Kingsbrook School, we use assessment to:

  • Identify learning gaps - Assessments can help teachers identify areas where students might need more help or practice.
  • Provide feedback - Assessments can help students improve by providing feedback that helps them identify their strengths and weaknesses.
  • Track progress - Assessments can help teachers monitor student progress and plan how to help students make further progress.
  • Involve parents - Assessments can help schools report information to parents about their child's learning.
  • Set goals - Assessments can help schools set targets for the future and measure their performance.
  • Inform professional development - Assessments can provide data that informs professional development and training for teachers.
  • Help students make choices - Assessments can help older students make choices about their examination courses, qualifications, and careers (e.g. GCSE Options).

There are different types of assessments we use at Kingsbrook, including:

  • Diagnostic assessments - Used at the beginning of a course or unit to assess students' prior knowledge and skills
  • Summative assessments - Used to assess how far a child has come and what they have achieved, such as end of topic tests, GSCEs, and A Levels
  • Self & Peer assessments - Involves students evaluating each other's work, which can help students develop communication and collaboration skills

KS3  Assessment

Since the abolition of National Curriculum Levels for Key Stage 3, all schools have developed their own ways to assess and report attainment at Key Stage 3.

Recognising the benefits of developing a shared approach to assessment across IAT, staff have been developing shared, subject specific assessment criteria that will be used by all IAT Secondary Schools. Schools have now started to assess students against these criteria, enabling the identification of students’ strengths and their gaps in knowledge and therefore, areas they need to focus on or may need further support with. These level descriptors, along with an explanation of how ‘attainment’ and ‘progress’ will be reported can be found in these Key Stage 3 Level Descriptor booklets.

Alongside the use of these shared level descriptors, IAT schools are currently in the process of adopting a new tracking system called Pupil Progress. This will enable details of both attainment and progress to be reported home to parents and carers through detailed subject specific reports and through the use of a  Parent app.

 

KS4 & KS5 Assessment

In September 2024, IAT Secondary Schools started to use a tracking platform called Pupil Progress to record students’ attainment and progress throughout Key Stage 4 and 5.

This platform enables Attainment to be reported for a specific assessment, for example, a mock examination grade, or as an average grade over a number of assessments. Progress Grades compare a student’s attainment towards their Minimum Target Grade.

IAT schools are in the process of moving Key Stage 4 and 5 reports over to Pupil Progress. When this is completed, schools will be able to share detailed information with students, parents, and carers to include details of gaps in knowledge, and therefore, areas for improvement using a Parent app or through detailed reports.

As our first Year 10 cohort will start their GCSE studies in September 2025, we will be using this system from this date. 

Reporting Attainment & Progress to Parents & Carers

At The Kingsbrook School, we value the importance of collaborative working between home and school. A pupils' journey through school is not solely within the walls of the classroom - It's a shared endeavour between teaching staff and parents/carers. Recent research underscores the positive influence of home-school partnerships on a pupils' learning and development. When parents are actively engaged in their child's education, pupils tend to have better attendance, improved behaviour, and higher academic achievement. 

Every academic year, we provide parents and carers to come into school to view pupils' learning in school and meet with teachers to discuss attainment and progress across our curriculum. In addition, parents receive two reports home every academic year which detail attainments and progress in all curriculum subjects. The key dates for the 2024-2025 academic year can be found below.

CLICK HERE: Assessment & Reporting Key Dates 2024-2025