Reporting and Assessment

Key Stage 3 Reports

You will receive a progress report for your child at the end of each school term. The report will contain information about the following areas:

Subject and Subject Content Covered - The subjects your child studies and the topics they have covered this term

Key Assessment Percentage - The percentage attainment score based on your child’s understanding and application of the knowledge acquired during the topics studies this term

Expected Range Percentage - this is the band of percentages that the school expects most students, who are working at the appropriate level, to achieve

• If your child's score is within this range:

  • They are performing on track or as expected. They are successfully learning the required curriculum content.

• If your child's score is above this range:

  • They are performing at a high level or exceeding expectations. They have a deep understanding of the material.

• If your child's score is below this range:

  • They are performing at an emerging level or below expectations. They may need some extra support or focus to catch up to the expected level.

Engagement and Behaviour - In addition, students also receive ratings from their teachers, reflecting their general attitude to learning in school. Teachers rate student Engagement in lessons and their Behaviour using a A to D scale. This scale is: A (Excellent), B (Good), C (Inconsistent), and D (Unacceptable). The engagement score represents their attitude to learning in lessons, work ethic and completion of homework. Behaviour reflects the general conduct of students in lessons. 

Key Stage 3 Assessment

Each year group undertakes a range of Key Learning Tasks (KLTs) and Key Assessment Tasks (KATs) across the academic year. KLTs are used to develop learning and provide students with guidance on how to improve. KATs are used in a similar way to give feedback to students about improvement but they are also graded. The reporting and assessment approaches for each year are detailed below.

Year 7, 8 and 9 – Threshold Curriculum

Learning is structured in three cycles throughout each year. Each cycle is composed of three key areas (outlined below) to ensure students are given time to reflect and respond to feedback from assessments.

In each subject, there will be a Key Learning Tasks during the cycles, where teachers provide feedback to students about how they can improve. At the end of the cycle, students complete Key Assessment Tasks (KAT), which give a percentage attainment score. These will be completed during lesson time and different subjects have different formats depending on the most suitable format for the subject. Some subjects (PE, Drama, Music, Art) may assess performance towards achieving the threshold concepts over a range of lessons.

Typically, KATs will include multiple choice questions, short answer questions, vocabulary questions and questions that assess application through extended writing or problem solving, depending on the subject. They will also test learning from previous cycles as this has been shown to help students remember what they have learnt in the long term. The aim of the task is to determine the extent to which the curriculum has been understood and the student can apply their knowledge.

Year 9 content is designed to bridge the gap between lower school and GCSE, using some GCSE skills but not yet introducing GCSE content. Assessments in Year 9 will still follow the same format as Y7 and Y8, with a KAT at the end of each cycle but the questions may include some of the style and wording that students will experience in their GCSEs.

Scoring of Key Assessment Tasks

Students will initially receive a percentage score for each KAT from their subject teachers, based on an agreed mark scheme and standardisation process. The percentage attainment is then analysed and an Expected Range Percentage is calculated, based on our expectation of student performance in each subject. This is derived by calculating the average performance for each assessment and then setting upper and lower bands for expected performance, similar to the way exam boards calculate GCSE outcomes. This will then allow you to see your child’s attainment and their progress compared to the expected progress of all students in their year group.