KS4 Assessment and Reporting
Assessment and Reporting – Key Stage Four – A summary for parents
At Key Stage 4 (Y10-11), our aim is to provide meaningful opportunities for assessment and feedback, which equip our students to know, remember and do more so that they can be successful in their GCSE studies.
Assessments – Milestones and Progress Checks
All assessments will assess the GCSE content taught up to the point in the course in which the assessment is administered. The purpose of all assessment is three-fold:
- For the teacher to identify gaps in student knowledge and performance so that they can be ‘re-taught’ and/or provided with suitable revision materials to continue to work on gaps in knowledge.
- For the teacher/student and parent to know what level or grade the student is ‘working at’ and, if they continue to work at the same level, what they can expect to achieve in their GCSE examinations.
- To develop and rehearse the necessary exam skills and procedures in exam conditions so that these are familiar to students.
There are two types of assessment used by teachers at Nether Stowe:
- Milestones are larger assessments that are graded. These draw upon knowledge from a wider body of study testing students recall of knowledge as well as their application of knowledge.
- Progress Checks are smaller assessments that are ungraded. They seek to identify gaps in knowledge
Reporting to parents
When reports go home to parents the following information will be communicated for each subject:
MEG (Minimum expected grade)
WAG (Working at grade)
ATL (Attitude to Learning)
Attendance (Overall, not by subject)
Deciding a MEG:
A student’s MEG is essentially a target grade for the end of their KS4 studies. A MEG is generated using all the available data that we hold on a student but is primarily based on their KS2 End of Year 6 assessments. By comparing this information to the national datasets we are able to generate target grades. The MEG is set to balance realistic chances of success and aspiration and we are keen to emphasize that all students are capable of achieving significantly higher than their MEG, if they work hard and meet our expectations.
Deciding a Working At Grade (WAG):
A WAG will always be informed by a teacher’s professional judgement and the available data.
When deciding on a Working At Grade (WAG) for students staff will look to holistically place students into a grade using the criteria from the exam board.
When reporting to parents teachers will use all data available to them however the grade arrived at will be weighted heavily on the data gathered during the school’s assessment weeks.
Deciding an ATL:
This is teacher’s professional judgement and defined as:
- Superb. Meets all expectations most of the time
- Motivated. Meets most expectations most of the time
- Passive. Meets some expectations most of the time
- Serious concerns. Meets very few expectations most of the time
How do make sense of the report so I can help my son/daughter do better?
On the school’s website you will find a summary of each subject’s content:
Curriculum Overview – Nether Stowe School
Your son/daughter will have access to the following information for each subject:
- A copy of their assessment
- A copy of their assessment feedback
- A copy of a knowledge organiser or revision guide which contains a summary of what they have learned.
- On Showbie, in their lessons, each lesson will also have a ‘Key Knowledge Slide’ which gives a summary of the key factual knowledge in each lesson.
The best input from parents will be to make sure that your son/daughter knows what they must do to improve. Ask them:
- What did you do well in your assessment?
- What could you have done better?
- Can you show me how to do this better next time?
If your son/daughter cannot answer any one of these questions the answer will be in the assessment feedback lesson activities. If you or they are still unsure then please contact the school.
