Update to Secondary Student Reports

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

This year we have improved our school reporting system. We have made changes to the reports for all year groups and this following bulletin will explain the key information. When you receive the reports you will also have access to explanatory documents if needed.

 

Main Changes

Years 7-9

In order to make the information we provide more accessible, we will no longer be reporting on each individual strand within each subject. A student’s attainment will be reflected within one column. The attainment grade is decided by analysing a students progress against the key expectations for each subject, which will be provided. In addition, there will be reports which include strengths and targets for each subject. This will help students reflect on their learning and give them clear goals to work towards.

Year 13

We will now include two grades for our Year 13 students. One is their A2 grade which is solely based on their attainment in Year 13, and the other is their A level grade which is equally weighted between their AS grade (where applicable) and their attainment on the work they have covered in Year 13.

Attributes of Learning for all Years

After careful consideration , we have changed what will be reported on for our Attributes of Learning columns. Previously we had in Years 10 -13, Commitment, Communication, Critical Thinking, Creativity and Collaboration. In Years 7 – 9, we had Effort, Organisation, Collaboration and Home Learning. Although as teachers we recognise the significance and value of these, we believe that these attributes are more clearly categorised within Effort and Collaboration and have therefore moved to report on these two grades for all secondary Year groups.

Report Types

Transition Report for Year 7, 10 and 12:

In order to give an timely indication of the way your child has settled into the new year group, we report to you very early in the school year. We therefore do not include academic levels at this early stage. This report reflects a student’s effort and collaboration for each subject.

 

Short Reports:

This report details their attributes of learning grades and the level of attainment for each subject. For Years 7-9, the level of attainment is based on how the student is working towards the respective End of Year Expectations within each subject. There is more information about End of Year Expectations in the Report Keys section. For Years 10-13, attainment is assessed against the respective exam criteria.

 

Strength and Target Reports:

Reports in Year 7-9 include comments about students’ strengths and areas for improvements (targets) for each subject, based on the End of Year Expectations for that year. The Strength and Target reports for Year 10-13 students are similar to those for Year 7-9 but directly relate to the external assessment criteria. These reports, like the short reports, also include the child’s attainment, effort and collaboration levels.

 

Tutor Comments:

A report which includes tutor comments will focus on how the student has immersed themselves within the school ethos.

 

Report Dates

 

Years 7-9

 

Years 10-13

 

Report Keys

Attainment for Years 7-9 and End of Year Expectations 

Each Year 7, 8 and 9 subject has a series of clearly defined End of Year Expectations for where we would  expect a DBIS student to be, and are directly linked with the respective DBIS subject curricular. These Expectations will be shared with parents prior to first series of short reports.

They are graded in the manner shown below:

• Working significantly above age expected attainment

• Working above age expected attainment

• Working at age expected attainment

• Working towards age expected attainment

• Working below age expected attainment

 

Attainment for Years 10-13

Students will receive two grades:

Tracking – This is a holistic grade that accounts for all of the work covered so far, against the final assessment criteria.

Challenge – This grade is an aspirational target showing what the teacher believes is possible if the student consistently works at the highest standard. It is important to note that the challenge grade does not change throughout the year, therefore, it is possible if a student performs better than expected the tracking grade could be higher than the challenge grade. This would be rare and a significant achievement if managed.

A*- U or 9 -1, Relating to IGCSEs (Click here for more information)

Depending on the exam board the subject follows students will either be awarded an A*-U or a 9-1.  They are both equally recognised by colleges and universities. A standard pass is a 4 or a C. In the new 9-1 grading system, an A* grade has been split between an 8 and a 9. Therefore, any student that achieves a  9 would have performed exceptionally.

For Effort and Collaboration*:

4 – Outstanding – This is only awarded to students that have consistently made a significant effort with their learning or who are collaborating very effectively with others to support the learning of all involved.

3 – Commendable – This is awarded to students that have consistently demonstrated good levels of effort or collaboration.

2 – Minimum Expectation – This is awarded for students who are only meeting the minimum expected standard of effort or collaboration.

1 – Improvement Needed – This grade would be given for a student who is not making either a reasonable amount of effort or poorly collaborating with others, their teacher would have already made efforts to support them and if necessary would have contacted parents about this issue.

*It is important to note that during school closures the collaboration grade will be based on how a student has collaborated towards the learning of the class, for example, do they contribute to class discussion, do they offer answers, do they give positive feedback etc…

Kind regards

 

Adam Reid

Data for Learning Coordinator