Assessment

Assessment is a term which encompasses a wide range of activities; formal and informal, summative and formative.  A range of different assessment methods will be used by teachers at different times. 

The fundamental aim of assessment and feedback is to ensure that every member of the school community achieves their full potential, and to assist parents in their God-given role as educators. 

The school believes in the embedding of assessment for learning within the teaching & learning throughout the school.  Effective assessment at Bishop Walsh Catholic School includes the following characteristics:

·       promotes learning;

·       informs teaching;

·       formative focused;

·       identifies gaps in learning

The school believes that the use of both summative and formative assessment is characteristic of good practice and forms part of the assessment culture of ‘high challenge, low threat’.  Highly effective feedback methods utilised by teachers and support staff includes:

1.     Daily assessment

Those countless interactions that take place in lessons every single day and form an integral part of every lesson:

·       Do now activities;

·       Questioning;

·       Low stakes quizzing combined with questioning in every lesson;

·       Use of the visualizer for live modelling and checking for understanding;

·       Show me activities using mini whiteboards for instant feedback;

·       Self and peer-assessment opportunities, supported by model answers and expert direction;

·       Verbal feedback;

·       Deliberate practice combined with feedback, e.g. I do/We do/You do;

·       Circling the room and checking for understanding;

·       Directed Improvement and Reflection Time (DIRT) 

2.     Red Pen Piece & Written Feedback

At an appropriate point in the sequence of learning, pupils will complete a specific task or question to consolidate their learning and enable teachers to check for understanding.  The marking of these pre-selected pieces of work is to advance pupil progress and outcomes.  Teachers will only use red pen which will be followed up by pupil response in purple pen.  Teachers will use a variety of the following feedback strategies to ensure that both the teacher and pupil can identify strengths and areas for development:

·       Teacher directed self-assessment;

·       Teacher directed peer assessment;

·       Whole-class feedback;

·       DIRT 

3.     Formal assessment

Formal assessments take place twice a year for each year group.  These assessments are cumulative in that they assess old and new content to support the learning of knowledge, concepts and skills.   Assessment data informs decisions about teaching & learning and subsequent lessons and interventions are planned proactively in response to purposeful assessments. 

All formal assessments follow learning cycles and must be viewed by teachers, pupils and parents as powerful learning events.

Reporting

Pupils and parents will receive a report after each learning cycle assessment which will highlight individual attainment, attainment in relation to peers and learning behaviour:

KS3 = Percentages
KS4 = GCSE grades 9-1 and Vocational grades of pass, merit, distinction and distinction*. 
KS5 = A level grades A*-E and Vocational grades of pass, merit, distinction and distinction*

Pupil attainment and progress can be discussed at parents’ evenings.  We host one parents’ evening for each year group per academic year.  Additionally, we invite parents to school for the following events:

·       Year 7 Pastoral Parents’ Evening.  This is an opportunity for parents to discuss how their child has settled in school by the end of their first half term.

·       Year 9 Options/Parents’ Evening.  This is an opportunity for pupils and parents to understand the options process for KS4 and to see class teachers face-to-face to help make informed choices. 

·       Year 11 Information Evening.  This is an opportunity for parents to hear a presentation from the head of our core subjects and head of year.