Assessment and Reporting

Overview of assessment at Oaklands

At Oaklands we assess student learning in order:

• to know current attainment levels of student learning,
• to determine the progress of student learning,
• to provide effective feedback to students to understand how they can improve,
• to report the attainment, progress and attitude to learning of students to parents,
• to allow teachers to evaluate their practice in light of student performance,
• to involve students in their learning, allowing them to understand how to make progress,
• to allow school leaders to track and monitor student progress and coordinate intervention,
• to allow school leaders to determine the impact of school’s curriculum,
• to allow leaders to monitor and evaluate teaching and learning,
• to allow school leaders to find trends and patterns in the underperformance of student groups, intervening when necessary, and
• to record, recognise and celebrate student achievement.

We use 3 broad overarching forms of assessment: 

1. In-school formative assessment - assessment for learning. This includes all strategies teachers use in lessons to check for understanding of content being taught. Formative assessment allows teachers to modify their practice to ensure that students are making appropriate progress

2. In-school summative assessment - assessment of learning. This includes all assessments which students sit in school according to the curriculum and assessment plans in each subject. Examples include: end of topic tests, KS4 mock examinations, practical examinations

3. Nationally standardised examination/qualification based assessment - outcomes of learning. This includes all formal examinations which contribute to qualifications such as GCSEs, A level and BTECs

Reporting of assessment information to parents

Parents and carers receive reports which detail recent assessment information, as well as learning characteristics, at assessment points (APs) throughout the year. Specific dates for each assessment point can be found in the assessment calendar linked below. 

Parents’ evenings are also an important opportunity to hear detailed feedback on student progress and attainment from individual teachers. In most cases, parents’ evenings are coupled with one of the aforementioned assessment points to ensure that conversations which take place are based on up to date information. 

Assessment frameworks at Oaklands

At each key stage, a different assessment framework is used. Understanding each framework is key to interpreting the reports.

KS3 assessment

At KS3, students are assessed across five “mastery attainment bands” in each subject. As you can see, the bands are linked to GCSE outcomes. For example, if a student is assessed as “securing” in a particular subject, this means that based on recent assessment information they are on track to achieve a grade 5 at the end of year 11 in that subject. 

Each student will be assigned a “mastery attainment band target”.  In most cases, this will be based on their KS2 SATs scaled score. In circumstances where this information is unavailable, other information such as reading test data will be used to generate targets. 

At Y9 AP2, students are assessed using KS4 grades for the first time. This is to support students and families with their options choices, and allow experience of being assessed using KS4 grades before starting year 10. The grades awarded to students at Y9 AP2 are known as indicative GCSE grades. They are a projection, based on all available information, of the GCSE grade that students are on track to attain at the end of year 11 based on their progress and attainment in year 9. 

KS3 assessment points:

KS4 assessment

At KS4, students are assessed using the grading system for their individual qualifications. At Oaklands we offer two types of KS4 qualification: GCSEs, and vocational qualifications (Level 2 BTEC Tech award/Level 2 Cambridge Nationals).

GCSE grading system:

BTEC/Cambridge National Level 2 grading system:

KS4 assessment points:

KS5 assessment

At KS5, students are assessed using the grading system for their individual qualifications. At Oaklands we offer two types of KS5 qualification: A-Levels, and Level 3 BTECs in ICT, Health and Social Care and Business Studies.

KS5 assessment points: