Secondary | Newland School for Girls | England | Parents

Reports

How have we set targets?

For students in years 7 to 9 target grades have been set based on an average of students’ Key Stage 2 Reading and Maths scores. For students who come to the school without KS2 data, national reference tests such a CAT’s and Progress tests are used along with internal assessment data to assign target grades.

For students in Years 10 and 11 there is no KS2 data available due to COVID. For students in these year groups a combination of internal assessment data and national reference tests such as CAT’s, Reading tests and Progress tests have been used to rank order the students within the year group. Target grades have then been applied using a normal distribution pattern of GCSE grades achieved by students historically.

Years 7 to 9

The progress report will be issued termly and shows;

Target grade- Target grades are set based on the GCSE outcomes of all students nationally that have the same KS2 starting point as your daughter.

% Current attainment - Your Daughters current attainment takes into account her performance in all assessments.
Progress comment - The progress comment indicates how your daughter is progressing based on her current attainment in line with what would be expected of a student of her prior attainment. Different students could have different progress comments even with the same percentage score as the progress is measured from each individual's starting point.

You will see that the same percentage score may link to different progress comments in different subjects for example; a score of 50% in Maths may give Very Good Progress, whereas the same percentage in English only equates to Good Progress.

This reflects the fact that some subjects require a higher percentage score at GCSE in order to achieve the same grade. At GCSE level, If a student scored 50% in a higher tier science paper, they would achieve a grade 7, 50% in an English Language paper would only give the student a grade 4.

In the creative and practical subjects such as; PE, Music, Art, IT and Technology students are assessed against whether or not they have mastered the key aspects of the national curriculum as such this data is reported as a progress comment only reflecting their practical skills.

Year 10 and Year 11

The report contain the following information;

Target grade- Target grades are set based on the GCSE outcomes of all students nationally that have the same KS2 starting point as your daughter.
Current Grade grade - Your Daughters current grade takes into account her performance in her assessments so far this academic year and her attainment from the previous end of year exam
Predicted grade - Predicted grade is usually higher than the current grade, this is based on the progress that students generally make from your daughter's current position along with the teacher's professional judgement of her current effort and attainment. Some vocational subjects are currently completing controlled assessments with contribute significantly to the final grade and this may be reflected in their predictions
Progress comment - The progress comment indicates how close your daughter's predicted grade is to her target grade. Different students could have different progress comments even with the same percentage score as the progress is measured from each individual's starting point.

Students who have started studying Childcare or Statistics this academic year will receive their first progress report for these in the spring term when more substantial assessments have been completed

What does the predicted grade mean?

This information is only present on Y10 and Y11 reports The grades are what we currently predict each student will achieve at the end of Year 11. Teachers have predicted these grades by looking at exam scores and schoolwork. In all subjects, the new GCSE grading system of 9-1 will be used. Grade 9 is the highest grade and Grade 1 the lowest. The Department for Education has made changes to this system since the last time you received a progress report. A Grade 5 is now considered by the Department for Education to be a ‘strong pass’.

9-1 GCSE

5a = strong Grade 5 with a chance of achieving a Grade 6

5b = secure Grade 5

5c = weak Grade 5 with a chance of only achieving a Grade 4

All Vocational Subjects

L2Ma = strong L2 Merit with a chance of achieving a L2 Dist’n

L2Mb = secure L2 Merit

L2Mc = weak L2 Merit with a risk of only achieving a L2 Pass