Year 9: Assessment and Curriculum Guide for Parents

2019-2020

Introduction

This document has been devised to help you to understand assessment practices used at the school and how

to support your child’s learning and progress. The content has been informed by feedback from parental

forums; I hope that you find it useful. Please read this alongside the curriculum handbooks which are

available on the LVC website. If you have any further queries, please contact individual teachers or the

school’s Administration Manager, Alison Miners (alison.rothwell@lvc.org).

Why is assessment important?

Assessment plays a fundamental role in learning: it helps students and teachers to identify what has been

learnt, the skills that have been mastered and what needs to improve further. Most importantly, it guides

and supports students with the next steps in their learning. High-quality assessment can have a very positive

impact on students’ learning and progress.

What kinds of assessment are there?

There are two main forms of assessment, summative and formative:-

Summative assessment provides a judgement about how students have achieved in a particular test or

assignment. Assessment outcomes are awarded a level or grade and usually take place at the end of a unit of

study.

Formative assessment involves teachers using a variety of methods to diagnose specific areas to improve,

and support students in doing so. Formative dialogue is comment-based and occurs throughout the learning

cycle.

The style and type of feedback used will depend on its purpose and the nature of the subject. In practical

subjects, the majority of the feedback will be verbal, with teachers providing students with instant, live

feedback through coaching and conversation. In other more essay-based subjects, feedback will take the

form of regular written comments. Peer and self-assessment will also be used to help students become

familiar with success criteria and be able to evaluate and recognise accurate and effective learning

outcomes.

How and when will my child be assessed?

Each department has their own key assessed pieces of work in their schemes of learning for each year group.

These are outlined in section 2 of this document. Key summative outcomes are marked with a grade / level.

In subjects where students have four or more lessons a fortnight, there will be at least one key assessment

outcome per half term. For subjects taught less frequently, there will be at least one key assessment a term.

The results of summative assessment pieces are recorded on subject mark books in Go4Schools.

Alongside these assessed pieces of work, teachers will carry out ongoing assessments and give students

regular formative feedback to help them to improve. This will usually be shared using the WWW/EBI stamp

(‘What Went Well’ and ‘Even Better If’). Teachers will also provide students with timely feedback in lessons

and through the use of specific praise.

2

How will my child be graded?

In Year 9, students are assessed using a mixture of KS3 ‘descriptors’ and GCSE grades.

KS3 ‘descriptor’ (emerging, developing, achieving, surpassing, excelling)

GCSE Grade (9-1)

Computing Languages

Music Art

Dance Drama

Business Studies Engineering

Product Design English

Geography History

Religious Studies Mathematics

Science Physical Education Food and Nutrition

What do the KS3 ‘descriptors’ mean? The KS3 ‘descriptors’ are based on criteria mapping students’ progress using age-based knowledge and skills

expectations. An example of the criteria used in Languages are shown below. Student performance will be

judged against these criteria where they will be assessed as either: emerging, developing, achieving,

surpassing or excelling.

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What do the 9-1 GCSE grades mean?

An indication of how these new grades will match with the old A*-G

standard is shown in the table. The proportion of students achieving

each grade will be fixed by the QCA (Qualification and Curriculum

Authority) as indicated.

Go4Schools will show ‘fine grades’ for example 5-, 5 or 5+ which shows

whether the student is working at the top, middle or bottom of this

grade.

In combined science, the grade will appear in the format of 4/5 or 5/5.

This is because students achieve 2 GCSE grades in this subject. The two

numbers shown are the two grades that they are currently working at or

estimated to achieve.

What level / grade should I expect my child to be achieving?

Students working at age related expectations at the end of Year 6 should be ‘achieving’ against the subject-

specific assessment criteria throughout Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 (if used). In Year 10 a student who was

‘achieving’ in Year 7/ 8 should be working at a grade 4 or 5 using the 9-1 grading. The diagram below gives

an overview of how a student might progress through school years 7-11. It must be noted however, that

learning is not always a linear process and performance may vary depending on the topics students are

studying.

What is Go4Schools?

Go4Schools is an online electronic mark book that enables teachers to record assessment outcomes

centrally and share them with colleagues, students and parents. Go4Schools is also used for school reports

and recording praise, behaviour and intervention. You should have login details and a password to access

your child’s progress data on Go4Schools. If you have not logged on before or have forgotten your password,

you can register on the parent home page for a password update.

What can I see on Go4Schools?

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You are able to see an overview of your child’s assessment data which includes their agreed target, and an

overview of their assessments in each subject. You will also be able to view details of individual assessments

by clicking onto subject data and looking at marks, levels or grades held in subject mark books. The quantity

of assessment recorded on Go4Schools will increase during the academic year – the first half term will have

limited information in place.

How do I make sense of the data on Go4Schools?

The most important way of understanding your child’s progress is to discuss it with them. While we have

endeavoured to set out Go4Schools mark books in a straightforward way to make them accessible for

parents, their primary purpose is to support teachers with their recording and monitoring of assessment. We

hope that engaging in assessment data online in this way will be helpful. However, it is important to

recognise that students’ exercise books and the conversations that you have with them and their teachers

can provide a far richer understanding of their learning and progress.

Susan Gelder

Assistant Principal

September 2019

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Section 2

Curriculum and Assessment

Guides by Subject

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Contents

Art and Design

Business Studies

Dance

Drama

Engineering

English

Food & Nutrition

French

Geography

History

ICT & Computing

Mathematics

Music

Physical Education

Product Design

Religious Studies

Science

Spanish

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8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

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23

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7

Art

Year 9

Grading scheme used: 9-1, A*-G, or NC levels (delete as appropriate)

Name of GCSE course and code: e.g. AQA Physics: 8463

Link to specification: e.g. http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/science/gcse/physics-8463

8

Year 9 Business Studies

Year 9

Emerging, Developing, Achieving, Surpassing, Excelling

9

Dance (GCSE Foundation) Year 9

Grading scheme used: 9-1

Name of GCSE course and code: GCSE Dance (8236)

Link to specification: http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/dance/gcse/dance-8236

10

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Engineering Year 9

Grading scheme used: 9-1

Name of GCSE course and code: AQA GCSE Engineering (8852)

Link to specification: http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/engineering/specifications/AQA-8852-SP-

2017.PDF

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English

Year 9

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Food Preparations and Nutrition

Year 9

Grading scheme used: 9-1

Name of GCSE course and code: OCR Food, Preparation and Nutrition J309

Link to specification: http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/234806-specification-accredited-gcse-food-preparation-and-nutrition-j309.pdf

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French

Year 9

15

Geography

Year 9

16

History

Year 9

Grading scheme used: 9-1

Name of GCSE course and code: Edexcel 9-1 History (from Summer term onwards)

Link to specification: http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/history-2016.html

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Main topics covered Key assessments

Au

tum

n

Programming in Python – main focus is on the turtle aspect of the language. Start developing App Inventor skills

Produce a number of shapes and patterns as per assessment

BBC MicroBit Produce evidence of progress and understanding.

Spri

n

g

App Inventor to create apps to be run on a tablet.

Plan, create and evaluate their own app

Sum

me

r Introduction to programming language called Processing

Plan, create and evaluate their animation and development.

Using ICT application to deliver a strong understanding of a scenario based project.

Plan, create production to fulfil a scenario

ICT & Computing

Year 9

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Mathematics

Grading scheme used: 9-1

Name of GCSE course and code: Edexcel Mathematics 1MA1

Link to specification: http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/mathematics-2015.html

Year 9

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Music

Year 9

Grading scheme used: 9-1

Name of GCSE course and code: OCR Music: J356

Link to specification: http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse-music-j536-from-2016/

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Physical Education

Year 9

Grading scheme used: 9-1

Name of GCSE course and code: OCR GCSE PE J587

Link to specification: Theory: http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/234822-specification-accredited-gcse-physical-education-j587.pdf Practical: http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/234827-guide-to-non-exam-assessment.pdf

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Product Design

Year 9

Grading scheme used: 9-1

Name of GCSE course and code: AQA GCSE Design & Technology (8552)

Link to specification: https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/design-and-technology/gcse/design-and-technology-8552

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Religious Studies

Year 9

Grading scheme used: 9-1

Name of GCSE course and code: OCR Religious Studies J125/J625

Link to specification: http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse-religious-studies-j625-j125-from-2016/

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GCSE Combined Science: Trilogy

Year 9

Grading scheme used: 9-1

Name of GCSE course and code: AQA Trilogy Combined Science 8464

Link to specification: http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/science/gcse/combined-science-trilogy-8464

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Spanish

Year 9