Reporting

At Highdown School, parents and carers will receive three reports in each academic year. These will provide information about their son or daughter’s attendance and punctuality, their behaviour, their attainment and their attitude to learning. One of these reports in each year will be accompanied by a more detailed report from their mentor.

(a) Current attainment (Years 11 and 13):       

Teachers will report a grade at GCSE and A-Level based on all assessment completed at the time of the report indicating a student’s ‘working at…’ or ‘current’ attainment, e.g. 4b, 5a, C2, A*1, etc.

Teachers will also provide a fine-grade at GCSE and A-Level for current attainment:

1/a:      student is demonstrating strong knowledge, understanding and skills at this grade or level.

2/b:      student is demonstrating secure knowledge, understanding and skills at this grade or level.

3/c:      student is demonstrating some knowledge, understanding and skills at this grade or level.

(b) Predicted attainment  (Years 10-13):

Based on all assessment completed at the time of the report and their professional knowledge/judgement, teachers will report the sub-level or fine grade they predict students will attain at the end of the course at Key Stage 4 or post-16, respectively.

Guide to fine-grade/level for predictions –

1/a:      student will demonstrate strong knowledge, understanding and skills at this grade or level.

2/b:     student will demonstrate secure knowledge, understanding and skills at this grade or level.

3/c:     student will demonstrate some knowledge, understanding and skills at this grade or level. They are not secure
            at this grade or level.

 Current and predicted attainment will be colour-coded to indicate progress students are making towards their targets:

Green = meeting or exceeding their target.

Yellow = at GCSE/A-Level within one grade of their target. 

White = at GCSE/A-Level two or more grades below target. 

(c) Ready to learn judgement:

O         Outstanding: Student is always well prepared for learning and is proactive in their learning.

G          Good: Student is usually well prepared for, and makes positive contributions to, their learning.

RI         Requires improvement: Student is not always prepared for learning and does little more than required.

P          Poor: Student is rarely prepared for learning and lacks focus in lessons, often not completing work and/or
           displaying poor behaviour for learning.

This will be accompanied by an 'Aspect of learning to develop further' from the Readiness to Learn Continuum below. If the aspect reported is to 'engage with the subject in a wider context' we would expect students to be undertaking activities such as: additional reading around the subject,  showing interest in relevant current affairs, taking part in extra-curricular opportunities, etc.

(d) Current threshold (Years 7 to 9):

Excellence: your child should be aiming to achieve grade 8-9 at GCSE

Secure: your child should be aiming to achieve grade 6-9 at GCSE

Developing: your child should be aiming to achieve grade 4-9 at GCSE

Foundation: your child is on track to achieving at least a grade 3 at GCSE

+: If this appears alongside the current threshold then it indicates that your child is showing signs of working at the next threshold/higher standard.

Thresholds are different to their predecessor, National Curriculum Levels, as each year has a different set of thresholds we would expect students to be able to achieve by the end of each year. For example, 'Secure' in Year 8 is more demanding than 'Secure' in Year 7. This is to reflect the journey towards being GCSE-ready by the end of Year 9. So, if a student's threshold was reported as 'Excellent' at the end of Year 8 and then 'Secure' early in Year 9, this does not mean their attainment has declined. It means they have not yet met the more demanding standard of 'Excellent' in Year 9.

(e) Current progress (Years 7 to 9):

Exceptional progress: your child is currently making excellent progress and will exceed expectations.

Good progress: your child is currently achieving well and as a result could exceed expectations.

Expected progress: your child is on track to achieve in line with expectations. This is likely to be the most common judgement.

Less than expected progress: your child is currently underachieving and not achieving in line with expectations.