Assessment & Reporting Progress

At Christ’s College we strive to ensure that every student gains knowledge and skills to enable them to flourish and reach their God given academic potential.

Every student in Years 7, 8 and 9 is on a pathway which helps all stakeholders to monitor that they are making expected progress. A student has a pathway for English, Maths, EBacc (Science, History, Geography and Computer Science), and Open Subjects (Art, Music, Dance, Drama, RE, IT, Food and Nutrition, Design Technology and PE).

Pathways are based on a student’s CAT4 (Year 7 and Year 8) or reported SAT results (Year 9) and calculated using the Department for Education’s attainment 8 estimates. You can find out more about Progress 8 here  on the Department for Education website.

Pathways are aspirational - they imply minimum attainment during a student’s learning journey. Students may move to a higher pathway following sustained greater depth attainment. Students are on one of three pathways: a 2-3 Pathway, 4-6 Pathway or a 7-9 Pathway.

All students follow a broad curriculum which you can find here. The content of their studies is reflected by the year group/subject’s written pathway statement. 

In Years 10 and 11, students will have bespoke target grades for each subject they study. These are also calculated using the Department for Education’s attainment 8 estimates and the student’s Key Stage 2 Reading and Maths scores. From their target grade, a student will track their expected progress with a flight path grid. 

Assessments

Each student’s teacher will assess learning throughout the year. Assessments are designed appropriately for each subject and are an effective way of checking progress with learning: assessments can identify mistakes and inform next planning/teaching steps and additional support.

Formal school assessment fortnights are 3 times a year - once a term. This is when each department makes a formal judgement to report to you, as a parent.

For Years 7, 8 and 9, reported levels are made holistically and reflect a student’s work for the whole term: it may be that a test is one way of measuring this, but the reported judgement may incorporate a variety of observations/assessments/projects the student has worked on.

On a termly report in Years 7, 8 or 9, a student will be reported as working at one of three levels:

Greater Depth (GDS), Expected Standard (EXS) or Working Towards the expected Standard (WTS). A student's target is always EXS (expected standard) for the pathway they are on.

For years 10 and 11 the reported judgement reflects their current working grade, marked according to the exam board’s marking scheme for the course.  Reported as a fine grade, it will show whether the level has just been reached (-), secure (=) or very secure (+).

Effort, Conduct and Homework Grades

Together with reported attainment levels, each subject will report the following judgements: