Assessment at Sheffield Park Academy
Types of Assessment
We carry out two types of assessment at Sheffield Park Academy:
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Summative assessment is formal testing – whether topic tests in classrooms or more formal mock examinations. Pupils sit at least two formal examinations in each subject, each year, at Sheffield Park Academy. This takes the form of a Mid-Year assessment and an End-of-Year assessment. These assessments allow us to assess the progress of pupils within their year groups, but also across United Learning for our core subjects.
Aims of Assessment
Through formative and summative assessment, we aim to develop our core values of community, ambition, respect and endurance. We encourage students to take pride in their work and contribute positively to the learning community. We support them to show ambition by striving to achieve their very best, and respect by reflecting thoughtfully on their progress and the success of others. Through this process, students build the endurance needed to respond to challenge, improve over time, and develop the knowledge and character to become Sheffield’s influential young leaders of tomorrow.
Summative assessment aims to:
Formative assessment
We aim to have formative assessment as a continuous part of our classroom practice.
We structure lessons using a framework of a retrieval starter, followed by a teach phase including modelling, A knowledge check, and then application of knowledge through ‘The Blue Zone’. This is followed by ‘Green for Growth’, an opportunity to reflect on work and improve it.
In the retrieval starter, the teacher will give short factual questions on prior learning. This is an opportunity for teachers to formatively assess prior knowledge, and for students to revisit prior material. We aim for regular review of prior material to promote long term retention, in line with the principles of the “curve of forgetting”.
In the teaching phase, the teacher expertly models new subject material.
Our teachers then check for class understanding. This is usually carried out by whole class questioning using whiteboards, or more targeted questioning of individual students. Teachers may use a range of “assessment for learning” techniques here to gauge student understanding.
In The Blue Zone, students complete independent work. Teachers purposefully circulate and “live mark” books during this lesson phase. This is an opportunity for teachers to identify and correct misconceptions.
Teachers also complete regular “whole class feedback” sheets to their groups, giving them formative feedback on the work in their books. Typically, a student will receive whole class feedback every 2 weeks in core subjects, and every 3 weeks in non-core subjects.
We also aim to use summative assessment to support formative learning – please see the section below.
Summative Assessment Schedule
We carry out two formal summative assessments throughout the year, in line with the United Learning curriculum.
Alongside regular topic tests, Pupils in years 7-10 will complete a Mid-Year assessment in January, as well as an End-of-Year assessment in June/July. These assessments allow pupils to see which knowledge is committed to their long term memory, and identify areas for improvements.
Our Mid-Year and End-of-Year assessments allow us to judge progress against pupils across united learning, and give us an idea of where they are currently working towards in terms of GCSE grades.
Our Year 11 pupils will sit three sets of examinations. There are Mock examinations in both November and March, before Summer GCSE exams take place in May/June.
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Assessment Point
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Year Group
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Summative Testing
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1 (Autumn Term)
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7
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Subject topic tests
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8
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Subject topic tests
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9
|
Subject topic tests
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|
10
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Subject topic tests
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|
11
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Pre-Public Exams – November Mocks
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2 (Spring Term)
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7
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Subject topic tests
Midyear Exams
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|
8
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Subject topic tests
Midyear Exams
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|
9
|
Subject topic tests
Midyear Exams
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|
10
|
Subject topic tests
Midyear Exams
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11
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Pre-Public Exams – March Mocks
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3 (Summer Term)
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7
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KS3 End of Year Exams
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8
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KS3 End of Year Exams
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|
9
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KS3 End of Year Exams
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|
10
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Y10 End of Year Mock Exams
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11
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Public Exams - GCSE Summer Exams
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We offer our students at Sheffield Park a range of academic and vocational subjects. In vocational subjects, how student progress is assessed may involve a range of practical activities as well as written tests.
Target setting
We set student targets at the beginning of Year 7 as students enter the school, to enable tracking of how students are progressing relative to their starting point.
We base these on data from primary school (KS2). We also conduct additional testing such as reading age tests (NGRT) and the MidYis tests (Cognitive ability) to refine these targets.
Targets are designed as a minimum to check students are making expected progress, not a ceiling or a limit to what our students can achieve. Targets are reviewed periodically as student performance may change during their time in school.
We use the target setting programmes from the Fisher Family Trust to define our targets. We aim for students to perform as a minimum in line with how students do at the top 20% of schools in the country.
In year-admissions or those without KS2 data will be given suitable baseline testing to generate targets which are appropriately challenging to meet and exceed.
Reporting of Summative Assessment
We aim to update parents regularly with assessment results.
Follow each assessment point, a report card will be emailed out to parents with summative assessment grades.
Attitude to Learning grades are also given. These are given by class teachers to indicate how hard students are working in each subject. These are:
1 – Outstanding
2 – Good
3 – Requires Improvement
4 – Unacceptable
If a student receives an ATL grade of a 4, this will be followed up by both the class teacher and the Head of Year to identify issues in the relevant subject.
Rank order
We use our summative assessment to produce a “rank order” for some subjects. This aims to motivate students to attain at the absolute highest level possible and aims to foster a healthy sense of competition.
We produce a rank order for English and Maths at KS3 and in Year 10, and for English, Maths, Science, French, Geography and History in Year 11.