The school has a policy on assessment and reporting which reflects the principles of assessment in line with Curriculum for Excellence and stresses the close relationship between assessment and effective learning and teaching. The policy also emphasises the importance of reporting information in a way which enables it to be acted on by pupils, staff and parents.
In the Broad General Education (S1 – S3), work is assessed in line with Curriculum for Excellence levels and is judged as being bronze, silver or gold within each of the levels. Each assessment judgment is used to give an overview of a pupil’s performance in the key skills within each of the curriculum areas and subjects. Reports are issued to parents four times throughout the academic year and give an overview of performance in each of the key skills, as well as comments on a pupil’s progress and attitude to learning. In the final report, there is also a detailed comment about literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. Each year group has one parents’ evening where appointments can be made via an online appointment system.
In the Senior Phase (S4 – S6), four reports are issued at key points in the academic year which give an overview of targets in each subject, information about progress and attitude to learning, as well as performance in assessments throughout the year. Pupils regularly discuss their progress with their teacher and record their discussion in a subject profile. They then reflect on their progress during their time in health and wellbeing. Each year group has two parents’ evenings where appointments can be made via an online appointment system.
There are also a series of Information Evenings at key points in the school year where senior staff will be on hand to explain issues relation to particular year groups of the school as a whole.
Assessment and Reporting
Assessment helps pupils to:
know their strengths
Identify next steps in learning
Assessment helps teachers to:plan next steps for individual pupils, pupil groups and the whole class
Assessment helps parents to:
know how well their child is progressing
know what they can do to help with the child’s learning
Assessment takes place informally all the time, and more formally at key points in the year.
Day-to-day assessment
Ongoing informal assessments take place each day through teachers noting each learner’s progress and any areas of concern. These are used to help the teacher and child/young person to agree ways forward in learning.
Longer-term assessment
At certain points in the year, agreed by the head teacher and staff, the school takes stock of children’s and young people’s progress over time. The teacher (or teachers) review(s) marked work (possibly including tests). From this and other available evidence, including Scottish National Survey of Achievement tests (see below) an overview of progress is gained. Next steps in learning are also identified.
BGE Reporting Overview
Finding out about your child’s progress
Parents and carers can find out about their child’s learning through:
attending parents’ information evenings
discussing progress with teachers and school managers by appointment
attending open evenings and/or afternoons including ‘meet-the-teacher’ events
reading their child’s learning logs or diaries (which also usually invite parents to comment)
social media updates from the teacher and/or school
pupil summary reports
Pupil Summary Reports are sent home to parents enabling them to return comments to the school.
Curriculum for Excellence Levels
Teachers are increasingly making use of Curriculum for Excellence Levels to sum up learners’ progress.
These Levels are as follows:
These Levels are as follows:
Scottish National Standardised Assessments
As well as day-to-day assessments, from session 2017-18 onwards, schools test pupils in Primary 1, 4 and 7, and in Secondary 2 using Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSA).
SNSA tests are carried out online by all pupils in the child’s year stage, the first round of testing taking place in Summer Term, 2018. Test results will be used by the school as part of their evidence-gathering about the child’s progress.
As well as giving Curriculum for Excellence Levels for Reading, Writing, Listening and Talking, and Numeracy, the tests will help the child and the teacher to identify specific strengths and areas for development.
Schools will provide parents with the results of these tests for their own child(ren) on request (i.e. results for other children will not be shared).
Schools will report annually their overall attainment by Curriculum for Excellence Level as part of their Standards and Quality Reports.