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.

Progress

Curriculum for Excellence Levels

Teachers are increasingly making use of Curriculum for Excellence Levels to sum up learners’ progress

These Levels are as follows:

Early level: Age 3 to P1

First level: P2, P3, P4

Second level: P5, P6, P7

Third/Fourth level: S1, S2, S3

Senior phase: S4, S5, S6

Scottish National Standardised Assessments

The National Standardised Assessments for Scotland is an online assessment used to assist and provide teachers with indicative, diagnostic information on the progress of learners from P1, P4, P7 and S3 in aspects of reading, writing and numeracy. We send a letter home in advance of these assessments to inform parents. The assessments are marked automatically, giving teachers immediate feedback to help children and young people progress through their learning.

Once assessments have been completed, a diagnostic report is generated for individuals and groups of learners. When considered alongside a wide range of assessment evidence, the information provided by the assessments is used by teachers to plan next steps in learning and to help inform their professional judgements about learners’ progress. The reports provide indicative information, based on learners’ assessment responses, identifying strengths and areas that require further support. We report holistically on this through our annual standards and quality report. These reports are not shared beyond that unless requested by the parent.