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Overview of SJP Science Assessment
Overview of SJP Science Assessment
The GCSE science specification for Single Subject Science and Combined Science is linear - assessed entirely at the end of the course - and sectionalised - divided into discrete units. For each subject half of these units are examined in each subject's Paper 1 and half in Paper 2.
As a department we have further divided each subject's course into units that can be taught in around six weeks. At the end of these units there is a standardised 'End of Unit Test'.
To achieve their target grade in the final exam, students need to be attaining at or above their target grade in End of Unit Test from the start of Year 10 onwards.
End of Unit Test results are reported to students on personalised pink End of Unit Assessment Feedback Sheets an example of which is shown here.
The purpose of the feedback sheet is:
1) To give students summative feedback on their test performance (results and grade boundaries box)
2) To encourage students to reflect formatively about what they do and do not understand within the topic and to highlight areas where improvement is needed (question-by-question score analysis)
3) To signpost where intervention resources can be found on this website so that students may work privately on the areas of need they have identified.
Students who under-perform in an End of Unit Assessment by 2 grades or worse are required to re-sit the exam in their own time - usually a lunchtime.
Students will take an End of Unit test roughly once every six weeks, often for all three science subjects in the same week. As well as a results sheet for each, a summary of a student's progress through the course is provided on the inside front cover of their exercise books along with the name of the course they are following. An example is included below
Information on how tracking is calculated is present in every textbook provided to students. This information is included below
How Tracking Works - A Parent/Carer's Guide
How Tracking Works - A Parent/Carer's Guide
Some subjects at St John Payne report tracking grades using a 'flightpath' system. Under this system students are expected to make steady progress from Year 7 to their Year 11 GCSE target.
However, because science is fundamentally a knowledge-based subject, a flightpath system is less appropriate. The science curriculum is also extremely broad meaning that there is not time in Year 11 for any class-based revision or reteaching. It is vital therefore that students absorb every unit as they progress from the start of Year 10.
As a result, the tracking grade we report for every tracking period is the average of all the tests a students has undertaken in Combined Science, or the average of his/her individual subject tests for Single Subject Science.
As a result, you may a sudden jump up from Year 9 (where the maximum GCSE grade achievable in tests is a Grade 5) to Year 10 (where the full range Grade 1 to Grade 9 become available).
Likewise, if for any reason, a student starts to perform less well in tests, his/her tracking grade may start to fall - reflecting the fact that s/he are not doing so well with the latest part of the course and will therefore perform less well with it in the final exam
Worries or concerns?
Worries or concerns?
Tracking reports will tell you if your student is on or off track to achieve their target grade. Their Behaviour for Learning will tell you how well they are adhering to the expectations laid down by us as a department.
However, to get the most accurate picture of your student's progress at any time, ask to see your student's exercise books and look for the tracking sheet in the inside front cover and the pink End of Unit Assessment Sheets. This will give you the exact information about how far ahead or behind their targets they are.
If you have any questions at all at any stage, please feel free to email the Head of Science - Mr James Ashton-Tyler at jas@sjp.essex.sch.uk
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