Assessment

ASSESSMENT OVERVIEW

At Brompton Academy we ensure that all students are striving towards achieving their academic potential, and assessment is a vital way of helping us measure their progress on the journey. Assessment also provides us with important information for all stakeholders including the students, their teachers and school leaders, and parents and carers.

At Brompton Academy we distinguish between assessment for learning and assessment of learning, as both play an important role in supporting students to progress.

What is assessment for learning?

The process whereby teachers in every lesson, provide students with regular, clear and on-going feedback on their learning and performance in order for them to make outstanding future progress; and in so teachers are provided with the opportunity to reflect on, adapt and plan new and future learning. This will include strategies such as:

·      Questioning

·      Self and peer assessment using success criteria/ mark schemes

·      Visual progress checks

·      Quizzes and knowledge checks

WHAT IS ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING?

A test or exam, which is designed to find out how much knowledge and understanding a student has in a specified area. 

At Brompton Academy, our assessment of learning takes the following forms:

1.     Check Point Assessments

These take place in terms 1, 3 and 5 and provide teachers with a snapshot of the depth of knowledge and understanding of the topics studied. These will usually be completed on ipads and students will have targeted improvement tasks to complete based on their outcome. This will enable students to focus their attention on improving the areas highlighted in the test so that they can make progress.

2.     SIMPLE Assessment

This assessment takes place once per term and involves teachers marking a substantive task which requires students to demonstrate the knowledge and skills they have been working on in the preceding lessons. This piece will be marked by the teacher using a process of highlighting areas of strength and also areas for development. This will feed into the focused improvement lesson where teachers will guide the class through feedback from the assessment, looking at good examples, highlighting misconceptions, and provide the students with opportunities to improve their work based on the feedback received.

3.     End of Term Formal Assessment

These formal assessments are completed in terms 2, 4, and 6; they are sat in classrooms and as they are formal assessments, students will complete them in silence, and they will be marked by their teacher. Students will be tested on all prior knowledge and the grade from this assessment will be reported back to parents at the end of terms 2, 4 and 6.

Students in Year 10 will sit their end of year exams in the hall, and Year 11 will complete two sets of formal exams in the hall to support their preparation for their GCSE and BTEC examinations.