Year 7, 8 and 9 Assessment

Assessment in Year 7, 8 and 9 tests how well students have learnt the Threshold Concepts in each subject.

Learning during the year is split into three cycles:

• Weeks 1 to 10: Teaching - Students are taught a range of engaging and challenging lessons that develop their understanding of the Threshold Concepts.
• Week 11: Assessment - Students undertake an assessment that tests their learning from the previous cycle or cycles as the year progresses.
• Weeks 12 to 13: Response - Two weeks of lessons that are planned based on student assessments to address misconceptions and stretch thinking.

Each cycle is composed of three areas, and this gives students time to reflect and respond to feedback from assessments.

In most subjects, there will be a Key Assessment Task at the end of each cycle. The task is completed during lesson time and is undertaken in different formats depending on the subject.

Some subjects, such as Physical Education, Drama, Music and Art, may assess performance towards achieving the Threshold Concepts over a range of lessons.

Typically, Key Assessment Tasks will include multiple choice questions, short answer questions, vocabulary questions and questions that assess application through extended writing or problem solving. They will also test learning from previous cycles to help students remember what they have learnt in the long term.

The Key Assessment Tasks determine the extent to which the Threshold Concepts are understood and support students in their learning of the concepts.

Scoring of Key Assessment Tasks

1. Students will receive a percentage score for each Key Assessment Task (KAT) from their subject teachers
2. Scaled scores are then assigned based on how each student has performed in the task against all the students in the secondary schools in Windsor Academy Trust in a similar way to national assessments like Key Stage 2 SATs and GCSEs. This is useful as it adjusts a score if a test is particularly challenging; for example, a student may receive 80% in a task, but the task may have been quite difficult, and when compared, it may be that 80% was one of the highest scores. The student would then be given a high scaled score.
3. Scaled scores are between 80 and 122 inclusive, similar to the scores given for Key Stage 2 SATs in Year 6, with higher scaled scores representing better performance in KATs.

Feedback/Response

Students will receive feedback during their lessons as part of the third phase of the learning cycle. This provides students with the opportunity to reflect on their work and complete tasks that will aim to close any gaps in their knowledge in the last two weeks of each cycle.