Frequently Asked Questions

A number of frequently asked questions regarding Assessment & Reporting are answered in this document.

Student Progress Reports

This year we are amending our assessment and reporting system for Years 7 to 11.  Every time you receive a report, you will receive two types of information for each subject taken by your son/daughter.

1. Year 11 target and Progress Indicator:

Target grades are based on the 9-1 scale that your child will be assessed on in their GCSEs in Year 11. Below is a conversion chart of what the 9-1 grading structure looks like in comparison to the old A*-G grading structure:

The Year 11 aspirational targets are based on your child’s Key Stage 2 (Year 6) attainment in English and Maths, with an added challenge reflecting the high standards aspired to by Chellaston Academy. (You need to bear this in mind when reviewing progress made in specialist subjects such as Drama, P.E or Art).

We have already mapped the progress each child should make from year 7 up to year 11 in order to achieve this target in Year 11. We then report to you if they are ‘below’, ‘on’ or ‘above’ this expected trajectory at each reporting stage.

If a student is showing as ‘on’ or ‘above’ on the progress indicator this represents outstanding progress. Any student falling ‘below’ will be supported by their subject teacher to ensure they make the progress we would expect. In addition to this, within each subject area on Firefly, there are materials to support progress that can be accessed independently.

2. Attitude to Learning:

We have identified five key characteristics of students who make great progress in their attitude to learning, namely:

• Work completed in class;

• Homework quality;

• Participation in lesson;

• Ownership of their own learning;

• Resilience.

We believe that students’ development of these skills is of great importance in determining their future progress and attainment, as well as preparing them for life beyond school.  In each report you will receive a ‘grade’ which represents a best fit for those descriptors for each subject. It is very important that you consider what this means regarding your child’s learning, rather than seeing it as a score:  if a child does not achieve an A, it does not mean they are under-achieving.  You can see the full definitions in the table below.

Key Stage 3 Assessments

In order to give parents as much information as possible, please see the assessment schedule which you can download here in Excel format.

It outlines when each subject is holding formal assessments. These assessments take place to aid the learning of students and we hope this information will help parents to support this. As with last year, Chellaston Academy is not awarding levels to students, however, as part of our marking and feedback policy, students will receive clear guidance on areas of success and areas for development.

Each of these assessments have been carefully planned by departments to aid student progress. Alongside classwork, homework and other forms of informal assessment these assessments help staff to form a judgement on the amount of progress that students are making.

Reporting dates:

We take parent voice very seriously and thank you to parents for giving us your feedback on the reports last year. We appreciate your patience whilst we try and find a balance between the government stipulation of ‘life without levels’ and making them as informative as possible.

Below is the list of dates that tell you when reports will be coming home. As with previous years, we reserve the right to change these dates. However, we will inform you as soon as possible, if this is the case.

It also includes what information will be published on the reports. You will notice that we have reduced the number of reporting points than in previous years. This then allows staff to make more informed decisions on where students are currently working at, as well as giving them enough time to add the additional information that was requested onto the reports.

Homework Schedule:

You can view the intended homework schedule for all Key Stages below.