Reporting and Assessment

Students are assessed regularly throughout their time at Sedgefield Community College, not only through examinations. Staff employ a variety of methods to establish students’ understanding during the course of every lesson.

Assessment is a crucial element of the learning process - it enables teachers to identify areas of weaker understanding and to target support appropriately.  This page explains our approach to assessment.

Key Progress Assessments (KPAs)

‘Key Progress Assessment’ is a term used throughout students’ time at school to refer to examinations. KPAs are typically completed under full examination conditions in the examination hall.  This allows students to develop an awareness of the systems in place during formal examinations and better prepares them for their final GCSE examinations.

Students in Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 typically have KPAs for only the core subjects (English, Maths and Science).  In Year 10 and Year 11, KPAs take place in all subjects. Students are expected to revise for KPAs and information is given to them by their class teacher to help them to prepare.

Classroom-Based Assessments

In addition to KPAs, students are assessed at key points throughout the year. These assessments take place in the classroom and could take the form of a test or an assessment of a piece of work. If students are due to complete a test in class, they will be given details of this in advance and may be asked to revise.

Reading and Numeracy Assessments

Year 7 students complete reading and numeracy assessments in the Autumn term. These are used to establish a reading age and a numeracy age for each student, which are then used to target additional support and to ensure students make good progress. It is not possible for students to revise for these assessments.

Reporting to Parents

By working in partnership with the school, parents can have a significant impact on their child’s progress. Parents are kept informed of their child’s progress through termly Progress Updates and annual Parents’ Evenings. Parents are also welcome to contact the school at any time with queries or concerns.  

Progress Updates

Parents receive a Progress Update for their child once each term. The dates that parents can expect to receive these are on our School Calendar.  A Progress Update provides parents with the following information for each subject their child studies:

• End of Year Target (Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9) or GCSE Target ( Year 10 and Year 11).
• Current Grade - this will be a GCSE grade, with decimal increments to demonstrate progress within a grade.
• Attitude to Learning – students are scored to indicate their effort and behaviour.
• Information about how students can make further progress – this information is skills-based in Year 7 and Year 8 and task-based in Year 9, Year 10 and Year 11.

Parent Tutor Evening

A Parent Tutor Evening is held in the Autumn term. This is an opportunity for parents to meet their child’s form tutor and to find out how their child has settled into the new school year. These meetings have a pastoral focus and information about students’ progress in individual subjects is not shared at this time.

Parents’ Evenings

Each year group has a full Parents’ Evening once each academic year.

During a full Parents’ Evening, parents have the opportunity to meet their child’s subject teachers to discuss their progress. 

Further information, including dates and how to book appointments, can be found here. 

If you have any queries about assessment or reporting at Sedgefield Community College, please contact Mrs King, Assistant Headteacher, by emailing a.king@sedgefield.cc.