Types of Assessment

Assessment at Deptford Green falls under three categories:

Assessment for Learning

The purpose of Assessment for Learning is for teachers to gauge how well the class and individuals understand what is being taught 'in the moment'.  We use our 'Review and Question' pillar daily to assess when we can move on, and when we might need to stop, re-frame or re-teach something that hasn't been fully understood. 

Formative Assessment

The aim of formative assessment is not to give grades, but to assess what a student can apply independently following a sequence of lessons and offer them advice as to how to improve.  These are called 'hinge assignments'.  Carefully constructed feedback sheets for each subject are used to highlight what a student has done well and what they need to do to improve.  Following a 'hinge assignment', students will be required to act on this advice and respond to it in green pen (in written subjects) or to respond to targets in a more visual way in practical subjects.  

Summative Assessment

At various points, summative assessment will be used to measure student outcomes against national benchmarks and criteria.  Generally, summative assessment will be done in classrooms, but we have also built in formal examinations in the hall for all year groups to prepare them for GCSE exams.  At Key Stage 4, at least 3 PPEs (Pre-public exams) are scheduled for the vast majority of exam-based subjects). 

GRADE DESCRIPTORS AT KEY STAGE 3

At Key Stage 3, we use three grade descriptors to show how a student is performing based on attainment.   The three descriptors are:

Working Towards Age-expected Standard (WTS)	This means that the evidence we have from assessments shows that a student is not yet working in line with work produced by an average student of their age.
Age-expected Standard (EXS)	This means that the evidence we have from assessments shows that a student is working broadly in line with the average student of their age.
Greater-Depth Standard (GDS)	This means that the evidence we have from assessments shows that a student is working above the average student of their age.

GRADE DESCRIPTORS AT KEY STAGE 4

GCSE subjects use 1-9 grade descriptors use a 1-9 scale.  9 is the highest you can get.  A Grade 4 is classed as a 'standard pass', and a Grade 5 a 'strong pass'. 

1
2
3
4	STANDARD PASS
5	STRONG PASS
6
7
8
9

Progress Measures

We also measure the progress levels of a student.  The purpose of this is to ensure that a student continues to make progress from their starting point (based on their Key Stage 2 score) as they move through Deptford Green, but also maintaining progress at each assessment point.