Throughout the school year, pupils receive a lot of feedback from their teachers. However, for parents, you can feel that you do not know how your child is getting on. At Abbot’s Hill, we have a few points of contact that act as summative assessment points for parents and pupils. This document summarises what to expect from these feedback points and helps you contextualise the reports.
When?
How
At AHS, your child’s teachers will use various methods to assess, track and monitor progress. These will include verbal interactions, classwork and homework over time, enabling teachers to understand your child’s academic needs well. In addition, AHS also conduct formative assessments, such as end-of-topic/term tests and national baseline tests.
Written Reports
Year 10 receive two written reports during the academic year; one in the Spring Term and one at the end of the Summer Term. They also receive a Progress Card in the Autumn Term.
Teachers will always try to be positive in reports; it is a good confidence boost for pupils to hear what they have done well. In addition, if your child is struggling, the report will help them identify what they can do to improve.
For pupils to focus on the comments, we exclude test and examination data from the written reports. Instead, assessment data is given to you in a separate Assessment Card at relevant points in the year.
Reports will indicate your child’s approach to learning. Teachers use the best-fit model. They are given a comprehensive set of criteria for the typical behaviours and achievements that we expect to see for each level. Teachers will give the grade that best fits a child even if they have yet to meet every criterion. The report and Progress Cards will also contain GCSE indicators.
Attendance
We value good attendance, and whilst we understand that from time-to-time absence is inevitable, we will monitor this closely. The attendance in your child’s report represents the number of sessions (am or pm) that your child has missed to date.
Reviewing the Report With Your Child
Your child will have read their report at school before it reaches you. It is beneficial for you to discuss them together. Taking the time to reflect on their achievements and setting improvement goals can help children become more resilient learners. This resource from TooledUp may help support discussions. https://www.tooledupeducation.com/resource/reflecting-on-my-school-report/
Parent Progress Meetings
We aim to keep a dialogue with parents about their child’s progress. With this in mind, we encourage you to contact Form Tutors and Heads of Years should you have any questions or concerns. In addition, we will proactively contact you should we need to initiate a dialogue.
Each year you will be invited to meet with your child’s teachers. This will allow you to talk about your child’s progress, work and targets and obtain a clearer picture of their strengths and weaknesses. We encourage your child to attend these meetings so that they can be part of the academic journey, hearing directly about their progress.
The Progress Meetings will be held virtually, and each 5-minute appointment will be bookable in advance via My School Portal.
