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 Year 11, pupils will complete mock examinations in the Autumn Term and additional GCSE material throughout the year to improve examination technique and consolidate their understanding. These assessments will help to identify strengths and weaknesses and allow us to provide an indication of most likely and potential GCSE grades for the summer.
We will use the potential grades to support your application to Sixth Form destinations and also to guide pupils towards interventions and support clinics where needed.
Reports & Progress Cards
During Year 11, you will receive a progress card, a mock grade and also a final written report.
Your child will have read their report at school before it reaches you, but it is beneficial for you to discuss them together. Teachers will always try to be positive in reports, so it is a good confidence boost for pupils to hear where they have done well. If your child is struggling with something, the report will help them identify what they can do to improve before taking their GCSE examinations.
Reports will indicate your child’s approach to learning, further details are below – teachers will use a best-fit model as it is unlikely that your child will meet all of the strands. The report and Progress Cards will also contain GCSE indicators- more detail on these can be found via this link – Guide To Reports Senior
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 in person in the Sports Hall and each 5-minute appointment will be bookable in advance via My School Portal. We encourage your child to attend these meetings so that they can be part of the academic journey, hearing directly about their own progress.
