Sixth Form Assessment

You are in the Sixth Form for less than two years – all courses are completed over 5 academic terms – 3 in Lower Sixth, 2 in Upper Sixth.  Therefore, it is important that you do not fall behind at any stage.

The school will be assessing your progress all the time in various ways, helping you to make the most of your abilities and providing you with support when necessary.

 

INFORMAL ASSESSMENT:

 

Your subject teachers will monitor your progress continuously.  They may discuss matters with you and give you advice or they may involve your Form Tutor, Head of Year or ask the Director of Sixth Form to help you sort out difficulties.

 

FORMAL ASSESSMENT:

 

At the start of the Lower Sixth, based on your GCSE grades or previous academic record, you will be given an externally generated Target Grade in each subject (ALPS for A Level and ALIS for IB courses), which you will be aiming to reach and then exceed

You will receive a Termly Report during each of your five terms during the Sixth Form. These reports will show your Target Grade, Current Attainment grade based upon your work in that term, Effort levels, Predicted Grade for the end of the course, and on two occasions comments regarding your performance in each subject and how to improve

Students will then be interviewed by their Form Tutor after each report to discuss progress, student reflections on their report and suggestions about how to improve

Once during the Lower Sixth and once during the Upper Sixth, you and your parents will attend a formal consultation with all of your teachers at Parents’ Evening to discuss your progress

Mid Report Reviews are conducted in between formal reporting times to enquire if any teachers have immediate concerns about individual students and there is a Lower Sixth Settling Evening

Round Robins – These are asked for when we need a more detailed picture of the student. A round robin would be asked for prior to parents coming into school for an interview

Your written work will be marked regularly and formative comments will given for you to respond to, enabling you to improve future pieces of work. Additionally, some work will be peer assessed or tested under internal class conditions

The vast percentage of A Levels offered are Linear courses where subjects will be assessed through internal examinations (PPEs) at the end of the Lower Sixth and part way through the Upper Sixth, culminating in external examinations in June of the Upper Sixth year (see Subject Curriculum pages for details of which subjects are Linear courses).

All students studying IB courses take internal PPE examinations at the end of their Lower Sixth year and in the January of their Upper Sixth year before sitting formal external exams in may of their Upper Sixth year.