Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 study the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum.  This gives them the foundations for skills and knowledge needed for their GCSEs.  Each subject has a separate assessment grid detailing the criteria we expect students to meet by the end of Key Stage 3.   

We use five grades to assess students in KS3:

• WT = Working Towards the expected knowledge and skills for the year group.
• WT+ = Working Towards the expected knowledge and skills for the year group and demonstrating some of the Working At knowledge and skills.
• WA = Working At the expected knowledge and skills for the year group.
• WA+ = Working At the expected knowledge and skills for the year group and demonstrating some areas at a greater depth level.
• GD = Greater Depth (working beyond the expected knowledge and skills for the year group).

These scores will be visible on the progress check reports you will receive and you can cross-reference their grades with the grids on subject pages if you would like more detail.  We expect students to be ‘working at’ expectations most of the time.  If you find your child is ‘working towards’ in a number of subjects, it will be worth talking to their subject teacher about steps for improvement. 

Students also receive an Attitude to Learning (ATL) Score between 4 (excellent) and 1 (unsatisfactory) as well as  homework score with the same descriptors.  If your child receives an ATL score of 2 or below, the subject teacher should be in contact to discuss the concern and suggest some areas for improvement. 

Attendance to school is incredibly important and has a huge impact on outcomes at GCSE.  Please also keep an eye on the attendance figure in the Progress check reports.  Ideally, this should be at 95% or above.