Marking and Assessment Policy

iBOS Marking and

Assessment Policy

The aims of our school are:

• A school where teachers, staff, and students are expected to support and extend the atmosphere of respect, courtesy, the love of learning and the value of friendship that is held dear at iBOS.
• iBOS aims to develop students to become well-rounded individuals. We aim to empower our students with the best tools and resources, making them capable in following and achieving their dreams, to become valued members of our global societies, and to allow them to make a positive difference to the world, wherever they choose to progress to.
• Students leave iBOS prepared for university. They are confident, contributing and caring members of the global community and they have embraced the challenge of our specialized education. They will have gained the values that equip them to make a positive contribution.

Responsibility of: The Principal

Date Ratified: 03 July 2025

Review Date: 03 July 2027

Feedback to Improve Assessment strategies, and the evaluation of a student’s progress, is an integral part of teaching and learning and will be embedded in every lesson. Assessment for learning, and assessment of learning, takes many forms (written and verbal) and both are equally as important. The most valuable types of assessment and feedback always inform learning (past, present, future). Whilst the best form of feedback is often verbal; as it is instantaneous and highly personalised, this policy will outline the expectations for written feedback only. This policy reflects the statutory expectations set out in the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (2023/24) and the DfE’s Principles of Effective Assessment (2023). It also aligns with the Equality Act 2010, ensuring that no pupil is disadvantaged through assessment practices, and the UK GDPR in terms of assessment data and privacy.

Principles

• Students need to be taught that homework, summative assessments and in-class tests are not being done for the teacher but for themselves as valuable indicators of progress.
• Opportunities to find out how well the students have learned subject content should become the norm.
• There is no failure in tasks only feedback to act upon.

Aims

1. 1. To establish a consistent approach to the way in which students receive written feedback.
2. 2. To enable staff to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching and to inform future planning, intervention, homework and assessment.
3. 3. To close learning loops, bridge knowledge gaps and improve the learning dialogue a teacher has with their students and vice versa.
4. 4. To empower students to effectively reflect and improve their learning so they can reach their full potential.
5. 5. To create clarity in our assessment process and expectations.

Marking Expectations

Marking and written feedback should enable students to self-reflect, take action and make progress.

This is what I can do (areas of strength) This is what I cannot do (areas to develop) This is what I need to do to improve my grade to meet/exceed my target (next steps) This is how I am going to improve and show evidence (change over time) Marking and written feedback should not;

• Be derogatory in nature.
• Provide no detailed explanation on how to improve.
• Be a prolonged process that adds no value to either a teachers’ understanding of the progress a student is making, or provides no explanation to a student on how to improve their work/meet their targets.
• Be full of ‘truisms’. i.e. telling the students what they can clearly see they cannot do with no indication of how to improve. Marking, when done properly, can provide a real insight for a student on how well they have gained knowledge, concepts and skills over time. All feedback should support progress and take into account each student’s needs, including students with SEND, EAL, or other additional needs. Teachers must ensure reasonable adjustments are in place (e.g. extra time, simplified instructions, alternative formats), especially during summative assessments. Written feedback – the 10 non-negotiables

1. 1. Feedback should be predominantly encouraging and constructive
2. 2. Relate to the task in hand with clear success criteria
3. 3. Challenge the students to reflect on their learning
4. 4. Create opportunities for further dialogue with their teachers
5. 5. Create opportunities for further dialogue with their peers
6. 6. Provide clear direction for improvement tailored to the learner's current ability and inclusive of scaffolding or modelling where appropriate.
7. 7. Reflect the ‘proximity’ of the students to their target grade if possible
8. 8. Involve students in their own learning
9. 9. Be clear and concise enough for progress to be easily evidenced over time
10. 10. Provide parents with their child’s strengths and areas for development over the academic year What should be marked? Not everything a student does requires marking; this would be time-consuming and punitive. It is important that teachers check that their notes and class activities are accurately recorded with no errors. Students should be made accountable for the upkeep of their class notebooks and assessments.

Frequency of class notebook writing

• Live marking during the course of the lesson provides instantaneous feedback.
• Live marking should check for literacy, text accuracy, skill development and progress over time.
• The type and extent of written feedback will vary from subject to subject.
• Marking that provides no constructive feedback is not required.
• Teachers should review students’ work to ensure feedback is acted upon. Reviewed work should be marked with a C once it has reached the standards expected of that individual.
• Marked work should be returned promptly to the students so misconceptions, errors and omissions can quickly be addressed; this is especially important for summative assessments. Student work should be returned within 2 weeks of the due date. The frequency of written marking is dependent on the subject and the number of times that subject is taught per week (core v non-core subjects). Key pieces of work to assess progress will be identified in subject-specific schemes of work including summative assessments. These pieces of work will robustly assess the progress a student has made over time. Students will be provided with detailed constructive written feedback and an opportunity to make corrections and address misconceptions. All student corrections and additions will be made in purple for ease of identification. All tasks, including summative assessments, will be quality assured by SLT.

Assessment

Our school's assessment approach encompasses both formative and summative assessments to evaluate student learning progress. As part of our continuous assessment strategy, daily assessments for learning are conducted to enable teachers to provide real- time feedback to students. Moreover, every half-term, students will be subjected to three assessments. Two end- of- topic tests that gauge students' comprehension of the ongoing curriculum and one assessment point (APs) evaluates 60% of current learning and 40% of prior knowledge. This assessment format is designed to facilitate regular reassessment of knowledge gaps to ensure that students make steady progress over time. It is incumbent on teachers to ensure that APs incorporate a differentiated approach that offers all students the opportunity to succeed. In addition, APs must feature a marking rubric to enable students to understand how marks are awarded and to reflect on their performance during the assessment. The purpose of assessment is to ensure clear marking and feedback to students in order to allow for learning over time. It empowers students to reflect on their progress and improve. These assessment pieces could be a past exam paper, controlled assessment, extended writing/essay, project work or practical tasks. These summative tests DO NOT replace

end- of-topic tests. All teacher marked work needs to be summarized on WIN sheets, or detailed in WIN format notes from the teacher. (see appendix).

• Time should set aside in lessons for student interaction with marking assessment and feedback.
• The outcomes of all summative assessments should be in grades/levels.
• All assessments/grades/levels will be clearly recorded in the teacher’s planner.
• Students should record all summative assessment activities on their Curriculum Overview sheets to track progress over time. All assessments must be checked for bias or structural disadvantage. Data from assessments should be analyzed to identify underperformance in groups such as those eligible for pupil premium, SEND, or EAL. Teachers and leaders must use this data to inform targeted interventions. Feedback to improve using WIN What have you done well? What Improvements need to be made? What are your Next steps to make these improvements? The WIN structure promotes metacognitive reflection, encouraging students to become independent learners. Where appropriate, teachers should adapt this model to support pupils with SEND or language barriers.

WIN Sheets

Example of WIN sheets can be found at the end of this policy. If WIN feedback is written directly into student class notebooks, it should follow the WIN structure.

Whole Class Feedback

At times, a review of classwork by the teacher may be used instead of providing individualized feedback in books. The principles of WIN should underpin this feedback. Examples of good work and/or modelling exercises can support the students through this process.

Student response: Dedicated, Improvement and Reading Time (DIRT)

It is expected that teachers provide time to enable students to engage in the learning dialogue provided in the written feedback. This time can be in and/or out of lessons. Students will be required to reflect upon their work, or the work of their peers;

• To consider the depth of their learning and understanding.
• To alter and change their work where necessary.
• To respond to questions posed by a teacher.
• To address literacy errors and improve the quality of their written communication.
• To further develop their responses.
• To meet grading criteria.
• To develop confidence.

Literacy Marking

The purpose of this literacy marking is to help students develop strong writing skills by highlighting common errors and encouraging them to correct their mistakes. It will also ensure consistent grading across different teachers and assignments. All teachers are responsible for improving the literacy skills of our students. This means identifying where students are misusing the standard rules of grammar, punctuation and spelling. Particularly, in any written response where students must be encouraged to follow the standard rules of grammar, punctuation, and spelling. For the first 3/4 of any assessment, the appropriate symbol from the Literacy codes chart must be used. For the last 1/4 of the answer, standard marking rules will apply and no symbols will be used. If a student consistently makes the same types of errors (e.g. always forgets capital letters), teachers will provide extra feedback and support to help them improve. Please see appendix one for examples. If a student consistently ignores the marking policy and submits poorly written answers, teachers may issue a warning or impose further consequences, such as a lower grade or additional assignments. Literacy codes

Common Error Feedback Examples

1. 1. Add full stops to separate your ideas and make your writing clearer.
2. 2. Add capital letters to proper nouns (names) and the starts of sentences.
3. 3. Write out all misspelled vocabulary 3 times.
4. 4. Separate your work into paragraphs (TIP TOP) and include discourse markers.
5. 5. Proofread your work aloud to check for grammar errors such as missing words or inconsistent tenses.
6. 6. Avoid using slang and use more formal standard English
7. 7. Use a wider range of punctuation, including commas, accurately.
8. 8. Use apostrophes of possession and omission correctly.
9. 9. Proofread your work carefully to check and correct SPaG errors.
10. 10. Use a wider range of punctuation, including colons and semi-colons accurately.

MONITORING

• Training will be provided for new staff and staff having difficulties in applying the policy in their own practice.
• The implementation and continued use of the strategy will be monitored on a regular basis as part of the Trust’s Quality Assurance process. The main focus of this monitoring will be the impact feedback (in the forms outlined in this policy) has on student progress as evidenced in books/folders/assessments/other.
• Quality assurance activities will include work scrutiny, student voice, and learning walks. Reports will be shared with the SLT and Governors. Any gaps in marking consistency or feedback quality will result in further staff development. Working to student targets and reinforcing expectations High expectations and standards will be reflected in all students’ work (submitted and other).
• If a student fails to submit a requested task then time must be allocated for them to complete it.
• If a student hands in work that is below their target grade/expected level then they are expected to make the necessary improvements following feedback.
• If a students’ work is significantly below their expected target grade/level they must re-do and re-submit the piece of work.
• All student progress data collected must be processed in line with UK GDPR principles: accurate, up-to-date, secure, and only accessible to authorized staff.

Appendix 1

Date: Topic

What have you done well? What do you need to do to Improve? Next steps?

Appendix 2

Cycle Period T1.1 T1.2 T2.1 T2.2 T3.1 T3.2

Last week of Last week of Last week of Last week Last week of Penultimate week AP Test period Autumn Term Autumn Term Spring Term of Spring Summer Term of Summer Term

First Second Half First Term First Second Half

Half Half Second Half Half

First Wednesday Last Friday of the

First Wednesday First First Wednesday First Wednesday

back after penultimate week AP data input back after Wednesday back after Spring back after

Autumn Term of Summer Term

Autumn Half back after Term (Easter) Summer Half

(Christmas) Second Half

term Spring Half Break Term

Break

term

First Thursday First Thursday back Last Thursday of

First Thursday back First Thursday back First Thursday

AP data checking by back after after Spring Term the Penultimate after Autumn half after Spring Half back after Summer SLT Autumn (Easter) Break week of

term Term Half Term

Term (Christmas) Summer Term

Break Second half Data Input by Last Thursday of the Penultimate

Last Wednesday of Term 1 Last Wednesday of Term 2

Teachers for week of Summer Term Second Reporting Cycles half Reporting cycle starts Thursday of the Penultimate Week of

(Term 1, Term 2, End First Wednesday of Jan Third Monday of April

Summer Term

of Report) Thursday of the penultimate Week of Report checking by First Thursday of Jan Third Tuesday of April

Summer Term

SLs

Academic Reports

Second Friday of January Third Friday of April Last day of the Term distributed to parents

KS1&2 (Third KS 3 (Third

KS1/2 (Last

Wednesday of Wednesday of Wednesday of

February)

September) KS4 (Fourth January)

Parent/subject

Wednesday of

KS4 (Second

meetings KS3 (First Wednesday

November) KS3 (Last Wednesday of March)

of October) Wednesday of

KS5 (Third January) KS 5 (Third

Wednesday of March) Wednesday of

October)

Second Tuesday of Fourth Tuesday of Second Tuesday of Second Tuesday of

Open Days

May - Secondary May - Primary June - Sixth form July - All Years Last week of

Mocks Y11,12,13 November - 2

weeks Third week of

RE-Mocks Y11,12,13

February - 1

week End of Year Third week of June (All year groups but

Examinations

Y11, 12, 13 who will have public exams) Third week of May First 3 weeks of iGCSE - 5 weeks

Public Examinations

January iAL - Yr Second week of

1. 13 May iAL - 6 weeks