Assessment framework intent:

The intent of the AGFS assessment framework is to enact the school’s mission by:

• Promoting ambition – collecting data to ascertain whether scholars are on track to gain access to a Russell Group university.
• Developing growth – giving scholars the opportunity to experience ‘controlled failure’ and develop resilience and independence.
• Encouraging fellowship – measuring scholars’ ability to think critically about the world and acknowledge different perspectives.
• Cultivating scholarship – quantifying scholars’ level of mastery in each academic discipline.

This mission permeates all aspects of the school’s life.

 Additional aims of the AGFS assessment framework are to:

1. Support teachers in regularly identifying gaps in scholars’ knowledge to enable effective planning.
2. Measure the impact of our intended curriculum, identifying areas for development.
3. Quantify scholars’ attainment at times when inferences will be valid and useful.
4. Prepare scholars for end of phase external examinations.

Aims 1) and 2) are mostly met using formative assessment throughout each academic year, supporting improvements in teaching and learning as each cohort progresses through the curriculum.

Aims 3) and 4) are mostly met through summative assessment points across each academic year.

Approach to Assessment

In recent years, we have reduced the number of summative assessment points from three to two whilst improving the use of regular formative assessment.

Both forms of assessment are important parts of our curriculum and assessment strategy and are incorporated into our approach to improvement at a classroom, school, and network level. All aspects of our approach are rooted in research around effective assessment techniques.

Formative Assessment

There are many forms of formative assessments, all are in service of the curriculum and designed to support teachers and leaders in understanding which elements of our curriculum are strong and which need revisiting. The key purpose of all formative assessment is to evaluate and adapt our curriculum whether that is at a classroom level leading to changes in the next lesson being taught or feeding into changes in the curriculum programme as a whole. Some of these assessments are used continually, throughout every lesson whilst others are used less often such as at the end of a unit of work or over a longer period. The type and regularity of these will vary slightly from subject to subjects. The table below sets out all the formative assessments that we believe create a robust assessment strategy throughout the academic year with indications of their regularity.

Summative Assessment

The table below sets out the summative assesment points at AGFS.

Research underpinning the AGFS approach to the assessment: