Recently in education, there has been a significant amount of change, including a New National Curriculum and the phased introduction of more challenging GCSEs and A Levels. These changes are happening over the next few years in all schools and your son/daughter will experience them.
The New National Curriculum has a greater focus on knowledge and skills development, along with the opportunity to study the ‘big ideas’ of a subject in greater depth. A key change has been the removal of assessment levels, something which students and parents have become familiar with both at Primary and Secondary school.
We believe that these changes provide the school with an opportunity to develop a Key Stage 3 curriculum and assessment system that is bespoke to the needs and aspirations of students at Countesthorpe Leysland Community College.
In Year 7 and 8, students will not be assigned a level, but instead will be given a target Flightpath. This Flightpath will be based on the progress the student has made in the past, and their achievement by the end of Year 6. They are all expected to aspire to excellence, and will be given a set of objectives, or Mastery Statements to achieve within each subject. Year 8 students who received a Key Stage 2 result of a 4b are placed on the secure flightpath.
The Flightpaths are:
- Developing
- Approaching
- Secure
- Mastering
- And Exceeding
| Example | ||
| Secure + | S+ | strong grasp of ‘Secure’ criteria |
| Secure | S | meeting ‘Secure’ criteria |
| Secure - | S- | not confident against ‘Secure’ criteria |
So this means that when they are assessed, students are not given feedback such as ‘you’re a 4b’ – but formative feedback that makes students think about how to develop their understanding, and what they need to do to improve their work. They will also be told how their current attainment compares to their target Flightpath. We know that learning is never a straight path, and students are expected to be active in reviewing their work and upgrading their knowledge in each subject.
This means that what we report will change as well. We will be reporting
- What the target Flightpath for your child is
- How they are progressing on this Flightpath
- What effort their teachers feel they have made.
Students will be given the opportunity to change flightpath, and thus their personal targets, if they make continual exceptional progress.
We hope you will support your child’s progress in their education.
Many Thanks
Nick Cassidy
Assistant Principal