Senior School

Guidance for Y6 to 8 Parents on Exam Marks and Levels

Most subjects had just one exam and we have levelled these papers so that you can compare their Exam performance with their Target Level to give an indication of progress.

Maths, English and Languages are banded classes where students will sit different papers to create their levels.

There is some extra guidance below to explain the papers set for these subjects.

Mathematics

The Maths exam comprised two papers: Paper 1 being a non-calculator test and Paper 2 being a test in which a calculator was allowed. The exams were designed to be fully differentiated and contain a range of questions to accurately assess each student. Different exams were used, even within the same Year group, to enable students to be appropriately assessed at the level at which they have been working throughout the year. The results of these exams have been used to determine a National Curriculum Level.

It is therefore possible for a student to gain a higher percentage in a lower tier exam (easier questions) than a student sitting a higher tier exam (harder questions), even though the levels are the same or even lower for the student who wrote the lower tier exam. For this reason, it is not advised that percentages are used to compare the results. Comparing the National Curriculum Levels is much more meaningful.

English

In English the students sat two examination papers: a writing task and reading comprehension. These two percentages are in the report and have then been collated to give a combined level for English, reflecting their overall performance.

Chinese

The Chinese programme has three pathways, Chinese as Native Language (CNL), Mandarin as Second Language (MSL) and Mandarin as Foreign Language (MFL). Students are tracked in different level sets depending on which pathway they are in.

Year 7 / Year 8 Spanish

All pupils had a 3-minute speaking exam, introducing themselves, talking about family and friends and about their school. This was followed by a series of questions on the given topics.

Senior School

For the written exam, pupils were expected to write 3 paragraphs, one on each unit of work studied so far this year. Levels were awarded according to the NC levels descriptors.

Year 7 French

All pupils had a 3-minute speaking exam, which consisted of a list of questions on each topic studied in class: in town, doing projects and daily routine/school experience.

There was also a reading and writing exam and an overall level was awarded according to the NC levels descriptors.

Year 8 French

With regards to the speaking exam, pupils created a dialogue in groups (beginners / intermediate / advanced-bilingual) entitled “Back from holidays” and acted it out in class.

There was also a reading and writing exam and an overall level was awarded according to the NC levels descriptors.