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ASSESSMENTS
Assessment systems for pupils and staff alike are in place to ensure the highest standards are maintained. In terms of the pupils, this involves the following:
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regular internal monitoring by House and teaching staff |
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weekly meetings with the Tutor and/or House Master/Mistress |
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regular academic summary reports to parents (achievement, effort and target grades plus comments by the Tutor and House Master/Mistress); |
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detailed end-of-term reports to parents (including full subject reports); |
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monthly academic staff meetings to discuss pupils’ progress; |
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a system of merit and distinction awards for high quality work. |
Parents are strongly encouraged to respond to all reports by contacting their child’s Tutor, or House Master/House Mistress, if there is anything they wish to discuss. If it is a query about specifications then it should be addressed to the Head of Department concerned. Any comment or question of a more general nature should be addressed to the Head Master or House Master/House Mistress.
Members of staff are encouraged to maintain and develop their professional expertise by means of a carefully-designed system of professional review, coordinated by the Director of Studies and the Head Master. Regular lesson observation forms part of this process, as does the monitoring of academic results and Inset (In-Service Training).
EXAMINATIONS
Internal examinations are an important part of the assessment procedure and progression from one academic year to the next is partially dependent on satisfactory results.
First
Form pupils sit formal examinations in every subject during the Summer Term. Academically-able pupils in the First Form will be encouraged to sit 11+ scholarship examinations in the Lent Term.
Second
Form pupils are currently prepared for the 13+ Common Entrance examinations held in May. Whilst it is expected that all pupils who have been admitted to Plunkett will pass directly into the Senior School, it is expected that their academic attainment will surpass the Common Entrance examination threshold: the results are used for setting purposes in the Third Form.
Academically-able pupils in the Second Form will be encouraged and prepared to sit 13+ Common Scholarship examinations held at Downside in the Lent Term.
Third
Form and Fourth Form pupils sit examinations in every subject at the end of the Michaelmas Term and at the end of the Summer Term.
Fifth
Form pupils sit mock examinations at the end of the Michaelmas Term which give an opportunity for the candidates to appreciate the conditions under which they will be sitting the real papers. They also help to determine finally which examinations, and at what level, the students should be entered for. A failure to perform at a reasonable level at this stage may mean that the School is not prepared to enter a pupil for a subject, or that he/she is entered at a lower level, which has a ceiling of maximum grade that can be achieved. Parents are kept informed of any decision not to enter a pupil for any subject. Progression to the Sixth Form is also partially dependent on satisfactory results. The results of the mock examinations are sent to parents at the end of the Michaelmas Term and the pupils sit the GCSE or IGCSE examinations in the Summer Term.
Sixth
Form pupils sit either AS Level or A2 Level examinations and at the beginning of the Lent Term and at the end of the Summer Term. Pupils will regularly answer past papers, under examination conditions, during lesson or Preparation time. They sit A Level examinations in the Summer Term.
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