Science Department Marking and Assessment Policy

The following document should be read alongside the schools marking policy.

Frequency of detailed marking and monitoring of work

  1. Teachers should mark the assessments set as per the schools assessment calendar and provide feedback to students using the templates provided. Students should be given an opportunity to reflect on performance and have an opportunity to improve on work within lesson time and the teacher should acknowledge the improved work.
  2. At least one piece of work should be marked in detail per half term. This work can be selected by the teacher basedon the areas they are teaching and can include exam questions, topic tests, class work and practical work. When marking workin detail, the teacher should ensure they include a www and ebior provided departmental proformasand offer an opportunity for students to respond to feedback and demonstrate further progress.

Setting and Marking of Homework

Homework should be set weekly in accordance with the school policy, however where classes are split it is expected for all teachers to set homework to total the time allocations expected.

It is advised that when homework requires marking it is completed by self or peer assessment to reduce workload. Marks and completion of homework should be recorded in teacher mark book.

Controlled Assessment (ISAs) – Year 11 only

Controlled assessments should be marked in accordance with marking guidelines from the exam board. To ensure consistency, moderation of marking will take place following an ISA.

Assessment Criteria

Students work should be assessed against their ability to meet the appropriate requirements of the specification and beyond where appropriate. In cases where investigative skills is to be assessed, specific criteria should be focussed on e.g. Graph skills,data analysis

Moderation and consistency

Regular moderation will occur of exam marking,controlled assessment and classwork where appropriate

Record keeping

All staff should keep up to date records of classes. These will form part of the progress over time folders and should include as a minimum: Target data, test and assessment data and homework completion

Monitoring and tracking

Monitoring of student progress should be done regularly by the classroom teacher in orderto identify issues with student progress. This should be reported to key stage leads and head of department early on. Where students are identified as underperforming or requiring support, the classroom teacher should put into place intervention in the first case within the classroom and seek guidance if they are unsure what to do. Students may also be put forward for whole department intervention as appropriate in enhancement sessions to support students in achieving the best possible outcomes.

Student responsibilities

Students will record targets and their own assessment results within their books on provided documentation. They will be responsible for setting themselves targets with teacher guidance on what they need to do to progress further.

Rewards and Sanctions in relation to classwork and homework

Where students have clearly made a lot of effort or produced outstanding work, staff should reward students. For example, by the use of positive points via class charts, through the sending of postcards home, phoning parents or nominating for scientist of the week.

In cases where work is not produced to an acceptable standard, the teacher should follow the schools usual sanctions procedure.

September 2016