Exams
JCQ Documents for Students and Parents
Assessment in Years 7 to 11
All students are now being assessed using the Devizes School life beyond levels assessment criteria. Key assessments and exams will be graded on the new GCSE 9-1 scale (9 is the highest grade, which approximately 3% of students will achieve nationally, and 1 is the lowest grade, representing a pass at GCSE). Please see the DFE document below which details how the new GCSE grades relate to the previous A*-G system.
The grade a student receives is called the predicted grade and indicates the grade that a students is expected to achieve at the end of year 11 if they continue to make progress as they have done. This is no guarantee that they will achieve this grade, and there is a good chance that the final grade achieved could be higher or lower than the grade depending on their progress and commitment between the assessment being reported and the final exams.
This system has been introduced to both reflect the removal of national curriculum levels and to better guide staff, parents, and students on the achievement path a student is on.
Predicted grades will be reported in progress sheets and progress review day reports, all of which will be uploaded to Go 4 Schools.
Fine Grades
Grades used in reporting will be used in the form of fine grades. This simply uses a + or - after the grade to indicated how secure the grade is. For example:
- 7+ indicates that the predicted grade for a students is a grade 7, the + highlights that fact that this is a secure 7 grade.
- 7 predicted grade is a 7 but it is not secure, I.e. there is a chance the student could achieve the grade below.
7- predicted grade is a 7 but it is very insecure and there is almost an equal chance that the grade obtained could be the grade below, in this case a 6.
Other Qualifications
There are also other qualifications studied at KS4, and they use the following assessment scheme:
L2D*, L2D, L2M, L2P, L1P, F
Distinction* is the highest level awarded, followed by merit and then pass. A level 2 pass (L2P) is a higher level of attainment than a level 1 pass (L1P). Again, each of the grades is divided into 1, 2, and 3 to indicate how secure the grade is, with 1 being the most secure.