The government recently announced that there will be no externally assessed examinations at the end of KS3 (Y9) in 2009. This applies to our Y9 students. They have said that schools are still required to submit teacher assessment level judgements to the National Assessment Agency at the end of key stage 3 in the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science. We would also want to continue to track progress through year 9 to make sure students are on task to achieve the highest possible grades in GCSE exams in Y11.
The examinations are still available from the NAA and although we do not have to set the SATs style exams we intend to use at least part, if not all, of these exams to help us to produce the teacher assessed levels. It is likely that this will occur during the month of May so that there is time to provide accurate teacher assessments by the end of the academic year. We are considering whether to provide students with a formal exam under external exam conditions.
Students have been informed through their assembly that they need to work seriously throughout the year to make sure that they are placed in the correct groups in year 10 as these groups will be based on teacher assessments. We would value the support of parents in emphasising the need for students to continue to do their best work throughout this year.
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