Parent Reports – FAQs

How often will I receive a report on my child’s progress?

Key Stage 3 Parent Reports are sent home to parents via email three times a year, after each set of end of term assessments in the autumn, spring and summer term.

Parents also have the opportunity to meet with their child’s teachers from Progress Meetings each year. Dates for each year group can be viewed on our Parents’ Evenings page.

What information is provided on the parent report?

We have made changes to parent reports for the 2021-22 academic year, so the report this year will look slightly different to the ones that parents of Year 8 and Year 9 students are used to. The example to the right shows what a KS3 parent report looks like for all students in years 7, 8 and 9.

We hope our new system will be more “parent-friendly” and provide better context about your child’s progress. As before, we will continue to report your child’s attendance, punctuality, behaviour points, commendations and the percentage your child receives in their end of term assessments. However, we will also report how this percentage relates to their Target Band and Current Band.

What are attainment bands and what do they mean?

There are five attainment bands in each subject, and they link approximately to GCSE grades as follows:

·       Band E (exceptional performance): This band indicates that a student is working in the top 5% of the cohort in this subject. No student will have a target of Band E, but they can achieve it in a given test.

·       Band 1: Students with current assessment results in Band 1 are on track to achieve between a grade 7 and 9 at GCSE in this subject.

·       Band 2: Students with current assessment results in Band 2 are on track to achieve somewhere between a grade 5 and 7 at GCSE in this subject.

·       Band 3: Students with current assessment results in Band 3 are on track to achieve somewhere between a grade 3 and 5 at GCSE in this subject.

·       Band 4: Students with current assessment results in Band 4 are on track to achieve somewhere between a grade 1 and 3 at GCSE in this subject.

Please note that the bands are just estimates, and the further your child is from their GCSEs, the harder it is to predict results. It doesn’t follow that, for example, a student in scoring in Band 1 in Year 7 will definitely receive at grade 7-9 in Year 11. Also, just because a student has a high target or current band in one subject, it doesn’t mean they will be in the same band for others.

Target bands are minimum expectations and students should aim to exceed them. Target bands can change year to year, based on students’ performance in their end of year exams.

Why does my child have different target bands in different subjects?

Assessment works differently in different subjects, and students’ aptitude and achievement varies. It’s possible, for example, to be a talented musician with a target of Band 1, but a less able sportsman/woman with a target of Band 3. Targets are always ambitious in terms of what that student can achieve, but that doesn’t mean they are the same in every subject.

How have you calculated these targets?

We have looked at your child’s prior attainment – for example, the results they received at the end of Year 6, or in the Cognitive Ability and Reading tests they took when they joined KAA. We have then compared how students with similar results have gone on to perform at GCSE in previous years.

I think my child should be targeted to be in a higher band, what can I do?

If your child’s assessment results at the end of the autumn, spring, and summer term indicate that they are performing above their target band then this will be changed for the next academic year.

Is any of this an exact science?

The honest answer is no. Once your child gets to Year 10 and starts their GCSE courses, we will be in a much better position to give accurate targets and predictions for their likely eventual grades.