ASSESSMENT

An attainment target sets out the ‘knowledge, skills and understanding that students of different abilities and maturities are expected to have by the end of each key stage’. Attainment targets consist of eight level descriptions of increasing difficulty. Each level description describes the types and range of performance that students working at that level should characteristically demonstrate.

The level descriptions provide the basis for making judgements about students’ performance at the end of key stages 1,2, and 3. At key stage 4, national qualifications are another means of assessing attainment in physical education.

Range of levels within which the great majority of students are expected to work Expected attainment level for the majority of students at the end of the key stage. Key stage 1 1 - 3 At age 7 2 Key stage 2 2-5 At age 11 4 Key stage 3 3-7 At age 14 5/6

Assessing attainment at the end of a key stage

In deciding on a student’s level of attainment at the end of a key stage, teachers should judge which descriptions best fits the student’s performance. When doing so, each description should be considered alongside descriptions for adjacent levels.

Assessing attainment at PHGS

Students have access to the level descriptors by way of a planner sheet and display in the department. A main focus for key stage 3 is to teach students to assess their own and others’ performance in PE using this sheet. It is hoped that by doing this students will become more aware of how important knowledge and understanding is rather than simply being a talented performer. The planner assessment page can be seen overleaf. In conjunction with the planner sheet we plan to introduce a ‘tracking sheet’ for key stage three that records progress throughout the key stage. It is anticipated that the use of this will enable more accurate feedback and possibly dictate how we teach to get the best from our students. This sheet can also be found later and is to be introduced in September 04 with year7 and 8 students.

Reporting assessment in PE at PHGS

Each student receives a report on his or her progress once during the academic year. It gives the current attainment grade, an end of year target and an end of key stage target grade. The report also gives a brief outline of progress in PE and mentions effort, attitude, organisation and the extra curricular contribution that a student may make. Shortly after receiving this report parents are invited to discuss the report with the subject tutor.

Key stage four schemes of work and assessment is undergoing a complete overhaul in conjunction with the new lesson structure. However, students in key stage 4 also receive a report and have the opportunity to develop their leadership skills with the JSLA course and links with the local primary schools.