At Wrenn we asses students to ensure that they are making progress and to ensure that we are putting additional support into place when necessary. Much of our assessment takes place throughout each lesson through hands-down questioning, hinge questions and marked pieces of work; however, each year group will sit at least two more formal assessments across the year.

At Key Stage 3 these are designed to fit into a single lesson and review the topics that the students have studied so far at Wrenn. At Key Stage 4 these assessments are often based on GCSE papers and may be sat in strict exam conditions to prepare students for their external assessments at the end of GCSE.

Grades for these papers are created using grade-boundaries provide by Creative Education Trust and serve as guide for how a student is currently performing in a subject. Please follow this link for a calendar of this year’s assessment calendar.

At Wrenn, we aim to provide guardians with all the information they need to have constructive and supportive conversations with their children about their education. As such, guardians can expect the following communications.

Arbor – Much of the information about each student is available via the Arbor app. This updates daily with information on attendance, punctuality, achievement points, behavioural incidents, and use of the school canteen. For Key Stage 4 students, this will also include information on homework completion.

Sparx – At Key Stage 3, homework is set on the Sparx platform. Sparx send a weekly email to each parent with information about the student’s usage for the past week – this is a great way to monitor homework completion.

Pastoral Reports – Every half term, parents will be sent a pastoral report with information on students’ attendance, punctuality, homework completion, behaviour points and achievement points.

Academic Reports - These will be sent out twice a year and include information on how students performed in their most recent in school exams, their attitude to learning and targets for the next series of work. Please find the timings of these reports on the assessment calendar.

Parents Evening - Once per-year, we will hold a digital parents evening to discuss each student's progress. This will comprise a series of five-minute appointments, where a teacher can provide much more detail on how a student is performing in lesson. Please find the timings of these meetings on the assessment calendar.

Beyond this, we aim to pro-actively communicate any concerns to parents and be available to contact if you have any immediate concerns.