Assessment

Assessment and Reporting
Pupils are assessed regularly in class using a variety of methods in order to capture progress and support understanding. Work is marked regularly and pupils are informed what they have done well and what they need to do in order to improve. Pupils are also encouraged to self-evaluate and are given opportunity to assess their peers against clear success criteria.
The new national curriculum no longer uses levels for assessing progress. At the West Sussex Alternative Provision College we assess the progress of our KS3 and KS4 pupils towards an aspirational GCSE grade of 1 – 9.

All primary and secondary pupils receive half termly and termly reports that show their target and whether they are working below their target, are on track to meet that target or are working at a greater depth towards achieving that target and so may achieve higher than their target.

Each term teachers comment on the skills that pupils have developed successfully in their subject and a skill to develop in the following term. The national curriculum and exam board specifications are broken down into skills for each subject and when a pupil starts using that skill they are considered to be emerging in their ability to demonstrate that skill. The next step is to develop that skill until they are secure in its use and through classwork and assessment they will eventually master that skill and be ready to move on to the next one.

This means pupils’ learning at the West Sussex Alternative Provision College can be highly personalised, as teaching and learning is focused on developing skills at the pace and level suitable for their ability with appropriate support and challenge in place.

Teachers will always be happy to discuss progress if there are any questions or concerns on a day-to-day basis and parent/carer attendance at our termly review days offers the essential opportunity to speak to tutors for an overview of how individual pupils are progressing at WSAPC.