Grading & Pathways
Grading & Pathways
Our coloured grading system uses 5 colours as follows:
Purple is Excelling
Blue is Exceeding
Green is Expected
Yellow Emerging (working towards/ just under Expected)
Orange Emerging (below or significantly below Expected)
These colours can be used for impression marks or mathematically depending on the subject. Each department or subject may approach this differently, so you will need to ask.
In MFL, for example, we would fix it as follows (other subjects may be lower)
Purple - 90%
Blue - 75%
Green - 60%
Yellow - 50%
Orange - under 50%
Pathways
Our pathway system is a great way of ensuring that pupils know what is expected of them. It is based on CAT data and teacher assessment and will be different per subject.
Most pupils will be on a green pathway, i.e they are good, solid performers who should eventually achieve at least a grade 5 or 6 at GCSE. Some pupils are on a blue pathway. These are those who are expected to eventually get at least a grade 7 at GCSE. We use the purple pathway to denote pupils who are Most Able in that subject.
A few pupils will be on a yellow pathway. This means that they might find a subject challenging but are capable of getting a pass grade at GCSE.
Pupils understand the coloured coded pathway system and - with a growth mindset - aim to exceed their pathway when they can.
If pupils ask what the pass mark is for an assessment or piece of work, the answer is always ”It depends”. If they are on a green pathway and they get a mark in the green band, then they are on track. If they get a yellow, they would be underachieving, so they need to think about why that is.
A blue pathway pupil who gets a mark in the green band would also actually be underachieving. A yellow pathway pupil who gets a yellow mark is actually doing ok and we must make sure that they see this positively.