Every half term you will receive a Praising Stars report. Youwill be given an Effort Grade and a Progress Grade. This information is collected from your teachers and sent out to your parents in a letter.
We use our Praising Stars© system to inform you about your child’s progress. For those new to the process, each year you will receive six such reports. This frequency of reporting enables us to improve the quality and impact of our intervention with students. We hope you will be equally pleased with the frequency of which you receive information about your child’s progress.
Target Setting - Overview for Families
When students join Outwood, they are given target grades for each subject they study. These targets are based on the information we receive about their performance prior to joining their Outwood secondary academy (usually Key Stage 2 results).
The targets we use are very ambitious because as a trust, Outwood performs significantly above national average and also reflects how the top performing students achieve nationally from this starting point. We are ambitious for your children.
For example, a student who achieved SATs results of 104 (scaled score) could receive subject targets at a grade 6. Similarly, a student achieving SATs result of 111 could receive subject targets at a grade 8.
Every half term we will provide families with a "Praising Stars©" report, which gives an indication of the grades students are expected to secure at the end of the course, provided they continue to work at the current level demonstrated.
Where students' performances regularly indicate that they are expected to achieve/exceed their targets, the target grade may be increased to provide a greater degree of challenge.
If students' predictions indicate that they are expected to underachieve in a subject, the academy staff will intervene to increase the level of personalisation students receive, identifying barriers to learning and taking swift action to remove these.
Our commitment to taking every action possible, to secure the life-chances for students, has delivered a track record of very high performance for the vast majority of our students. We will always strive to raise standards and transform the life chances of the children in our care.
Effort (E1-E6)
Parents/Carers MUST look at the effort grades first and foremost as a measure of your child’s performance towards meeting/exceeding their target grades. This will provide a clear indication of the work ethic in particular lessons.
• E1 – Star students
• E2 – Very promising
• E3 – Hard working
• E4 – WAKE UP CALL
• E5 – TARGET
• E6 – EXCLUSION
Predicted/Attainment
This is a GCSE grade A*-G or 1-9. The teacher will predict what your son/daughter will attain at the end of Year 11 based upon their current performance and the teacher’s professional judgement.
Homework/Coursework
This indicates, where marked, that the teacher has a coursework concern © or a homework concern (H) or both (HC).
Attendance
This indicates, where marked with an X, that the teacher has a concern that your son/daughter’s attendance in lessons is having a negative effect on performance and progress.