The following information has been sent home via a Parent Mail letter today also. Please download the following document that goes with it that lists and summarises all of the sources of evidence that will be used to determine grades awarded to learners in the Upper School:
Dear Parent/Carer,
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent loss of teaching and learning time, the Education Minister, Kirsty Williams, announced that there will be no external exams for learners in Years 10, 11, 12 & 13 in the summer of 2021. Instead, Centre Determined Grades (CDGs) will be awarded by the school. A Centre Determined Grade is the grade awarded by the school, as an examination centre, on the basis of attainment which has been demonstrated in the areas of the qualification content that a learner has covered. Each grade awarded by the school must be underpinned by robust evidence to demonstrate a learner’s attainment across key themes and skills and the purpose of this letter is to give you an indication of how our year 11, 12 and 13 learners are going to be assessed across the different subjects that they study.
These forms of evidence will vary per qualification, as determined by the requirements of each WJEC Qualification Assessment Framework. Some subjects have Non-Examination Assessments (NEAs or “coursework”) that will contribute to the evidence whilst other subjects will rely on short assessments.
It will not be possible or permitted for teachers, or the school, to attempt to issue a Centre Determined Grade based on professional prediction, target or predicted grades or the potential of a learner but only by actual evidence of learner work.
The evidence that will be used can best be split into two categories: –
- Assessments which the learners will complete between now and the summer plus Non-Examined Assessments (coursework) which will form the basis of the evidence of the Centre Determined Grades.
- Other evidence in Departmental Assessment Plans will be used to inform the Centre Determined Grade.
The assessments that learners will complete after the Easter holidays will allow them to build on the evidence that teachers currently have for them and support their final CDG grade. The majority of these assessments will be completed during normal timetabled lessons and will last no more than 1 hour. These assessments will be completed under controlled conditions, similar to when they complete Non-Examination Assessments (NEAs), such as coursework. Learners will not be given any specific detail about the assessments they will complete by their teachers, which is made clear in the Qualifications Wales guidance for Summer 2021 assessments (version 3).
Attached you will find details of the assessments that will be completed after Easter.
(see document for download at the top of this page).
We have endeavoured to keep you informed of all the available information and will continue to do so. If you wish to discuss any aspect regarding these arrangements then please contact myself or Mr Dowden (Assistant Headteacher in charge of Assessment) at the school.
Many thanks for your continued support.
Yours faithfully,
Mr D Mead
Deputy Headteacher