We are constantly looking for ways to help students achieve amazing outcomes and to boost their motivation. Other high-performing schools and academies cite providing students and parents with rank order information as one of the most effective ways to do this.
From this year, students in Year 7 and Year 10 will experience an approach to assessments called Rank Order Assessments (ROA). We believe it is a very accurate way to track a student’s progress between assessments, giving students, parents/carers and teachers a true picture of their learning. ROA give a shared meaning between all concerned, including school leaders, about the progress of individuals and groups within the school.
There can be initial concerns about potentially demotivating those who appear lower in the list. When these concerns are overcome, rank order proves to be a useful and effective piece of information. Our feedback from schools that use rank order is that far from being demotivating, students describe how they are constantly trying to improve on their own previous position in the year.
Rest assured that all times we will be offering wrap-around support to help students to improve from whichever position they find themselves in.
Three times a year, students sit a series of assessments under exam conditions which are marked and used to determine their rank within their year group. The outcomes of these assessments will be shared with students and parents/carers in their termly progress report. There will also be an opportunity to discuss progress at parents' evenings. In some cases, parents and carers will be invited into school to discuss the progress their child is making.
It is very important that your child fully prepares for these assessments and spends time doing the revision needed to do their best.
If you have any questions, comments or queries, please click the link below. Your query will be directed to the relevant member of staff.
Year 10 Assessment 1 Report
In the Autumn term, Year 10 students receive their first ROA report of the academic year. There are plenty of resources available to help you interpret the report and advice and guidance on how to support your child at home with five core issues.
Rank Order Assessment is the process of assessing students, ideally through formalised examinations, and then ranking them from top to bottom performer in their year group in each subject and overall.
We are constantly looking for ways to help students achieve amazing outcomes and to boost their motivation. We have spent a considerable amount of time researching different approaches and listening to parents' feedback on our current reporting system.​
We need our assessment system to:
We believe providing parents/carers and students with a rank order information is one of the most effective ways to do achieve all these criteria.​​
There is no agreed standard for any level of work and learning, even at GCSE, that can provide guidance to assess work. Grades are actually assigned at these times as a comparison against all the other students who take the examination. The top 0.1% will get a grade 9. The top 2% get a grade 8, and so on. Therefore, what is required to get a student’s certain target grade is not consistent from year to year.
Rank order information will appear on the student's report. This report will be posted or distributed digitally.
The information rank order gives allows the school to reward students who are making progress and identify students who need additional support to prevent their rank from falling. We are also able to assess whether or not particular interventions are having an impact.
This year only Year 7 and Year 10 are involved with rank order assessments. Other year groups will have their assessments in the same way without rank order being calculated. Below is the roll out plan for rank order assessments.
Academic Year 2023 / 2024: Y7 and Y10
Academic Year 2024 / 2025: Y7, Y8, Y10 and Y11
Academic Year 2025 / 2026: All year groups
ROA happens three time per year, once each term. The dates can be found on the first page of the guidance booklet and on the website.
The rank order will appear on the progress report for the student and their families to see. It is their information to choose to share with others or not. Parents and carers will receive the report either electronically or through the post. Students will not receive this report during the school day.
The school will use the rank order data internally.
Year 7: In English, Maths and Science students will receive a subject rank. Other subjects that assess using a scored assessment will contribute to the calculations that give the overall school rank for a child.
Some subjects such as P.E., Art and D&T assess a final product or performance. It is not possible to score these assessments, therefore they do not contribute to ROA. You will still receive feedback on the progress report for these subjects.
Year 10: All subjects will provide a subject rank and all subjects will contribute to the overall rank order.
In subjects, the raw score of an assessment will be used to rank order students. If more than one student has the same score, they will all receive the same highest possible ranking. The next student after this will be ranked after this group of students.
For the overall rank, subjects will contribute a different weighting as represented by that subject’s curriculum time. English, Maths and Science ranking will count more to a student’s overall ranking as students spend more curriculum time studying these subjects.
Moving to ROA three times a year is about giving students the responsibility, motivation and determination to change their outcomes and so a significant increase or decrease in rank may show they are no longer in the appropriate set. We will always consider other factors when moving students into a different set.
We have found that the students who find themselves at the bottom of the rank order are those who miss lessons persistently or refuse to engage in lessons. These students will already be receiving support for their attendance or behaviour and this data will enable us to measure accurately the impact of this. All interventions will be monitored through this process:
Should a student move more than 10% down, we will see this as a need for us to support them more.
If a student is making the progress that they should be, they will stay around the same rank as they move through Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.
All subjects will have one, in-class assessment, and the class teacher will explain what this is like. Each assessment point, students and parents/carers will receive an assessment guide. This contains vital links to videos and support material on revision techniques and importantly topics and live links to revision resources that students need revise.
If they miss an assessment they will need to try and catch this up and the class teacher will help them do this in a lesson shortly after the planned assessment. If this cannot be caught up by the time the data gets collected, the student will not receive a score and this will affect their ranking for the subject and the school, as it would if a student missed an exam in Year 11. Anyone in this position will be contacted prior to the progress reports being released.
Students who finish towards the bottom of the rank will receive bespoke intervention where appropriate and, in some cases, parents/carers will be invited in for a meeting to discuss the possible reasons for a low rank order. Interventions may include literacy, numeracy or reading support.
We have a specific team of teachers who will analyse the Rank Order data to identify which students need support and how best we can support parents/carers having conversations with their child.
Rank order is not shared between students which is why we shall send them home directly. Some students can be removed from the rank order due to specific learning needs. This should be discussed with your child and the SEND team
As parent/carers you can support immeasurably by encouraging a positive attitude to learning, supporting independent work at home through homework and encouraging punctuality and attendance. Students who follow this are far more likely to improve their rank order and will therefore be rewarded for their academic progress. Students are not expected to revise for baseline assessments but prior to mid-year and end of year assessments, you will receive a booklet that will tell you everything that they will be tested on. You can keep track of this by having a look in their books or speaking to your child.
We celebrate students in a variety of ways and for a variety of criteria. Progress is not simply moving up the Rank. We also want to acknowledge students who have excellent attendance, an outstanding attitude to learning in school and a commitment to home-learning out of school.
We recognise every student as an individual. Some students may require additional support preparing for assessments or in managing the outcomes of the assessments. Where students may have additional needs, we will strive to ensure that these students received a personalised approach.
Prior to the Assessments
Following Assessments
