Marking and feedback
At Ealing, we have worked to create an environment which promotes regular, transparent and effective communication between staff, pupils and parents or guardians. This is present within all means of communication - during lessons, in reports, when providing progress updates to parents, and, perhaps most importantly, through the College marking policy.
Due to the small class sizes, opportunities to provide detailed feedback for students are maximised and capitalised on, and students get into the habit of reflecting on their work and then formulating ways and means to improve.
All students at the College are issued with a green pen and they use it to actively respond to teacher feedback concerning their work. By doing this, the students 'own' their mistakes and the remedying of them, or are set challenging questions to extend their answers further. Due to the small class sizes, opportunities to provide detailed feedback for students are maximised and capitalised on, and students get into the habit of reflecting on their work and then formulating ways and means to improve.
Though most of the assessment within the College is formative, aimed at maximising student improvement, summative assessment is also deployed at the end of each term, with Christmas and Easter Mock exams, skilfully formed by our staff to stretch and challenge students. Results from these exams are reviewed across the College, with results analysed, weaknesses identified, and teaching tweaked to remedy issues which have arisen. Several rewards are given to the students who have excelled in these assessments, increasing confidence and drive to go further.