I spoke in the assemblies this week with all students about the fact that we’d come to the end of September, and that this made a perfect opportunity to review where they are, what they are aiming for and if they are on the right track to get there. Although the quote ‘knowledge is power’ is often attributed to Sir Francis Bacon, there is no clear evidence in his writings that he came up with it. Nonetheless, I fully agree with it, and I’m a big fan of the Latin translation for it - ‘Scientia Potentia Est’. I’m not sure why particularly - it just has a good ring to it.

To my mind, self-awareness is the key to self-improvement. 

How can one get to where they are going when they don’t know where they are? 

To this end, at the College, we strive, from day one, to make our knowledge on each and every student at the College as comprehensive as is possible, renewing it at regular intervals and intervening where necessary to rectify it. 

The first step, during student induction, is for all of our students to undertake a CAT4 test. It identifies their innate abilities, and determines a ‘most likely’ grade for students in their course, as well as an ‘if challenged’ grade. We analyse this information and, given our history of adding value to student performance, always accept the ‘if challenged’ grade as a minimum target grade. From there, our initial teacher assessments give us the data required to check the accuracy of this target. It is often useful to start with the end in mind in education: 

“I’d very much like an A grade”

“OK”

Let’s be realistic, but try our best to reach these ambitions.” 

Students then discuss and agree the target with their teachers and record it in their planners. 

Now they know the destination, but how do they know where they are?

The answer here is, by checking regularly. 

At the College, we have a consistently applied assessment policy. Students are set homework at least once a week from every subject, with assessed work at least once a fortnight. Because of the small class sizes at the College, teaching staff can turn around the marking and feedback of this work promptly, giving clear directions for improvement. Students can then adjust their approach accordingly. Cumulative grades which represent the performance of each student across the month results in a Months Mark - with an attainment grade given, as well as a mark for effort.

When I spoke with the students, I made it clear that as far as I was concerned, effort would always trump attainment in my mind. I will always champion a student with high effort marks, no matter the grade they have achieved. Excellent achievement should be a bi-product of excellent effort in any case. Our effort marks, which run from 1 (excellent) to 4 (poor), provide an average for each student across their subjects.

Data is only ever useful if it is acted upon, and I’m looking forward to doing just that in the coming week. Any student with an average effort mark of anything at 3.0 (satisfactory) or less will be having a meeting with the Vice Principal and myself to discuss how they need to change their approach to bring this to an acceptable level of effort. Similarly, we’ll be talking to all students with an average effort grade of 1.5 and above to celebrate their achievements so far.

Months Marks are awarded each month, other than December and April - when we have formal, summative mock examinations. 

These act as vital staging posts in the journey towards targets, and they are certainly important, but the Months Marks act as a critical ‘little and often’ reminder - a health check of sorts. When one feels unwell, they tend to ‘take their medicine’ to get better. I’m looking forward to seeing how the students respond to their own particular ‘health checks’ in the weeks ahead.