Assessment and Reporting

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The process of recording, reviewing and assessing student progress is essential, we believe, in ensuring students make excellent progress. It is an area where close co-operation between school and home is critical in supporting all students with understanding their key areas of development.

Wildern Assessment Data (WAD): three times a year, subject staff are asked to comment on a student’s progress, performance, and behaviours for learning.  This information helps staff and students set targets to improve achievement standards. When this data is collected on students, it is communicated to parents through reports or parents' evenings.

Written report: At the end of the academic year, there is an extra summary of the learning and attitude from the tutor, as well as all the behaviours for learning and progress data, as usual.

At Wildern, effective learning happens where there is mutual respect, support, encouragement, security, and independence. All members of the school share responsibility for developing this ethos. We want students to be willing to learn and ready to work, because a positive, hardworking attitude can make a real difference to achievement.

We have recently updated our Wildern Assessment Data (WAD). Teachers will give each student a Behaviours for Learning (BfL) colour in every subject, reflecting how well they demonstrate behaviours that support their progress in that subject:

The comment column of your child’s report will indicate if any of these 11 Behaviours for Learning codes need to be prioritised in that subject.

Behaviours for Learning Codes

Behaviours for Learning areas for development

• Being respectful to teachers and other learners in the classroom at all times

• Being fully engaged in lessons, listening carefully and following instructions

• Being punctual to lessons to maximise learning

• Attending all lessons to maximise learning

• Being always appropriately equipped and ready to learn

Academic Learning areas for development

• Completing all class work or Non-Examined Assessment (NEA) to a required standard 

• Completing all self-study on time and to a required standard

• Working independently, seeking out appropriate opportunities to maximise your potential

• Understanding and acting on feedback

• Preparing appropriately for assessments or Non-Examined Assessments (NEA)

• Using appropriate subject-specific vocabulary and skills

Target setting

In line with our commitment to raising aspirations and achievement, we use FFT20 targets as a minimum benchmark and use Wildern Step & GCSE grades for CLP to guide student progress across all subjects. We use a data-driven approach with personalised targets, based on national data and each student’s prior performance. This also gives us a nationally benchmarked measure of progress that is clear and comparable.

What is FFT20?

FFT20 targets are provided by the Fischer Family Trust, a nationally recognised organisation specialising in school data analysis. The “20” refers to the top 20% of similar students nationally in terms of prior attainment and context. By adopting FFT20 targets, we are aligning our expectations with the performance of the highest-achieving students in comparable schools nationwide.

It is important to note that FFT20 will be the minimum target set for each student. In some cases, teachers may raise a student’s target above FFT20 if evidence suggests they are capable of even greater progress.

To ensure we can set accurate FFT20 targets for all students, some may be required to sit CATS (Cognitive Abilities Tests) if we do not already hold the necessary prior attainment data. These tests enable us to generate reliable benchmarks, ensuring that no student is disadvantaged by missing information.