Highfields School
Issue 28:
30 April 2021
Newsletter Parents/Carers Update Stakeholder survey Parents/carers should be in receipt of our short electronic survey that has been emailed out today, 30 April. Your views are important to us and we would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete this survey and give your feedback on how you think Highfields is doing. Your responses will help inform our main improvement plan (‘Big 3’) priorities for 2021-22. A separate student survey will also be produced and emailed all students next week via their Highfields email address. The surveys are anonymous, but there is the option to leave contact details if you would like a response. Surveys are open until midnight on Sunday 16 May.
Y11 & Y13 update on processes for awarding TAGs in Summer 2021 Year 11 and 13 families and students have been sent a Weduc communication providing full details of the processes for awarding Teacher Assessed Grades in the summer. Students are currently working hard during this period of additional class-based assessments and taking this opportunity to show their teachers what they know, understand and can do in each of their courses. These assessments will play a very substantial role in helping teachers determine objective, fair and reasonable final grades, so we are delighted with the excellent approach that most students are taking towards them. Each subject will be providing students with a written summary of the evidence they will be using to make final grade judgements. Students will be asked to check the evidence base documents carefully and sign to confirm they have seen, understand and know what evidence will be used to inform grade judgements. If a student believes there were mitigating circumstances that should be taken into consideration for a piece of assessed evidence they should contact school, providing full details, via exams@highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk. The evidence bases and examples of special circumstances have been explained in the communication. As you are aware we cannot discuss our judgements with any student or parent/carer and to do so could constitute malpractice. We have taken the decision not to share marks from the current assessments either; as with exams in any normal year students need to keep focused on what is ahead. We remain very grateful to students, parents and carers for not asking us for such information. As ever, the crucial challenge for all of our students is to stick at their learning, and to take the current opportunities to show us what they know, understand and can do. They are nearly there! Thank you to all families for their support.
Be the best you can
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