22nd October 2015
Dear Parent/Guardian,
Your child’s Autumn Term 1 Grade Sheet is included with this letter. Following on from the
presentation on assessment at the Information Evenings, please read the information below to help
you understand your child’s academic progress. There may be aspects of the Grade Sheet you would
like to discuss; in the first instance I recommend that your child speaks to their subject teacher before
you contact the school. If your child is still unsure of how to improve, then you will have the
opportunity to speak to their teacher at one of the forthcoming Parents’ Evenings:
Year 9 – Thursday 22nd October 2015
Year 8 – Wednesday 4th November 2015
Year 10 – Thursday 12th November 2015
Year 11 – Thursday 3rd December 2015
Alternatively, please use the teacher contact list to email your child’s teacher directly, or you can
contact me to discuss the matter.
Key Stage 3 – Year 7, 8 and 9
In weekly assemblies, Heads of Year have taken the time to carefully explain the format of the new
Grade Sheets. Instead of reporting National Curriculum Levels, which are no longer used by the
Government, each half-term teachers at North Bridge House are using one of six Attainment Classes
to report your child’s attainment, these are:
 Exceptional
 Very Good
 Good
 Some Concern
 Concern
 Serious Concern
Each teacher has used the same criteria to make their judgements:
After Internal January Prelim Exams and Summer Final Exams, teachers will report the exam results
using the new Grade 1 (lowest) to Grade 9 (highest) grading system. You will receive grades like this
twice per year; on the February Grade Sheet and the July Grade Sheet, to coincide with the release
of the Internal Exam Results. To help you understand how the new numerical system converts to oldstyle alphabetical-grades please use the conversion table included here:
F
E
D−
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
C
B−
‘pass’
‘good pass’
Grade 4
Grade 5
B+
A
Just
below A*
Above A*
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Grade 9
At this stage, it is not possible to predict precisely how the new numerical system relates to the
Attainment Classes, however as a rough rule of thumb, you should consider:





Exceptional = Grade 9 (which is equivalent to gaining to high Grade A*, nationally it is
expected that only 3% will achieve the Grade 9)
Very Good = Grade 7 or Grade 8 (Grade A or just below Grade A*)
Good = Grade 5 or Grade 6 (Grade B- or Grade B+)
Some Concern = Grade 4 (Grade C)
Concern = Grade 3 (Grade D)
Why have we indicated some concern for attainment that equates to a Grade 4 (Grade C)? For
GCSEs, the government has said that a Grade 4 (old Grade C) is a pass whereas a Grade 5 (Grade
B-) is a ‘good’ pass. This means that it is likely that students will need at least a Grade 5 to be
considered for their post-16 studies.
Attitude to Learning
On the Grade Sheets teachers have also reported an Attitude to Learning (AtL) score. AtL 1 is the
highest and AtL 4 is the lowest. It is helpful to consider the Attainment Class along with the AtL Score
as, for example, if your child has “Very Good” and “AtL 3”, this would suggest that their work is of a
high quality but they are not approaching their lessons in the right frame of mind, perhaps they are
regularly late, or they are not contributing fully. On the other hand they may have “Some Concern”
and AtL 1, this would mean that they struggling with some of the subject content but they are working
hard to make improvements.
Key Stage 4 – Year 10
In Year 10, teachers have reported Attainment Grades to reflect your child’s attainment this half-term.
In English Language, English Literature and Mathematics, teachers have used the new numericalsystem Grade 1 (lowest) to Grade 9 (highest), as these grades will be reported for GCSE in these
subjects. Each teacher has used the same criteria to make their judgements:
Kindly note the grades are not predictions as the students have only completed a half-term of study.
However, if they continue to gain the same grade throughout the year, then we would hope their
predicted grade would be at least the grade predicted here.
Key Stage 4 – Year 11
On your child’s grade sheet, teachers have reported Predicted Grades. The school will use these
Predicted Grades for any reference that is requested between now and the second Parents’ Evening
on Thursday 3rd December. It is normal for Independent Sixth Forms to request references in this
period and for State Sixth Forms to call for references in late December/early January. We will
update Predicted Grades on Thursday 3rd December following Mock Exams.
By now your child should have completed and shown to their Form Tutor a first draft of their Sixth
Form Personal Statement. This week in PSHEE we are working on devising a Revision Schedule
ready for the half-term break. I would recommend that you also assist with this. During the break your
child should aim to revise for 3 to 5 hours each day. Mocks will begin on Monday 16 th November and
will last for two weeks.
Once again please do contact me if you would like to discuss your child’s academic progress.
Yours sincerely,
Brett Williams-Yale
Deputy Headteacher (Academic)