Course Guide for Maths and Further Maths

Maths Department Assessment Policy

Your commitment 

Each week you should aim to spend 4.5-5 hours on Maths outside the classroom.  This may sound like a lot but get into the habit straight away and you will get used to it.  I cannot overemphasise how important this is in order for you to be successful.

Weekly homework

You will be set one pure homework and one applied homework each week.  These will consist of a 'consolidation of previous topics' section and a 'review of current topic' section.  Both sections of both homeworks should be completed each week.  Homework does not necessarily need to be completed at home!  You can use free periods during the day to complete these tasks outside of lessons.  To keep a good work/life balance, you might like to treat College as an 08:45 to 16:15 day and use your free periods in the library completing tasks.  This will minimise the work you need to complete at home and might make you more productive! If the homework only takes you 2 hours then you should aim to spend a further 3 hours consolidating previous topics or reading ahead.  Start the homework early and then if you struggle with any questions you will have time to attend a drop in session. 

The Importance of Feedback

Learning may not happen instantly and can take time; attending lessons only forms a part of this learning.  You also need to be working outside of class, to revise new topics and consolidate classwork.  In the process, you will make mistakes.  The more mistakes you make the more progress you will make. Feedback is essential for your learning and will consist of verbal or written (teacher marking), peer (where you feedback on someone else’s work in the class) and self (where you assess yourself).

Benchmark Assessments

Throughout each of the two years, there will be 4 benchmark assessments.  These will all consist of exam style questions.

• WRITTEN FEEDBACK: Each benchmark assessment will be marked by your teacher and will be returned to you with a cover sheet that relates directly to your individual strengths and areas for development.  You will also be set targets work based on these.
• VERBAL FEEDBACK: 1-2-1’s will also occur in November and March after the benchmarks have been marked.  These benchmark assessments will then feed directly into the student review (‘report’) which get sent home to your parents. 
• REFLECTION AND TARGET SETTING: After each assessment, students will be expected to reflect on the written feedback from their teacher and set themselves targets for improvement in the period in question.   

Benchmarks are extremely important and should be treated like an actual exam.  They are an ideal opportunity for you to measure how you are progressing and to get valuable feedback from your teacher.  You will make mistakes in the benchmarks and so the follow up work is to test whether you have learned from those mistakes to become better at the subject and exam technique. The benchmarks in the first year will provide evidence for the first year Annual review grade upon which the predicted grade will be determined.

The Final Assessment

All Maths courses are assessed through written exams. 

Other Considerations

• LATE POLICY: In line with the ‘College Assessment Policy’, the department are under no obligation to provide feedback to a student who does not meet the internal deadlines for homeworks.  Students who fail to prepare adequately for the lesson as requested, maybe excluded for part of the lesson and asked to work independently in the library.  A continued failure to meet homework requirements will result in a reference to the pastoral team and a phone call home to parents.
• RETURNED WORK: If homework is submitted it will be assessed and returned within 10 working days.