Assessment Fortnight will run from Monday 15th to Friday 26th June.
Please see below the assessment details by subject for each year group. At the bottom of this page are a number of FAQs.
Assessment Details
Year 7 |
|
| Subject | Assessment Details |
| DT | 45 minute in-class exam. Health and Safety. Tools and materials. Vacuum forming process. Drawing in 2D, Oblique, Isomeric, 1 Point perspective and 2 point perspective. Six R’s of Sustainability,. Forces – Thrust,/Newton’s Law of motion. |
| English | A 50 minute assessment focusing on reading skills. The assessment will require pupils to read a text and answer location and retrieval questions. Pupils will also be asked an ‘explain why’ question where they will need to use the point/evidence formula. This is a skill pupils have covered throughout the year. Pupils will need to offer explanations using their own words and support their explanations with evidence from the text. |
| Food, Health and Textiles | Food: 45 minute assessment based on all of the work covered this year: Health and safety, Equipment, Cooking methods and Nutrition |
| Geography | 45 minute assessment based on all of the work covered this year: (1) Belonging and (2) Our Natural World. It will be a combination of shorter recall questions, and more extended responses designed to test pupils’ knowledge and understanding. |
| History | 45 minute in- class exam. Section 1 – Factual recall, Section 2 – Sources question, Section 3 – Essay. Pupils will be given a revision session to help them prepare. Topics covered – Wales in the Medieval, Industrial and Modern era, Castles and Medieval Weaponry, The Voyages of Discovery |
| ICT | A 40 minute test based on topics covered this year. Pupils will have a revision/prep session the lesson before. The test will be based on Word Processing skils, E-Safety, and Spreadsheets |
| Maths | A 55 minute test based on all topics covered in Maths this year. Pupils will be given a revision list and will have revision/preparation lessons in the lead up to the exams. |
| Music | Musical Elements recognition and understanding . Piano Keyboard notes test. Foley Sounds. 40 mins |
| Physical Education | 45 minute in class assessment covering a multitude of questions from unit 1,2,3 and 4. Pupils will also be completing their PFP coursework in class between now and the end of term. |
| REP | 45 minute exam on two topics: 1- Islam 2- The treatment of animals (Muslim, Christian and non-religious perspectives). |
| Science | Starting Science/ Habitats and Classification/ States of Matter/ Forces (balanced/unbalanced forces, gravity and air resistance only)/ Acids and Alkalis – 50 mins |
| Spanish | 45 minute end of term assessment covering grammar, reading and listening skills. The assessment will review topics covered throughout the year. |
| Welsh | 50 minute exam paper focusing on reading and writing skills. Topics will include Myself, Family and School |
Year 8 |
|
| Subject | Assessment Details |
| Biology | Cells, Tissues and Organs/ Reproduction and Variation/ DNA and Inheritance (up to and including Punnett squares only) – 50 mins |
| Chemistry | Elements and Compounds and Separating Mixtures Booklets – 50 mins |
| DT | 45 minute in-class exam. Materials – Metals, Polymers, Woods. 6 R’s of sustainability. The Design Process. CAD/CAM. Basic Electronic Components. Drawing Techniques. |
| English | A 50 minute assessment focusing on reading skills. Pupils will read an unseen text and answer location and retrieval questions. Pupils will also need to answer a ‘how does the writer persude…’ question, a reading approach and skill covered throughout the year. Pupils will need to use the PEE formula to answer the question and demonstrate an ability to summarise points using their own words, support their points with evidence from the text and anslyse how writer’s choice language is persuasive and achieves a specific effect. |
| Food, Health and Textiles | Food: 45 minute assessment based on all of the work covered this year: Nutrition, dietary requirements and factors affecting food choice. |
| Geography | 45 minute assessment based on all of the work covered this year: (1) Our Unequal World and (2) Our Wider World (tropical rainforests focus). It will be a combination of shorter recall questions, and more extended responses designed to test pupils’ knowledge and understanding. |
| History | A 45 minute exam which will be sat in lesson time. It will be a mixture of factual recall questions, Source Analysis and finally an essay. The topics will be Slavery, Jack the Ripper, Titanic and Suffragettes. Students will be given a revision sheet to complete at home to support them. |
| ICT | A 40 minute test based on topics covered this year. Pupils will have a revision/prep session the lesson before. The test will be based on Cybersecurity, Creating multimedia content (Film Trailer), GameMaker, and Programming. |
| Maths | A 55 minute test based on all topics covered in Maths this year. Pupils will be given a revision list and will have revision/preparation lessons during the two week period after half-term. |
| Music | Duration – 45 minutes approx. 5 questions 1) Instruments 2) Elements of Music 3) Pop song structure (Page 2 of ‘Pop Song’ booklet 4) Listen to a piece of film music 5) Listen to a pop song |
| Physics | Tables and Graphs, Energy, Sound and Light – 50 mins |
| REP | 45 minutes: Covering the topics studied during Year 8; Crime and Punishment (The Death Penalty / Christian views on the Death Penalty); Organ Donation (religious and non-religious perspectives). |
| Spanish | 50 minute end of term assessment covering writing, reading and listening skills. The assessment will review ”En mi pueblo” topic |
| Welsh | 50 minute exam paper focusing on reading and writing skills. Topics will include Daily Routine, The Weekend (past tense) and Films. |
Year 9 |
|
| Subject | Assessment Details |
| Art | Full day practical mock exam |
| Business GCSE | 30 minutes in-class exam. Topics assessed – Entrepreneurs, business ownership types and marketing. |
| Business IVET | 25 minute exam that will include multiple choice, tick list (select the correct answer) and short answer style questions. Topics – Scale of retailers (global, national & local), business ownership (sole trader. partnership, LTD & PLC). |
| Biology | Diet/Digestion / Respiration/The Respiratory System – 50 mins |
| Chemistry | Chemical Reactions and Compounds and Muixtures Booklets with tables and graphs – 50 mins |
| Physics | Investigations, Static Electricity and Circuits, Magnetism – 50 mins |
| Drama | Accumulative terminology and application test (including performance and design elements) |
| DT Construction | 45 minute in-class exam. Materials – Metals, Polymers, Woods. 6 R’s of sustainability. The Design Process. CAD/CAM. Basic Electronic Components. Drawing Techniques. |
| DT Engineering | 45 minute in-class exam. Materials – Metals, Polymers, Woods. 6 R’s of sustainability. The Design Process. CAD/CAM. Basic Electronic Components. Drawing Techniques. |
| DT Product Design | 45 minute in-class exam. Materials – Metals, Polymers, Woods. 6 R’s of sustainability. The Design Process. CAD/CAM. Basic Electronic Components. Drawing Techniques. |
| English | Pupils are completing an NEA piece linked to their GCSE English novel next year, therefore, no assessment will be carried out. |
| Food and Nutrition | 45 minute assessment based on all of the work covered this year: Nutrition and Health & diet, practical skill terminology and knowledge. |
| Geography | 45 minute assessment based on Drainage Basins and Rivers. It will include shorter recall questions and more extended responses, designed to test pupils’ ability to apply their knowledge and understanding. |
| Health/Social/Childcare | 45 minute assessment based on all of the work covered this year: Physical development, Intellectural development, Emotional development, Social development, factors affecting PIES |
| History | A 50 minute test on warfare overtime topic and the Nazi growth case study. There will be three sections on: 1. Factual recall, 2. Source analysis 3. Essay. Students will be given a revision sheet in class that will need to be completed at home. |
| ICT – Computer Science | A 50 min in class exam bbased on :- Architecture, Input/output, memory and storage. Embedded systems, logical operators, boolean logic, networks and the internet |
| ICT – Digital Technology | A 50 min in class exam based on :- Book 1 Data, Animation and GameMaker. |
| Life Skills | 45 minute multiple choice and short answer questions exam on Unity and First Aid topics. |
| Maths | A 1 hour 30 minute exam in the sports hall, based on all topics covered in Maths this year. Pupils will be given a revision list and will have revision/preparation lessons during the two week period after half-term. |
| Media Studies | NA |
| Music | The exam will be 45 mins and cover • Pop song Structure,• Musical Elements ,• Jazz and Blues, • Dance music, • Instrument recognition |
| PE | 45 minute exam paper based on all topics covered so far; Unit 1A-Health and lifestyle choices,Unit 1B-Training and exercise and Unit 2-Exercise physiology |
| REP | 1 hour exam on the units studied so far – Philosophy (Does God exist?), Judaism (Kosher and clothing) and Relationships. |
| French | 1hr exam focusing on Listening, Reading & Writing Topics will include Family, Description, Jobs in the house, Food & Drink, Restaurants |
| Welsh | 50 minute exam paper focusing on reading and writing skills. Topics will include Music and Holidays (past tense) |
Year 10 |
|
| Subject | Assessment Details |
| Art | 2 Full days practical mock exam same as last year |
| Business GCSE | No assessment. Students will complete GCSE exam prior to Assessment Fortnight. |
| Business IVET | No assessment as pupils have completed two coursework elements this year. |
| Double Science Biology | No assessment. Students will complete GCSE exam prior to Assessment Fortnight. |
| Double Science Chemistry | No assessment. Students will complete GCSE exam prior to Assessment Fortnight. |
| Double Science Physics | No assessment. Students will complete GCSE exam prior to Assessment Fortnight. |
| Drama | Unit 1 – Students will be completing NEA Examination on the 17th/18th June – This counts for 40% of overall GCSE mark. |
| DT – Construction | No assessment. Students will complete external exam unit prior to Assessment Fortnight. |
| DT – Engineering | Material Properties of metals and plastics, Metal types, CAD/CAM, Fixings, Welding process, 6R’s sustainability, Caculating Volume, Orthographic Projection. |
| DT – Product Design | 1 hour written exam. Aesthetics. 6 R’sof sustainbility. CAD Prototyping. Foam modelling/prototyping. Design task. BRING A PENCIL, RULER, RUBBER,COLOUR PENCILS. |
| English | No assessment. Students will complete GCSE exam prior to Assessment Fortnight. |
| Food Technology | No assessment as pupils have completed two coursework elements this year. |
| Geography | No assessment. Pupils completed their GCSE exam prior to Assessment Fortnight |
| Health/Social/Childcare | No assessment. Students will complete GCSE exam prior to Assessment Fortnight. |
| History | No assessment. Students will complete GCSE exam prior to Assessment Fortnight. |
| ICT – Computer Science | 50 min test on Unit 1 -Topic 1 – Hardware, Topic 2 – Logical Operations and Topic 4 – Organisation and structure of data |
| ICT – Digital Technology | 50 min test on Unit 1 Book 1 – Data and Book 2 – Digital Technology Systems. |
| Life Skills | No assessment as pupils are working on their coursework. |
| Maths | A full Unit 1 past paper will be completed in their double lesson – Calculator Paper (1 hour 30 mins) – Exams will be based on work covered this year in preparation for the November entry. This will be done after the external exams. |
| Media Studies | 45 minute exam covering unit 1 a and b content (representation and music). Whole/part day catch up for incomplete NEA work. |
| Music | 45 min exam on major and minor Key Signatures up to 4 sharps and Flats .Note reading in Treble clef. ( use musictheory.net and focus on sound to revise) Appraisal of various genres using the Musical elelments |
| PE | PFP coursework element will be completed in class. Deadline for completion is July 17th. |
| REP | No assessment. Students will complete GCSE exam prior to Assessment Fortnight. |
| Sport IVET | No assessment. Students will complete external exam prior to Assessment Fortnight. |
| Triple Science Biology | No assessment. Students will complete GCSE exam prior to Assessment Fortnight. |
| Triple Science Chemistry | No assessment. Students will complete GCSE exam prior to Assessment Fortnight. |
| Triple Science Physics | No assessment. Students will complete GCSE exam prior to Assessment Fortnight. |
| Welsh | A full GCSE Unit 3 past paper. |
| Spanish | No assessment. Students will complete GCSE mock exams prior to Assessment Fortnight. |
FAQs
When will this take place?
The assessment fortnight has been scheduled for Monday 15th June until Friday 26th June.
What happens? How is it different to normal?
During this time, nearly all subjects across the curriculum will carry out an assessment covering the whole year’s work. Assessments usually take place under exams conditions, but in the classroom as per the normal timetable. Each subject will choose one lesson during this fortnight to do their assessment, ie; one maths lesson during this fortnight will be an assessment, one of the science lessons will be an assessment, and so on. It is at the teacher’s discretion as to which lesson they choose, but we try balance assessments out as much as possible so there no more than two on any given day. Aside from this, lessons just carry on as normal. Details of the day/lesson for each subject’s assessment will be available on BromCom nearer the time.
What is the duration of an assessment?
Since assessments take place during lessons, the maximum duration will be 1 hour. However, some assessments may be shorter than this.
What is the purpose of an assessment fortnight?
The main rationale is to give students experience of preparing for an assessment that covers a larger body of work rather than just a single topic. Revising a whole year’s work and completing multiple subjects’ assessments in a concentrated period of time simulates the external exams process that students undergo in GCSEs and A levels. We have found that gradually familiarising students with this process from Year 7 onwards leads to them being much better prepared and less anxious when it comes to real exams in future years.
How can I find out the content/duration of each assessment?
As stated above, each assessment will basically cover all the topics studied since September. Teachers will provide more detailed information to students during lessons prior to assessments taking place. For parents/carers, there is a full break down available on our website.
How important are these assessments?
We would expect students, as always, to prepare thoroughly and apply maximum effort. However, our philosophy is that assessment should support learning, rather than be the purpose of it. At this stage, gaining experience of the process is more important than the actual outcomes.
Will this create extra work for my child?
There will be extra revision needed for these assessments. However, we will negate this by suspending all other forms of homework from Monday 1st June, in the fortnight leading up to Assessment Fortnight The only home learning set during this time we will be related to preparing for the assessments.
What if my child becomes overly anxious?
A degree of anxiety about tests and exams is normal. Please reinforce our message to the students that they have been assessed constantly throughout the year, using a variety of techniques ranging from informal questioning during lessons to more formal end of topic tests. Our teachers have built up a comprehensive picture of each student over recent months and their performance on a single assessment will not change anything.
Any areas for improvement borne out of these assessments will enable teachers to give appropriate feedback that is crucial for students to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding. Ultimately, our aim is to create a culture where teachers provide feedback of a consistently high quality and students are willing to accept, understand and respond to it. Therefore, the assessment fortnight should simply be viewed as a small component of a much wider, ongoing learning process.
I hope this clarifies all the key points, but if you have any further questions please contact your child’s Head of Progress in the first instance.