Feedback
At Katherine Warington we aim to provide feedback that has a real impact on learning.
- At KWS we see feedback as incorporating all the different ways in which students (and any other interested parties) receive updates on the effort and/or progress they are making on their learning.
- We believe that all feedback should be effective in either improving learning or celebrating successes, otherwise it is not worth the time taken to give it.
- Our focus for feedback is on learning (which has been defined by cognitive psychology to be an alteration in long-term memory) rather than performance (which is a temporary fluctuation in knowledge which can be observed and measured during and immediately after acquisition).
Our feedback model has three key areas:
Daily Feedback
This covers ‘assessment for learning’, though we prefer the term responsive teaching. It is about our teachers carefully planning well sequenced lessons with clear objectives. It is about them taking time to plan for cognitive load and the right questions to check understanding, so they can adapt delivery and ensure students’ secure knowledge. Two ways that teachers can assess during a lesson is through observations and questioning . Both need to be intentionally planned. see page 3 for more detail.
Feedback Cycle
Some might call this a ‘marking policy’, at Katherine Warington its a cycle to systematically review students’ work. We apply a literacy marking code to some work, and always note an effort grade but our real focus is on what we do next. We use the review as a springboard to plan actions that will improve learning. What these resulting actions look like varies based on the subject and the students’ needs. See page 4 for more detail.
Formal Feedback
This covers our tracking, assessments and reports. We report at specific points in the academic year for each year group, giving professional judgments on progress within the curriculum. Formal summative assessment occurs once a year at KS3 with end of year exams. At KS4 we use mock exams as formal summative assessments. We report to parents three times a year, with a real focus on effort. See page 5 for more detail.
