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Meadowhead School

Meadowhead SchoolAcademy Trust

Target Setting

Will my child be set target grades at Meadowhead?

We believe that students should be set specific learning objectives on a regular basis and that these lead to academic progress.

It is not necessarily helpful to set a student a target to achieve a grade 5 without giving detailed explanation as to how a student can achieve this. By breaking progress down into specific points that a student can address, we believe that a student will improve their learning and achieve higher grades.

 

How do I know what grades my child should be aiming towards?

From term 2 in year 7, we do provide students with what we call their N.M.E. (National Minimum Expectation)

 

What is a N.M.E. (National Minimum Expectation)?

‘N.M.E. grades are provided to parents and students as a guide to what your child would need to achieve to exceed the national expectations for students with the same secondary starting point.

It is not intended to be a ceiling to achievement, but instead gives you an indication of what happens across the country for students with similar primary school performance.

It is not a target grade. Some students will find it challenging to reach this grade whilst others will be aiming for grades in excess of the N.M.E. It very much depends on their aptitude for individual subjects. Whatever their starting point, we aim to support students with the academic pressures and assist with their wellbeing to enable all students to achieve their potential.’

 

It is worth noting that all secondary schools are judged by the department of education on the progress that their students make between their Key stage 2 levels and their key stage 4 levels. Our N.M.E. system reflects the process that is used by the government to measure school’s academic outcomes.

 

N.M.E. for Year 7 to 9 (Key Stage 3)

Students will receive an N.M.E. for the EBacc subjects that they study.

EBacc subjects are;

English

Maths

Science

Humanities (Geography and History)

Languages (French, German and Spanish)

 

For all other subjects that students take, we focus on teacher assessment and ask teacher to comment on whether a student is on or off track based on their aptitude for a particular subject.

 

N.M.E. for Year 10 to 11 (Key Stage 4)

From Year 10 onwards, students have chosen a number of the subjects that they wish to study, as well as following a core curriculum (English, Maths and Science).

Students will receive an N.M.E. for all of the courses they now study.

 

N.M.E. for Year 12 to 13 (Key Stage 5)

For Year 12 and 13 students, an average KS4 score (based on GCSE subjects only for A level students and a combination of GCSE and vocational qualifications for applied general courses) is calculated.

We then set students a N.M.E. grade for each of the subjects they study based on their average KS4 score in a similar way to that explained for Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.

Again, it is worth noting that all sixth form providers are judged on how much progress their students make, using the KS4 average score as a starting point and then comparing this to a student’s final grades.

(February 2020)