Today is the final day of exam week for our students. At Ficino School, students are assessed both formally and informally throughout the year. The assessment questions are based on the learning objectives taken from the Cambridge curriculum. This means that the children should are not surprised by assessment questions and are able to show the knowledge and skills that they have learned in lessons. Throughout the year, students are included in the assessment process by identifying success criteria for the unit. This supports them in recognising when a learning objective has been achieved and to what extent.

More formal assessments take place in Term 4 from Year 3 upwards. The purpose of this is to track individual achievement, identify wider class trends and inform our teaching. By targeting our responses and planning appropriate lessons, we can ensure the children are able to use and apply their new skills in different contexts.

In Years 3-4, student marks or grades are not reported. This is because it would be inappropriate to give the children the impression that all their hard work across the year rests on one test. It does not. Regular task completion, weekly assessments and unit tests contribute to the overall attainment level for all year groups.

As you are aware, we do value memorisation at Ficino School. Dr Efrat Furst writes, “Memorising and understanding are not opposites but rather two components of the same thing.” Arguably, committing facts and figures to memory creates the bricks of learning, and understanding is akin to the mortar holding everything in place. Achievement is based on the student’s ability to retain knowledge and make meaningful connections; “prior knowledge is the base of any learning pyramid and is essential for future learning and higher-order skills” (Furst, 2021). We aim to provide a knowledge rich curriculum to ensure that each child has a wide base for their learning pyramid.

Although students and parents sometimes get nervous when they hear the words ‘test’ or ‘exam’, it’s important to encourage your child to accept the challenge openly. Every effort is like placing a new ‘brick’.

Lorna Spicer, Deputy Principal