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Assessments & Exams

Internal Assessment

Internal assessment at Cairo English School is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by children, parents and teachers to decide where a child is in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there. Assessments should:

  • Be part of effective plan for teaching and learning.
  • Focus on how your children learn.
  • Be recognised as central to curriculum design.
  • Be regarded as a key professional skill for all teachers.
  • Be sensitive and constructive because assessments affect children.
  • Take account of the importance of learner motivation.
  • Promote commitment to learning goals.
  • Allow a child and their parent know how the assessment will be judged/marked.
  • Provide your child with constructive guidance about how to improve.
  • Develop your child’s capacity for self-assessment so they can become reflective and self-managing.
  • Recognise the full range of achievement for all children.

Assessment is therefore, a collaborative tool to be used by the child, parent and teacher together to raise that child’s academic achievement.

Every teacher, child and parent must be focused on the last qualification a child at CES will take: The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) or the A Level. It is therefore crucial that from entering Key Stage 3 onwards, every child is assessed with accurate assessments and data which can be used to predict performance at IGCSE and beyond. This will mean that at each stage parents, student and teacher will know exactly what is expected of them to achieve academic success. Most importantly, it will ensure a consistent style of dialogue between teachers, parent and child about academic progress that is clear to everyone and easy to use throughout the school.

In Key Stage 3, Years 7 & 8, CES uses the English National Curriculum (ENC) to guide assessment and grades using a 9-1 scale in line with IGCSE grading. On entering Key Stage 4 our students are assessed against IGCSE standards, and graded on a 9-1 scale. It is important to note that at the beginning of this stage students are working towards a final grade over the two-year period. Similarly, when students enter Key Stage 5 they are assessed against the final criteria for the pathway they have chosen A Level (A*-E) or IBDP (7-1)

Teachers will use authentic assessments and these are assessments in which children are asked to perform a variety of tasks that allow them to demonstrate the application of essential knowledge and skills in a meaningful way. These types of assessment may include short answer essays, measuring objects, scientific experiments, preparing for a debate, creating a piece of music, presentations and investigations. Tests, exams and quizzes will still be used as part of teaching and assessment to breed familiarity with revision and examination practices, and help provide a snapshot of their progress.