Dear Parents,

St Mary’s Semester 1 Reports will go home next Wednesday 26 June.  When the A to E reporting format entered our system, over 15 years ago, there was a substantial amount of information provided to the parent community.  I thought it was time to provide this information to our current parent community.  The following information comes directly from the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA).

An important point to clarify is the NSW Syllabus’ have been structured into 4 stages: Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten), Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2), Stage 2 (Years 3 & 4) and Stage 3 (Years 5 & 6).  This means that students are exposed to different elements of the same outcome for 2 years and thus will be reported on these outcomes for this period.

The A to E grading scale lets teachers report student academic achievements at any point in time using clear standards.  The grade scale matrix is provided at the end of each report and each grade has a specific statement to indicate what a student requires to have displayed in order to gain that level of grade.  There is not a set number of A to E grades that teachers are required to distribute over their class, for example it is possible that every student receives the same grade.

Teachers will make a professional on-balance judgement to decide which grade best matches the standards their students have achieved, based on assessment information they have collected.  An on-balance judgement does not just focus on a single piece of work.  Teachers will weigh up the assessment information they have collected for a student up to that point in time.  This information will come from both formal assessment activities and informal observations and will be built up over time and in different situations.

NESA provides work samples and other information to help teachers determine the standards associated with each grade.  In making their judgements about the work samples, the teachers carefully consider the grade descriptions from the common grade scale and picture the types of knowledge, skills and understandings in the subject area that students at each of the grade levels typically demonstrate at the end of the relevant year.

How does the report system show progress during a stage?  If a student receives the same grade for two consecutive reports they have made progress.  For example, if a student receives a Grade C in the middle of the year and again at the end of the year they will be making progress. Between the two reporting periods the student will have learned new knowledge and skills of a more advanced nature.  In order to receive a Grade C on the second occasion the student has a sound knowledge and understanding of the main areas of content in relation to this new and more challenging material. 

I hope this information helps to clarify our reporting system. If you require further information please don’t hesitate to contact the school.

Mr Nielsen