Marking and feedback at High Storrs School

In 16/17 the High Storrs Teaching & Learning Group reviewed the school’s approach to marking and written feedback in the light of the ‘A Marked Improvement’- research from the Education Endowment Foundation. The research suggested that the reams of written feedback (marking) that teachers have been writing in students’ books for years may not have had an impact on their learning and progress! The report emphasised that the key to this was ensuring students used the feedback (i.e. were asked to make corrections themselves or improve a section of their work). It also emphasised the importance of verbal feedback and approaches such as ‘whole class feedback’. We used the report to plan action research over the course of the year; trialing approaches and noting the impact on student progress. The end result of the action research was our new ‘Marking and Written Feedback Principles’. All departments then used the new principles to write a brief summary (for students) about the approach to marking and feedback in their subject area and all staff took part in a CPD session at the start of the year. Every teacher has pledged to trial one or two new approaches to maximise the impact of their feedback on learning.

So what does all this mean for you as parents and carers? It means that you may see less formal teacher marking in books. But it does not mean that teachers will not be assessing work and sharing feedback. You will see an increase in students using feedback to note mistakes, correct and improve their own work. This is also linked with our new ‘Attitude to Learning’ grades for students that emphasise the importance of using all forms of feedback to take the next steps in learning (even when not formally asked to do so). Students have all had an assembly about this so they know what their teachers are working on and all the efforts we are making to improve their learning. In conclusion, the best person to ask about marking and feedback is probably your child. Do they know what they need to do to improve their work? And are they doing it?