At The Hayfield School, we want students and their families to receive a rounded picture of their development. Academic attainment and progress are extremely important, but education is about more than examination results. We are not an examination factory. We are committed to helping young people develop the personal qualities, attitudes and behaviours that will enable them to thrive at school and in their future lives.
How a young person presents themselves, responds to challenges, treats other people and takes responsibility for their actions matters. These qualities influence their success in the classroom, but they will also help them to stand out positively when they move into further education, training or employment.
Our approach considers four important aspects of each student’s wider development:
Twice each year, alongside their academic report, students and their families receive information about the student’s behaviour, attitudes, personal and social development.
Teachers from each of the student’s subjects, together with their Tutor, use a series of rubrics to indicate how consistently the student is demonstrating particular qualities and behaviours. These include areas such as:
Receiving feedback from different teachers provides a broad and balanced picture. It helps students and families recognise where positive qualities are being demonstrated consistently, as well as identifying aspects that may require further attention.
A rubric is a table containing clear descriptions of what different standards of behaviour or development look like in practice.
For each area, the rubric describes the difference between Excellent, Good, Requires Improvement and Unacceptable. Teachers select the description that most closely reflects what they have observed over time.
The rubrics create a shared language for students, families and staff. Rather than receiving a number without any explanation, students can see the behaviours associated with each standard and understand what they would need to demonstrate to make further progress.
These judgements are not permanent labels or statements about a student’s character. They provide a snapshot of the behaviours and attitudes being demonstrated at that point in time. Every student can reflect, develop and improve.
Students are encouraged to look carefully at their wider development report, celebrate their strengths and reflect honestly on areas in which they could improve.
The rubrics help students to consider:
The purpose is not simply to record behaviour. It is to help students understand that their choices, habits and attitudes shape both their learning and the contribution they make to our school community.
Wider Development Reporting is a distinctive and important part of our approach at The Hayfield School. It reflects our belief that success should be measured not only by the qualifications a young person achieves, but also by the person they are becoming.
