Our Year 3, 4 and 5 boys have been sitting exams this week, and I wanted to take a moment to say a word or two about what that means and perhaps more importantly, what it doesn’t mean!
First and foremost, we take the assessment of all our pupils’ efforts, progress and outcomes from the Kindergarten to Year 6 seriously here, from our planned yet informal assessments taking place on a frequent basis in almost every lesson right through to this point in the year when some boys in the Prep sit some actual exams. We always have. When a boy in the Prep sits down to do his best in an exam, that matters to us, and we pay close attention to what the results tell us about how he is getting on. Every mark sheet tells a story, and we scrutinise them carefully and shall be considering what the boys’ results from this week reveal.
The other function arising from the boys having sat exams this week is something hopefully rather more lasting: the simple experience of sitting a slightly more formally organised set of assessments has all sorts of positive associated consequences in addition to the results alone. Learning to read a question carefully. Managing one’s time. Holding one’s nerve a little. These are skills worth practising, and the earlier the boys begin to develop them, I believe, the better because the opportunities to sit exams will, I can assure you, come around again thick and fast once the boys progress to senior school.
As the boys move into Year 7 (known at Hampton as ‘First Year’) and progress beyond, the stakes do, of course, rise. That is the nature of things. But a boy who has already learned to approach an exam with a degree of composure and self-belief at his Prep is far better placed in my opinion when those higher-stakes moments do arrive later on.
So well done to all the boys who sat their papers this week. We are certainly very proud of the effort we have seen!
