Assessment Policy

ASSESSMENT POLICY

Weighted Assessments (WA) help students ascertain their progress and understanding of what has been taught for each subject. They are also integral to helping the school assess a student’s academic ability especially for promotional purposes.

In order for assessments to be a true reflection of a student’s academic performance, a student should not discuss WA questions with his/her friends. A student should understand the value of upholding the integrity of a paper, not allowing others and himself/herself to be advantaged or disadvantaged.

Students should also recognise that every piece of work counts towards their learning as they work towards preparing for any WA.

BREAKDOWN OF WEIGHTED ASSESSMENTS (INCLUDES SEMESTRAL ASSESSMENTS)

SEMESTRAL ASSESSMENT (SA)

Semestral Examinations (SA) are conducted at mid-year (for Sec 2 and 4/5 only) and end of the year to evaluate students’ mastery of content and skills as well as for promotional purposes. All dates for examinations are indicated in the students’ handbook given out at the start of the year.

ABSENCE FROM WEIGHTED ASSESSMENTS (TESTS)

Any student who is absent from any paper should produce a MEDICAL CERTIFICATE with the doctor certifying that the student is unfit to take the examination. This should be submitted to his/her Form Teacher as soon as the student returns to school.

Only ORIGINAL MEDICAL CERTIFICATES from doctors registered with the Singapore Medical Council will be accepted.

For the subject WA missed due to valid reasons, students will either

·     be given a VR (a ‘VR’ (Absent with Valid Reason)) will be indicated on the Progress Report for the particular test component), or

·     be allowed to sit for a make-up (‘retest’) to obtain marks.

There will be a differentiated approach for this across levels and subjects. For example, as Sec 2 students undergo the subject allocation exercise at the end of the year, it is more important that the year-long assessments for their key subjects of English, Maths and Science are complete. For the Sec 3 students, as the Sec 3 year is an important milestone year where they have to have acquired a sufficiently strong foundation in preparation for the Sec 4 national examinations, we will also require them to re-take missed WAs for key subjects.

In all other cases, they will simply receive a VR if they have missed the WA due to valid reasons. They will still be able to complete the test paper as practice, in their free time, and to receive feedback to help them in their learning.

This is in line with the spirit of WAs, which are primarily formative, and also to reduce the level of stress faced by students who may have missed multiple WAs due to medical reasons and often find it difficult to cope with re-taking many WAs in a limited time window upon returning to school.

The differentiated policy is as follows:

Upon returning to school, it is the student’s responsibility to contact his/her respective teacher for the test(s) or project deadlines missed. Should the subject teacher be absent, the student should contact the HOD.

Should the student be away on prolonged MC for five days or more, he/she should notify the Form Teacher of the duration. In the event that a student is not able to complete the necessary make-up tests, VR will be indicated in the Progress Report for tests that are missed.

Students should prioritise to sit for the tests before attending CCAs, remedials/consultations, detentions and any other pre-arranged programmes. Students must notify their respective teacher-in-charge should they be turning up late for the above-mentioned activities, due to retaking of WA.

In the event a student’s absence is not due to medical reasons, parents must write a letter addressed to the Principal and pass it to their Form Teacher. The letter should clearly state the duration and reasons for your child’s absence.

The Principal will attend to each letter on a case-by-case basis. Approval is not a given.

Zero marks will be given to those who have not obtained Principal’s approval for their absence or do not provide a MEDICAL CERTIFICATE for their absence.

Declaration of Academic Integrity

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in teaching and learning serves to develop information skills, foster adaptive thinking and promote inventive thinking, which are important Emerging 21st-century competencies (E21CC).

Rules pertaining to the use of AI in WA need to be communicated clearly to students where appropriate/ needed (assignments-specific).

Students are expected to acknowledge sources of information by including a list of references used, including use of AI tools such as ChatGPT. If AI tools are used, the AI tool used, prompts and chatlog are to be included in the submission.

In addition, students will be required to submit a declaration to affirm that the work submitted for assessment has been produced with/ without the use of AI tools.

Students who attempt to pass off content that was generated by AI as one’s own work will be considered as having committed an act of plagiarism or cheating. For assignments or assessments, zero marks will be awarded for the work, and the student will face disciplinary consequences.