Twice yearly, in October and February, all pupils in the school meet with their Form Teacher, Head of Year or a member of the Senior Leadership Team to evaluate academic progress and consider the steps that will be taken to bring about improvement in a subject area. The emphasis is on modifying learning approaches to deliver positive outcomes. Pupils are expected to verbalise how they learn and what revision approaches will be employed to improve performance. The ‘Plan, Do, Review’ cycle is evaluated during the next Self-Evaluation Day, when new priorities are set out.

Self-Evaluation Days are about the pupils articulating their learning goals and setting in place the means by which they hope to achieve them. The advantage for Form Teachers is that they listen to the pupils and coach them in areas for improvement, as opposed to dictating to them in too directive a way. It is the learner who should take responsibility.

Articulating their ideas on learning strategies and specifying particular methodologies for certain subjects and topics are high level skills. Following through on these discussions will develop the independence and resilience that will help students deal with the demands of higher education.

Pupils will write out their priorities and areas for improvement both on sheets provided (see an example below) and also in their Homework Diaries.