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Setting up Markbooks for Next Academic Year

In the current academic year schools will want to retain their existing markbooks as these will contain the assessment data collated throughout the year. When the next academic year commences new markbooks will have to be created for each subject in GO 4 Schools.  To avoid lots of set up at the start of a new academic year some schools want to make a head start with setting up new markbooks during the summer term.

Below are some examples of different scenarios that schools may want to use.

Example 1: Create a markbook for Y10 new history specification in readiness for next year.

  • Use a feed rule Curriculum > View Feed rules 
    1. Add a new rule to copy groups from one subject into a new or existing subject, Select Year 10 > History > All groups 
    2. Select ‘Enter the subject name by hand’ and enter ‘History [next academic year]’ and chose year group 10 
    3. Choose replacement teachers from the list below if you don’t want these new groups to be shown to current teaching staff, but then do not select any teachers 
    4. Use the existing group structure.
  • The next day when the rule has processed the subjects will appear in the unknown department. 
  • Move to department for ‘#next academic year’ from menu Curriculum > Departments.
  • Tick ‘Exclude from stats’ and ‘Hide subject from students and parents’ on the Subjects and qualifications management page Curriculum > Subjects and qualifications > Year 10 
  • Curriculum > Departments > #next academic year > Year 10 > History edit markbook and set up as required, using the appropriate qualification. 
  • If you wish, you can upload targets now. They must be of the same grade type e.g. 9-1. 
  • At the start of the next academic year 
    1. Set up a markbook by clicking edit markbook and ‘Create a mark book by copying a markbook from this or an earlier academic year’
    2. Select the previous academic year and the Y10 History subject that you created in the summer term 
    3. Copy the mark book structure only, unless you’ve uploaded targets, in which case copy the markbook and grades. 

Example 2: Create markbook for Y10 geography next year but start entering marks for current Y9 students now.

  • Use a feed rule Manage > View Feed rules
  • Add a new rule to copy groups from one subject into a new or existing subject. Select Year 9 > Geography > All groups
  • Select ‘Enter the subject name by hand’ and enter ‘Geography [next academic year]’ and choose year group 9
  • Use existing teachers if you want the group to show in the teachers list of groups ‘Use the existing group structure’
  • The next day when the rule has processed the subjects will appear in the unknown department.
  • Move to department for ‘#next academic year’ from menu Curriculum > Departments
  • Tick ‘Exclude from stats’ and ‘Hide subject from students and parents’ on the subjects and qualifications management page Curriculum > Subjects and qualifications > Year 9
  • Curriculum > Departments > #next academic year > Year 9 > Geography edit markbook and set up as required. You must use a qualification which is the same type as the one you wish to use next year. In this example that is a 9-1 GCSE, but if your scenario is to create next year’s markbooks for your current Y7, then the qualification might be an internal grading scheme. You can change the qualification next year, but it must be one that has the same grading structure.
  • If you wish you can upload targets now. They must be of the same grade type e.g.9-1.
  • Staff can enter marks as necessary.
  • At the start of the next academic year …
    1. Set up a markbook by clicking edit markbook and ‘Create a mark book by copying a mark book from this or an earlier academic year’
    2. Select the previous academic year and the Y9 Geography subject that you created in the summer term
    3. Copy the mark book structure PLUS student marks or copy the mark book structure PLUS student marks and student grades (depending on your preference)

 

Example 3: KS3 Template markbook for curriculum leaders to use as a basis for next year’s markbooks.

You may want to set up an exemplar markbook that gives the template that you want all departments to use at KS3.

  • Use a feed rule Manage > View Feed rules
  • Add a new rule to copy groups from one subject into a new or existing subject
  • Select any subject in Year 7 and select a group
    1. Select ‘Enter the subject name by hand’ and enter ‘Template KS3 [next academic year]’ and chose year group 7
    2. Choose replacement teachers from the list below if you don’t want these new groups to be shown to current teaching staff, but then do not select any teachers
    3. Use the existing group structure
  • The next day when the rule has processed the subjects will appear in the unknown department.
    1. Move to department for ‘xemplar’ (leaving off the “e” puts it at bottom of list) from menu Curriculum > Departments
  • Tick ‘Exclude from stats’ and ‘Hide subject from students and parents’ on the subjects and qualifications management page Curriculum > Subjects and qualifications > Year 7
  • Set up a markbook for new subject as you want it to be next year
  • The type of qualification must be the same as the type of qualification you will want to use in next year’s mark books. i.e. NC levels, Internal grading scheme, A*-G, 9-1. You will need to create a template subject for each type of qualification you are using.
  • If collecting summative grades at set points in the year adding due dates to your template markbook will ensure they are populated for all subjects.
  • At the start of the next academic year … o Set up a markbook for each subject by clicking edit markbook and ‘Create a mark book by copying a mark book from this or an earlier academic year’
    1. Select the previous academic year and the template subject you created in the summer term
    2. Copy the mark book structure only
    3. For KS3 markbooks edit the qualification for English, maths and science to use the subject specific version (this applies whether you are using NC levels or an internal grading scheme). This is necessary to display the correct key statistics on the year group page.
    4. For KS4 markbooks it is necessary to edit the qualification for each markbook using the template.
    5. You can edit the qualification either from within the subject or from the subjects and qualifications page and clicking on the spanner next to the subject name and then using the ‘Change/reset…’ link. Be careful NOT to reset the markbook, but to choose qualification.

Things to remember / Useful tips: 

  • Markbooks can be copied from previous academic year either just structure or with grades and/or marks.
  • You must use a qualification which is the same type as the one you wish to use next year. That may be a 9-1 GCSE, an internal grading scheme, NC levels, Btecs, A*-G etc. You can change the qualification next year, but it must be one that has the same grading structure.
  • Assessment grading schemes can be useful if you have marksheets or assessments that use a different grading scheme to the qualification. This can help to ensure consistency across markbooks. It can be especially useful if you are not using a template method described above but are setting up each markbook in the new academic year or adding a standardised assessment to pre-existing markbooks.
  • It is worth checking the subject and qualification management page after you’ve copied all the markbooks to ensure you have updated all qualifications correctly and not missed any.
  • If students have the same target for a number of foundation subjects (e.g. art, music, drama, dance) you could upload the targets for one subject first and then create your other markbooks by copying this subject. Remember to change the qualification afterwards.
  • If you use markbooks to collect summative grades termly you may want to consider having one marksheet with assessments for each data drop collection point and combine assessments ‘using the rightmost’. Using a due date will enable you to easily identify overdue marks. A template markbook can be set up with the due dates set and then this can be used to create markbooks for all subjects. Curriculum leaders can then add any additional marksheets for data they wish to collect.
  • Subject names are derived from your MIS. Tidying names up, e.g. from ‘Res Mat’ to ‘Resistant Materials’ or removing spelling mistakes in subject names within your MIS can be helpful. Although, if necessary, you can rename a subject in GO 4 Schools via a feed rule.