---
title: Calculating Capped 9 - Post 2018
description: Calculating Capped 9 - Post 2018 | Help & Support — GO 4 Schools
---
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# Calculating Capped 9 - Post 2018
### **Overview**
In May 2018 Kirsty Williams announced a new set of interim performance measures for 2019 onwards, with an update to the Capped points score in Wales. Further guidance was issued in June 2019 entitled **[Interim Key Stage 4 school performance arrangements: measures and analyses](https://gov.wales/interim-key-stage-4-school-performance-arrangements).** Whilst the number of contributing GCSEs or equivalent volume of qualifications has remained at 9 the subject specific attainment requirements have changed as per the table below:
| **Component** | **Qualification** | **Additional notes** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **1** | **Literacy** | - Best of English Language, Welsh First Language, English Literature or Welsh Literature - New specification GCSE only |
| **2** | **Numeracy** | - Best of mathematics **or** numeracy - New specification GCSE only |
| **3** | **Science** | - Best science - GCSE only (New reformed Science) from 2018 |
| **4** | **Top other qualifications capped at 6 GCSEs or equivalent volume of qualifications** | - Next best GCSEs from the literacy, numeracy and science component can count here - Skills Challenge Certificate can count here. (1 GCSE equivalent) - Entry Level up to Level 3 qualifications (where age appropriate) can count - **No cap on the total volume of non- GCSE qualifications that can count.** - No minimum qualification size so total volume capped at equivalence to 9 GCSE full size qualifications i.e. 0.5 GCSE short course - Qualifications in the component will be expected to reflect the school’s context and the breadth of curriculum offered |
| **5** | | |
| **6** | | |
| **7** | | |
| **8** | | |
| **9** | | |
Exceptions:
- Pupils arriving from England with a 9-1 GCSE in English or mathematics at the start of Year 11 will be expected to also complete the new Welsh specification GCSEs in English/Welsh and mathematics and mathematics-numeracy. However, if they arrive part way through Year 11, they can be classed as **FEWBES** and be disaggregated from school performance measures.
### **Example of Capped 9 calculation for an individual student**
- Standardise the points for all relevant awarded qualifications (total actual points for the calculation divided by its GCSE volume equivalence)
- Rank the qualifications by total points from highest to lowest.
- Remove subjects (with the highest grades) that satisfy each component of the Capped 9. For example, identify the top science result (GCSE) that will contribute to component 3 (if studying the separate sciences, the second and third science results will fall in to the ‘other 6’).
- Total the points for components 1-3 and then add the totals from the ‘other 6’ (starting from the highest) until the cap is reached (if the boundary falls part-way through a qualification, the fraction of points proportional to the volume needed to complete the cap should be included in the total).
| Component | Qualification | Qualification awarded | Grade achieved | Volume indicator | Total points |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Literacy | GCSE Welsh Language | B | 1 | 46 |
| 2 | Numeracy | GCSE Maths- Numeracy | A | 1 | 52 |
| 3 | Science | GCSE Physics | A | 1 | 52 |
| 4 | Top other qualifications capped at 6 GCSEs or equivalent volume of qualifications | GCSE Short Course RS | A | 0.5 | 26 |
| 5 | GCSE Biology | B | 1 | 46 | |
| 6 | GCSE Mathematics | B | 1 | 46 | |
| 7 | GCSE Design Technology | B | 1 | 46 | |
| 8 | GCSE Welsh Literature | B | 1 | 46 | |
| 9 | GCSE Chemistry | C | 1 | 40 | |
| GCSE Geography | C | 1 | 40 (but you will need to divide this by 2 to make up the additional 0.5 required) 20 | | |
| GCSE Skills Challenge Certificate | C | 1 | 40 | | |
| | | | Total (1-5 and then highlighted ‘other 4’) | 420 | |
### **Calculating the average Capped 9 score**
- Total the Capped 9 for each pupil in the relevant year group (e.g. year 11).
- Divide by the number of students in the year group.
For example, if your school had a year 11 cohort of five pupils you would carry out the following methodology:
| **Pupils** | **Capped 9 score** | |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A | 414 | |
| B | 360 | |
| C | 420 | |
| D | 374 | |
| E | 332 | |
| Total | **1900** | **÷ 5 = 380** |
### **Analysis of Capped 9 in GO 4 Schools**
This section of the table is displaying:
- Analysis of how each of the 4 areas are contributing to the Capped 9 calculation.
- Calculation based on the uploaded target grades (visibility and name managed via **Curriculum \> Grade and residual settings**)
- Calculation based on the current grade feeding from live markbooks.
### **Identifying students not on track for 9 contributing qualifications**
By clicking on these figures you will be taken to a data explorer where you can identify students, and the number of qualifications tha are contributing to the Capped 9 calculation.
In the example below you can see the list of students sorted by the number of qualifications each is lacking from achieving a total of 9 and therefore making a full contribution to the Capped 9 calculation.
*Key questions to be asking:*
- *Are students studying Science GCSEs, as equivalent qualifications (eg. BTEC) will only
contribute in the ‘other 6’ components?*
- *Are they studying enough qualifications to satisfy all the components?*
### **Capped 9 not showing as expected – things to check**
#### **Subjects and qualifications**
View the Subjects and qualifications page (**Curriculum \> Analysis setup \> Subjects and qualifications**) by year group to view the qualifications attached to your subjects. Where a subject does not show a discount code it will not be counting in your Key Performance Indicators. Ensuring that you have the correct qualifications assigned can make a big difference to your statistics. See Checklist in Annex A.
### **Early entries**
Ensure that any qualifications taken early (for example English language taken in Y10) have been uploaded to GO 4 Schools and are being included. This can be checked from the student page where actual grades uploaded will be displayed at the bottom of the page under ‘key grades/levels achieved’. All the grades uploaded for the year group can be viewed from the actual grades page (**Curriculum \> Grade types \> Actual grades**). Select the relevant academic year and then manage grades for the year group and an initial glance at the ‘exam date’ column will show which subjects have grades attached. These can be downloaded for each subject, or all grades can be downloaded from the bottom of the page.
#### **Subjects studied not included on “main curriculum” or outside school**
Many students in UK schools study home or additional language qualifications. As with early entries these should also be uploaded to the system as they are included in the measures. There are several other qualifications such as graded music qualifications at grade 6 or above that will also count.
### **Viewing pupil level Capped 9 subject contributions**
You can view the subjects and grades contributing to a student’s Capped 9 score via the
student’s page, by clicking on the links highlighted below:
On the Capped 9 breakdown page you can view a table displaying all KS4 qualifications being studied by that student (with their corresponding grades) that could contribute to their Capped 9:
Below the **KS4 attainment** table you will then find the Capped 9 broken down by the four components, and GO 4 Schools will have selected the highest grades from the subjects being studied to fill the slots:
### **Annex A**
#### **Checking Subjects and qualifications**
| Check correct qualification assigned to correct subject. | Check from **Curriculum \> Analysis setup \> Subjects and qualifications** |
| --- | --- |
| Ask Exam officer to check QAD/CICs – ensure QADs match entries. | Check with exam officer. |
| Check there are no discount codes missing (eg. Art) in Y10 – Y13 for subjects that count in Performance tables. | Check from **Curriculum \> Analysis setup \> Subjects and qualifications**. Click on spanner to manage subject settings directly from Subjects and Qualifications page. Click Change qualification link and Choose qualification selecting the correct one will pull discount code through (some subjects which do not count in performance tables will not have a discount code). |
| Check if any warning flags are showing qualification withdrawn on QiW site. | Check QiW site and refer to exams officer. |
| Check you have the correct syllabus version of Art & Design attached as this will prevent the two qualifications discounting each other if students are studying more than one Art & Design qualification. | Check from **Curriculum \> Analysis setup \> Subjects and qualifications**. Click on spanner to manage subject settings directly from Subjects and Qualifications page. Click Change qualification link and Choose qualification selecting the correct one will pull discount code through |
| Ensure you have both English qualifications, and both Mathematics. | If English literature is not being taught until Y11, may wish to copy grades from English language for Y10 into a markbook for English literature |
| Any BTEC subjects where students are being entered for different levels e.g. L2 Certificate or L2 Extended. | Need a separate markbook for each version of the qualification that students will be awarded. |
| Decide if you need analysis of specific statistics for non-timetabled subjects e.g. First language, twilight GCSE’s. If markbook/subject statistics are not required then upload results as an actual grade by QAN code (making sure you use the correct date of award). Otherwise create subject via feed rules to see subject level statistics. Either way, these subjects where relevant will be included in your headline performance measures. | Use feed rules to create subjects that do not already exist if you need subject level analysis. |
| Check for correct qualification. A common error is to have an A’Level QAD/CIC for students doing an AS in Y12 or changes to exam board during KS4. With the reformed subjects, departments may have swapped boards since the markbook was created. WJEC are not currently offering GCSEs in 26 subjects, and therefore schools that wish to offer these will need to deliver the new 9-1 GCSE qualifications (please see QiW site for more information). Subjects not offered by WJEC: Ancient History Arabic Astronomy Bengali Chinese (spoken Mandarin) Chinese (spoken Mandarin/spoken Cantonese) Citizen ship studies Classical Civilisation Classical Greek Dance Economics Electronics Engineering Film Studies Geology Italian Japanese Latin Modern Hebrew Panjabi Polish Psychology Russian Sociology Statistics Urdu | Go to Subject and Qualifications page to check QAD/CIC codes with actual examination entry. |
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