Yr 7 homework marking

[clam]

Why is their no evidence in ds's books of any teacher marking his work in any subject for the 1st haalf term of Year 7? Is this standard practice for secondary schools? And how can they accurately assess his progress?

I mark everything every week.

DS's homework is usually marked within a week.

Sorry for a slight hijack.

The marking is usually A1, A2, B1, B2 etc although his RE was marked level 5+

What is the expected level for year 7 is it still level 4?

80% plus (ish) of Year 6 pupils are expected to attain a level 4 or above, and each level is supposed to be about 2 years' worth of study, so yes, mny kids will remain on level 4 for a while yet, especially if they only just squeezed into a 4 by the end of Year 6.
BTW, for "their," read "there!" Typing error - and me a teacher too!

We comment only mark and due to the fact that there are some classes I've only seen 3 times so far (job share and class splits) there are classes that will have very little written in their books.

Each half term though, we provide a strength of their work and a target for the next half term, written in their books - assessments are done through 3/4 level assessed tests/assignments throughout the year.

I am 0.3 and I teach 11 different classes - that is a lot of comments each half term!

Has no teacher marked any of your ds's books?

Well, not much. Mostly self-marking in maths, a few ticks (result of a blitz catch-up over half-term??) in science, and peer-marking in English, with one levelled assessment piece. His presentation, which has always been excellent, has slid right downhill, although I acknowedge that that's not necessarily the most important thing and if he has a fluent joined style, then he can always resurrect it later. What niggles me, however, is that in the primary sector, we have to mark in religious detail, with comments that move the child on in their learning, or else OFSTED want to know why. If that's expected good practice in year 6, why not year 7?

This sounds worrying to me. I just checked my markbook and I have five grades for my Yr 7 set so far. Can you raise it with your child's form tutor or head of year?

As a rough guestimate, the school where I work probably collect books in to mark once every 1-2 weeks from Year 7s. Other work is done on worksheets / paper and collected in during the lesson for marking.

I don't want to get a 'name' amongst the staff - not yet, anyway. Will monitor it for a bit. In all other respects the school, which is highly regarded and hugely over-subscribed, seems great, and ds has settled in brilliantly

For the classes that I just see once a week, I often have them do their homework on paper - this is for practical reasons, as I can't take in books, and then expect them to do their homework in it. If these loose papers aren't stuck in (they may be poster work, for example), then it won't be obvious to parents that work has been set and marked.

Homework is just one of the things that is used to assess a pupil. How they work orally, in groups, and their practical skills are also important.

Our school policy is that you mark books at least once a fortnight, their needs to be an effort grade and some feedback. At least once every half term their needs to be detailed feedback and a level.

I teach RE and I mark every week and if I can't manage that it is every other week, the children get a detailed comment and if it is possible a level ( not every piece of work can be levelled)

As a manager in a school I would want to know if kids books are not being marked.

The only excuse I can think of is that I have some yr 7 english books that look as if they have not been marked but the stuff in their books has been research for work that has been done on the computer which has been marked and is on my wall if very good, feedback has been given and the marks are in my mark book.

One of the things I really like about dd's new school is the way their work is marked. We were told at the beginning of the year that work was marked A,B,C,D and U, with A being excellent and U being unacceptable. C is satisfactory.
So far, every time she has handed in a piece of
work that she's done either in class or at home she's had it back at the next lesson with a grade and usually a comment too. It's very helpful to see the progress you're making - or not in this very immediate way.

my old dept had a policy of marking certain tasks that were done on foolscap -thorough marking and then book work just ticked to show it had been read

I think most teachers at least try to take in books at the end of the lesson after the homework is done, to mark the classwork and homework with a grade and comment, and to hand them back next lesson.