Data Department - Glossary

A Levels	The Advanced Level General Certificate of Education, universally referred to as an A-Level, is a qualification offered by institutions in England.
ALAN Tests	Adult Literacy and Numeracy Tests. At Levels 1 and 2, the National Tests in Adult Literacy and Adult Numeracy are at the same level as a GCSE.
ALPS	Years’ 12 and 13 targets are set by the Advanced Level Performance system ( Alps), using GCSE scores.
AS Levels	Advanced Supplementary levels, abbreviated as AS-level, are worth half of a full A-level.
BTEC	Specialist qualifications for students who have a clear view of their future career or are seeking progression to higher education. These qualifications are internationally recognised and highly valued by employers and higher education institutions. BTEC stands for Business & Technology Education Council .
CATS Tests	Cognitive Ability Tests - an assessment of a range of reasoning skills. The tests look at reasoning with three types of symbols: words, numbers and shapes or figures, i.e. verbal, quantitative and non-verbal reasoning.
FFT	The target levels for Years 7 to 11 originate from Fischer Family Trust (FFT) estimates. FFT use Key Stage 2 prior attainment results along with contextual data to estimate the level of attainment that would be consistent with progress made by pupils in the top 25% of schools nationally.
Full Report	A booklet containing written documents for each subject studied by a child, distributed annually. The report contains the same information as an assessment report along with written targets and comments from each subject teacher.
GCSE	General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSEs) are qualifications taken by the majority of students at the end of Year 11.
Key Stage 3	The stage of learning between Year 7 and Year 9.
Key Stage 4	The stage of learning between Year 10 and Year 11.
Key Stage 5	The stage of learning between Year 12 and Year 13.
OCR Nationals	OCR Nationals are an exam-free alternative to GCSEs, taking a more engaging, practical approach to learning and assessment.
Short Assessment Report	A short report distributed to all students at The Armthorpe School twice a year. The report contains information such as targets, current levels of attainment as well as attitude and homework scores.
UCAS	UCAS is the UK central organisation through which applications are processed for entry to higher education.