This article aims to explain how to find the correct Attainment 8 points for your qualifications to help you create Grade Methods within KS3/4 of Analytics. This will help to ensure that your qualifications will count correctly in Headlines figures.
To find the correct points, you’ll need the QN Code for the qualification you want to check. In this article as an example, I will use the QN 60114113. You should be able to obtain the correct QN Codes for your qualifications from the Exams Officer at your school, from the Exam Board directly, or these may be stored in your MIS. Once you have found these, you can use them to search the DfE's guidance to find the Attainment 8 points and entries awarded for each grade.
To do this you would need to use the most recent performance points spreadsheet provided by the DfE, which at the time of writing is 2024. This can be accessed via our article here, or by clicking the link below and opening the Performance Points spreadsheet:
Once you have opened the spreadsheet, click Enable Editing.
Then you can click into the HOME tab in Excel and, in the top right corner, click the Find & Select option and select Find. Alternatively, click Ctrl and F on your keyboard (or Cmd and F on a Mac) to open this Find tool.
Next, click Options, and select ‘Workbook’ from the Within dropdown for Excel to search the entire workbook, rather than just the sheet you’re viewing. Then enter the QN code you'd like to look up in the Find What box at the top, ensuring that there are no forward slashes, as this is how the QN codes are listed within this spreadsheet. Once you’re ready, click ‘Find Next’.
Once Excel has found your qualification in the spreadsheet, you can use the Pass Points (Column F) and GCSE Equivalences (Column G) to set up the correct grade points and entries for your KS3/4 EAP grade method in Analytics. Qualifications that use the same grading structure will appear next to one another within this spreadsheet.
If your qualification is not found within the spreadsheet, this may mean it is not eligible to count towards the Performance measures for that year. In this case, we would recommend contacting the Exam board or the DfE directly for clarification.
If you know the grade structure for the qualification, you can find the associated points in the DfE’s Secondary Accountability Measures guide from page 64 onwards linked in our article here - KS4 - DfE's Secondary Accountability Measures Guide.
Thanks for reading!