Case Studies and testimonials / The Cedar School

The Cedar School, Pakistan

How we brought CEM to The Cedar School - MidYIS

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The Cedar Family

Growing from the Cedar College, the Cedar School is a newly established secondary school in the city of Karachi, Pakistan.

Taking a holistic approach from Grade 6, learning at the Cedar School takes on Cambridge Global Perspectives and leads into interdisciplinary studies.

Rukaiya Salman as Head of School takes us through how CEM assessments have supported their teachers and students.

"Bringing CEM into the Cedar family was a hugely exciting opportunity and a way of improving education outcomes in the school.

"Our aim was to use CEM assessments with Cedar School students as well as new applicants, as they measure a child’s potential and progress, which is a very valuable part of understanding and responding to their educational needs.

"CEM assessments inform teachers where intervention may help improve student outcomes, giving teachers a deeper understanding of the learning environment seen by children and young people.

"CEM assessments measure:

  • Verbal skills
  • Non-verbal skills
  • Mathematic skills

Research has shown that these skills form the foundations of learning."

CEM baseline and diagnostic assessments add huge value to Cambridge International Schools and the quality of its assessment is widely recognised in the UK and globally."

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CEM helps 9th graders with Subject Selection

"Cambridge IGCSEs align students with 21st century skills and offers the Cambridge ICE (Cambridge International Certificate in Education) award, which demonstrates student competences.

"The MidYIS IPR gives a visual picture of a student’s assessment result, helping teachers to identify strengths and weaknesses of each student and adapt their teaching accordingly.

"The predictions table is particularly helpful for students and teachers as it shows the most likely grade a student will achieve in each subject when final exams have been taken.

"The Chances Graph is also useful as it helps parents to understand the realistic likely achievements of their child, illustrating different chances of success in different subjects, thus aiding them in option choices for selecting subjects.

"In order to find out how our students and school are expected to perform, the Subject Chances Graph option is very beneficial."

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This graph summarises likely overall performance in each subject and helps in subject and departmental target setting.

Why I believe that CEM is an asset for any Cambridge School

"Cultural differences, various educational backgrounds, meeting individual needs and measuring impact are challenges faced by all schools.

"At The Cedar School, we have students coming in from a range of educational backgrounds. This means that we need a baseline test that is actually as culturally-free as possible, and one that does not rely on what students have been previously taught.

"CEM feedback helps you understand the individual abilities so that we can make changes to the curriculum to meet individual needs.

"Using CEM as part of the whole-school approach to assessment means that you can get a snapshot, a measure of each students’ ability, whenever they arrive, and you can ensure that you provide a curriculum that is best fitted to their needs.

"It is important to bear in mind that CEM assessments are only one lens through which to view the ability of the student. We triangulate CEM data with the results of other internal assessments, with our wider knowledge of each student’s learning journey and capabilities."

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CEM reports not only help predict grades but also aid in selecting the right subjects for your child and that is why we incorporated this handy tool into our school system."

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About the author

Rukaiya Salman is currently the Head of School at The Cedar School.

She graduated from LUMS (Pakistan) in 2006 and became a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) a few years later. Working in the corporate sector for a few years and in the educational field for almost 12 years now, has been an incredible growth experience for her. In 2015, she successfully completed the Post Graduate Certificate of Education International (PGCEi) from University of Nottingham. In 2018 and 2019, she was a Delegate at Cambridge Schools Conference held in Cambridge, UK. Rukaiya has recently met all of the criteria to be accredited as a Cambridge Programme Leader for the Cambridge International Certificate in Educational Leadership.

 

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