Appraise

Appraise records how a pupil is getting on. These lists are the vocabulary it uses, so between them they decide what a teacher can say.

Disciplines

The disciplines appraisals are written against.

A discipline is set on an activity, an event or a group — which is what makes the rest of this manageable. The discipline attached to what the pupil is doing decides which techniques and which comments a teacher is offered, so a violin teacher writing an appraisal is not shown the vocabulary for dance.

Each discipline has its own list of techniques and its own list of comments.

Techniques and Technique Categories

What is actually being assessed.

A technique belongs to a category, so related techniques are grouped rather than presented as one long list. Each technique then has its own levels — the steps a pupil progresses through in it.

A pupil's progress is recorded as the level they have reached in a given technique, which is what lets an appraisal show movement rather than a single mark.

Levels

The levels a pupil can be assessed at, which techniques draw on.

Comments

The standard comments available when writing an appraisal.

Comments belong to a discipline rather than being shared across all of them, which keeps the list a teacher sees relevant to what they are appraising.

Set the disciplines up first

Techniques and comments both hang off a discipline, and an appraisal finds its vocabulary through the discipline on the activity. Nothing else here is much use until the disciplines exist and are attached.