Enter continuous assessment as it happens
A twenty-mark test entered the week it is written is one number. The same test entered at the end of term, from a paper pile, is a morning of work and a source of errors.
Agree the grading rules before marks arrive
Grade bands, weightings, pass marks and rounding should be fixed and visible to teachers before the first mark is entered. Mid-term rule changes are how two teachers end up with two scales.
Check marks once, before publication
Give the exams officer a review step: missing marks, impossible scores, absentees treated correctly. Correcting after parents have seen the result costs the school far more than a review day.
Publish on a date you announced
Tell parents when results will be ready and meet that date. A predictable process does more for trust than an early release that keeps changing.
Keep the record, not just the card
The same marks should serve the report card, the transcript and next term’s decisions. If the card is assembled in a separate document that nobody reconciles, the school has two versions of a child’s history.