The short answer
A portfolio is the evidence of your child's formal assessment tasks for the year, kept in order and complete. It contributes to the final mark in the FET Phase, and a missing piece is a lost mark rather than a paperwork problem.
School-Based Assessment is the work done through the year, as opposed to the final examination. In the FET Phase it carries real weight in the final result, which is why “we will sort the file out later” is one of the more costly sentences in home education.
What a portfolio is for
Two things. It is the evidence that the required tasks were completed under the required conditions, and it is the record a moderator uses to check that the marks awarded are defensible.
That second purpose is the one families miss. A portfolio is not a scrapbook of good work. It is a complete, ordered account — including the pieces your child did badly.
What goes in
The exact requirements are set per subject and per grade by the curriculum and the examining body, and they do change. Ask your child’s teacher for the current task list for each subject rather than working from a general description. In broad terms, expect:
- Every formal task — tests, assignments, projects, practical work, orals — in the order they were set.
- The original brief or question paper for each task, not just the answer.
- The marked work, showing the mark awarded and the marking guidance used.
- A cover sheet or index listing every task and its mark, so the file can be checked at a glance.
- Anything specified by subject — a practical record for the sciences, a text list for languages, an investigation write-up for mathematics.
How to keep it, in practice
- One file per subject. Not one file for the year. When a moderator asks for Physical Sciences, that must be one thing you can hand over.
- File it the day it comes back, before it becomes a pile.
- Scan or photograph anything handwritten at the point of filing. Paper gets lost, spilled on and moved house.
- Never remove a weak piece. A gap in the record reads as a task not completed, which scores zero — worse than the poor mark you were embarrassed by.
- Keep it after the year ends. Queries, remarks and appeals happen after results, and the file is the evidence.
Why portfolios come back
Almost always for mechanical reasons rather than academic ones: a task missing entirely, the question paper absent so a mark cannot be verified, no index, marks in the file that do not match the marks submitted, or work that cannot be identified as this learner’s.
All five are avoidable with fifteen minutes of filing a week.
If something is missing
Say so early. There is usually a route to resolve a missing task if it is raised while the year is running. Discovering it during moderation is a different and much worse conversation.
This article explains how School-Based Assessment works in general. It was written in August 2026 and is reviewed every six months. For the current position — dates, fees, availability and anything specific to your child — see how CAPS assessment works, or ask in the forums and a member of the team will confirm.