• Abingdon Grading – Mondays
• Caversham Grading – Thursdays
• Haydon Grading – Fridays
• Reading Grading – Saturdays
• Spencers Wood Grading – Mondays
• Swindon Grading – Saturdays
• Swindon Central Grading – Sundays
• Thatcham Grading – Saturdays
• Tilehurst Grading – Tuesdays
• Whitley Grading – Wednesdays
• Wokingham Grading – Fridays
• Woodley Grading – Fridays
  
  

How do the gradings work?

For the gradings, there are two different types depending on your belt level. For White belts up until you are a red stripe, you will do ‘class gradings’, once you have earnt your red stripe and are continuing through the belts you will then do ‘panel gradings’ instead. There is an additional cost with doing gradings for upgraded insurances, new belts & certificates.

Class Gradings happen roughly every 3 months, during your usual class time (2 day a week schools will typically pick one consistent day for the gradings to take place on). Not every student will be ready for their grading every three months, that is okay there is no rush to speed through the belts, everyone’s journey is individual to them.
Gradings are closed examinations. ie. Family are unable to spectate. (only exception would be family members who are also grading)

To be ready for the gradings:
– You will have to practice all the moves that your instructor has taught you – you can also find all the moves/ techniques for your belt level here. Once your instructor is happy with all your moves plus your understanding of these techniques they will award you your black tag to symbolise that you are ready for the belt level challenges.
– If you are a mighty matt or junior who is required to complete a homework sheet, you will need to have completed and handed in your homework sheets to your instructor.  You will then receive a red tag to show that you have been working hard at home and at school.

Everyone is judged by their own levels and their personal improvement. Everyone who starts Martial Arts will start at different points in their lives with different circumstances. We look at how much effort an individual is putting in, how much improvement they have made, what their attitude is like in class and then make the decision whether that person is ready for their next belt.

Panel Gradings are done out of the usual class time frame and location. Panel gradings can be up to 3 hours long, and are run by one or more of our Masters (4th degree black belt & above) In these gradings there are only red stripes and above grading. There will quite often be a lot more people than in a typical class – can be around 120 people all grading together. Once again with these gradings many factors are taken into consideration when making the decision to pass a student to their next belt level. 

Most instructors do their best to be at panel grading to support their students by having a friendly face there. The Panel gradings take place on weekends usually a Saturday morning, sometimes a Sunday morning and will be held alternating between Swindon, Reading and Bristol areas.

Getting ready for these gradings is very similar to the previous gradings, making sure you know all of your syllabus to the best of your ability and you are continuing to work hard in all aspects of martial arts.

Mighty Matt Belt system

Mighty matt students (3 to 6 years old), start with white belt. At this belt we are looking for students to be trying their best to remember some of the techniques, to work on their listening skills and learning some of the main safety points with martial arts. The next belt is the purple stripe belt which will be earnt through their first grading, all the next belts will also be earnt trough the grading process. With each additional belt the students earn we are looking for them to continue improving their skills the best they can.  After purple stripe they will move to their yellow stripe. After yellow stripe is the orange stripe at this points most student will have been training for around a year or longer. Following that will be their green stripe and finally their brown stripe. Once a student has reached brown stripe they will begin their transition to the family class, everyone’s transition will be different, each instructor will have their own procedure with moving a student to the family class, it may include: additional challenges in the mighty matt class to work on drills mighty matts are not expected to learn, as well as being able to stay and watch a family class, this may be beneficial for students to get accustomed to what things are different between the classes. Students may also move up sooner than brown stripe depending on their age, if a student reaches 7years old before brown stripe the transition may start then.

Family/ Adults Class belt system

For family class and adults classes, the belts start at white belt same as with mighty matts, and follow the same colour pattern at the beginning but with out the stripes. Starting at white belt, after the first grading the next belt is the purple belt, the next belt will then be the yellow belt, following that will be the orange belt. At Orange belt in family class students must get a sparring kit (protective equipment, must be MF branded for insurance cover and safety) and begin sparring in order to keep moving through the belts.
After orange is green belt and then brown belt, brown belt is when students are halfway through the belts towards their 1st degree black belt, from this point instructors will be looking for more knowledge and understanding of the techniques you have been taught and how to apply them in different ways.
Blue stripe belt is next this is one of the few striped belts that are in family class. Next is the full colour blue belt. Following Blue is the red stripe belt, once students have earnt this belt all future gradings will be panel gradings taking place outside of their typical class and for a longer duration. Once students have passed their first panel grading they will earn their full colour red belt. The next belt after red is the deputy black belt (black with a red stripe) Once students have reached deputy black belt their are two options next depending on their age if the student is 11 years or younger their next belt will be their junior black belt then would be their first degree black belt after that.
If the students are older and ready to do so they move to their first degree black belt after their deputy black belt.
Once a student reaches their first degree black belt, that is not the end of their journey as if they continue training, working hard and learning all the skills at first degree they will be able to earn their second degree black belt and beyond!