Curriculum Evening Welcome 1

Purpose of the evening To outline our curriculum structure in response to the new GCSEs New GCSEs Curriculum Design LEARN Policy Modular Curriculum Design Homework Assessment 2

New GCSEs According to Department for Education officials, the new GCSEs are “more challenging”, covering more content than in previous years. Therefore, students need to be able to recall a lot more knowledge for their exams. New GCSEs will have all the exams at the end of a two or three year course.  The government says it wants to match school standards to those of the strongest performing education systems in the world – such as Hong Kong and Shanghai. They believe that the new GCSEs will allow us to do so. New GCSEs - 2017 English and Maths By 2018/19 all other subjects. 3

New GCSEs New grading system 4

5

Our response to this challenge. 1. Curriculum Design 6

Our response to this challenge. 2. LEARN Teaching and Learning Policy 8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Our Progress 8, -0.12, a great 0.33 improvement from last year. This has allowed us to: Improve our 9-5 (A*-B) grades including E&M to 36% (best in Weston Super Mare) Improve our 9-4 (A*-C) grades including E&M to 62%, 15% improvement from 2016. Our Progress 8, -0.12, a great 0.33 improvement from last year. 17

Our response to this challenge. 3. Modular Curriculum 19

Rationale Consistency with Teaching & Learning across the curriculum and different year groups. Address the demands of the new and more rigorous GCSEs. Improve the students’ capacity for revision and exam preparation from early years. Opportunity for teachers to plan thoroughly for the demands of the new GCSE. Transparent assessment cycles. Greater emphasis on knowledge (new GCSEs).

Knowledge is Power Knowledge is Fuel Grade 4 = Knowledge Grade 5 and above = Knowledge and skills 21

School Calendar 2017-2018 22 Aug-17 Sep-17 Oct-17 Nov-17 7 28 Dec-17   Aug-17 Sep-17 Oct-17 Nov-17 No. M T W F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 C1-7 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 C1-1 C1-5 Assess 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 C1-2 C1-6 STW 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 C1-3 break C2-1 28 29 30 31 C1-4 C2-2 Dec-17 Jan-18 Feb-18 Mar-18 C2-5 C3-3 C2-3 C2-6 C3-1 C3-4 C2-4 C2-7 Break C3-5 Chris. C3-2 C3-6 East. Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18 Jul-18 C4-1 C4-2 C4-5 C3-7 C4-3 C4-6 Y10 WEX C4-4 C4-7 end of term 22

Learning Cycle 23 Cycle 1 - Week 1 Cycle 1 - Week 2 Cycle 1 - Week 3 This will be the main teaching block for each cycle. Students will know in advance what they are learning and how will they be assessed. Assessment Week During this week, the students will be assessed on their learning from the previous seven weeks. This will take place across the curriculum and year groups. Super Teaching Week After marking the assessments, teachers will re-teach curriculum areas, making sure that there are no knowledge gaps. 23

Learning Cycle 2 24 Christmas Break assessment Super teaching Nov 2017 W1 20 21 22 23 24 W2 27 28 29 30 1 Dec 2017 W3 4 5 6 7 8 W4 11 12 13 14 15 W5 18 19 Christmas   25 26 Break Jan 2018 2 3 W6 9 10 W7 16 17 W8 assessment W9 31 Super teaching 24

The purpose of the modular curriculum Teach – test – assess – repeat Key assumption : All students can learn facts – All students can have enough knowledge to pass the GCSE (grade 4) 25

What successful data should look like for each cycle. Students Variations in knowledge should be very limited Knowledge Skills 26

Our response to this challenge. 4. Homework 27

We are grateful for your feedback regarding Teaching & Learning, Curriculum and Homework during Term 1. We have listened to your feedback and we have made the necessary adjustments to the homework policy. 28

New Homework System Step 1. Students receive a homework timetable. Step 2. Students receive a homework booklet for all of their subjects. This sets the homework for the next seven teaching weeks. Step 3. The timetable indicates by when the task should be completed. Step 4. The subject teacher will check homework during the next available lesson. 29

This is the timetable from learning cycle 2. We have reduced the amount of tasks to one a week, except English in Years 7 & 8 and GCSE RS. The second task for English is based on Accelerated Reader. 30

Changes from Cycle 2 Each task will be labelled as Week 1 or Week 2 so you know when a student needs to complete what. Tasks will be clearly labelled as research or consolidation. It is normal to ask students to research new knowledge or have a task that can consolidate their knowledge from their lessons. 31

Changes from Cycle 2 There will be space at the end of each task for parental comments. Teachers will provide useful websites for students to do their research. From Cycle 2, tasks will relate more to what students have learnt in lessons and less research tasks. 32

33

34

All the homework booklets will be available on the school’s website from Cycle 2. 35

Our response to this challenge. 5. Assessment 36

The Purpose of Assessment Teaching and Learning The primary purpose of assessment is to improve students’ learning and contribute towards their overall progress and attainment. Assessment can inform teachers about strengths and weaknesses, which allows us to intervene and support the students’ specific needs. At the same time, assessment can help to improve teachers’ planning and capacity to intervene and help their students to learn. 37

Assessment at WCSA At WCSA, students will be assessed four times per year for each subject. This follows the Modular Curriculum approach. On average, each student will have to complete 10 assessments per cycle, 40 per year. For a student that has joined us this year in Year 7: By the end of their journey with us they will have to complete approximately 190 assessment tasks. This will allow them to: Build up necessary exam and study skills. Build stamina and academic resilience. Accurate intervention and support from teachers. Study skills and revision techniques. Exam resilience 38

39

40

41

Please join us for some refreshments in the restaurant. LT and Curriculum Leaders will be happy to answer your questions. Thanks for joining us tonight and for your continuous support. 42