Parents’ Information Evening Understanding the New GCSE grades

Current Year 11 Current Year 10 Current Year 9 Current Year 8 New GCSE grades: English Maths Science Only if the exam is taken in Year 11: Geography History MFL PE Art Drama Music Food preparation All subjects Old GCSE grades: All Option Subjects All Option Subjects, only if the exam is taken in Year 10 Business studies D&T

Mathematics at Settle College Some snippets to illustrate….. raise in standard in recent years some elements of T and L that have contributed to this challenges that students now face at KS3 to aim higher yet ; GCSE preparation has to start early!

A journey of improving results

Raising the bar: from grade C to grade 5

Taught in Y7/8: e.g Trigonometry adj opp

English at Settle College We have redesigned all our assessments to cover different units of the new GCSE Language and Literature specifications. This means that students are working towards their GCSE exams from the moment they arrive. Each half term students complete one formal, summative assessment of the work they have completed each half term. The assessments and markschemes have been aligned with the markschemes and exam questions demanded at GCSE.

Old versus new Old GCSE: How does the writer show their views on Fair Trade products? The writer begins by stating that ‘it has made the biggest impact’ suggesting that their view is positive. They go onto to include statistics ‘5% higher profits’ and quotes from farmers ‘we have a sense of hope’ to give weight to their points…

New GCSE Evaluate how successfully the writer presents their views on Fair Trade farming. Refer to language and structure to support your evaluation. ‘The writer opens with a superlative ‘biggest impact’ to firmly establish that this movement has been of utmost importance in improving the famer’s lives. They successfully support this with the inclusion of statistics ‘5% higher profits’ and the use of a quote ‘a sense of hope’ this emotive vocabulary effectively creates an impact in the reader as we see the impact of this movement not just financially but psychologically for the farmers. Throughout the text, the writer confidently builds on this first impression by repeated referrals to the ‘hope’ given by the Fair Trade movement. The inclusion of three different perspectives in the form of anecdotes from farmers…

Example assessments GCSE unit Yr 7 unit Yr 8 unit Romeo and Juliet (literature exam) – analysis of language, structure and theme of an extract PLUS essay question on theme or character. Midsummer Night’s Dream – analysis of language, structure and theme of an extract. The Tempest - analysis of language, structure and theme of an extract. Non-fiction reading - 20th C & 21st C (language exam) – analysis of two texts. Questions test analysis of effect of language and evaluation of writer’s methods.

An extra hour of television, internet or computer game time in Year 10 is linked with poorer grades at GCSE, Cambridge University research suggests (BBC report) On average, the 14-year-olds said they spent four hours of their leisure time each day watching TV or in front of a computer. The researchers found an additional hour of screen-time each day was associated with 9.3 fewer GCSE points at 16 - the equivalent of dropping a grade in two subjects.

Helping at home: Be interested in what they can do But be more interested in what they cannot do Praise effort even if the result is incorrect - focus on the process (it will result in success) Questions Why doesn’t it work? What could you have done differently? Can you think of another way to do the same task?

Other things that might help 1)Minimize the habits of distraction Home learning area away from noise and other distractions – mobile phone, mp3 players, internet restrictions 2)Create a consistent work space for study Posture for Studying, creating a habit 3)Asking key questions regarding home learning: What are you doing? Why do you have to do that

Timetable Whole year academic timetable – important for GCSE revision, add in key dates so specific timing can be given to home learning / revision Make sure they are not just reading and copying out notes

Core subject workshops English Mathematics Science Geography History MFL