Welcome to the Year 9 GCSE Options Evening.

GCSE Changes since September 2015 A new grading system has been introduced. Students will be awarded a grade from 1-9 rather than G- A*. The courses will be fully linear with assessment at the end of the course and content not divided into modules. Exams will become the default method of assessment.

GCSE Changes since September 2015. The current 8 letter grades will become 9 numerical ones: Grade 4 = C Grade 7 = A Grades 4,5,6 = C-B Grades 7,8,9 = A-A*

English LANGUAGE LITERATURE Greater range of high quality, challenging literature & non- fiction text from a range of genres & types. Reading & Writing are equally weighted. Greater focus on students being able to write clearly and accurately in good standard English. Increased emphasis on SPG Wide range of classic literature with the assessment of a 19th Century novel, Shakespeare play, a selection of poetry since 1789 & British fiction or drama from 1914 onwards. No Tiering. Increased assessment of unseen texts. No controlled assessment.

Mathematics The Camp Hill GCSE Maths course is OCR J560. Three 1 ½ hour exam papers rather than two 1 ¾ hour papers we currently have. A greater degree of challenge in the questions, with more emphasis on problem solving. The changes are not substantial and we will continue to use our existing textbooks.

GCSE Changes in September 2016 New Specifications for all GCSE subjects other than English, English Literature & Maths whose Specifications changed in 2015. All GCSEs become linear with assessment at the end of the two year course in June 2018. There will be no more coursework. Assessment will predominantly be done by exam only. Some tiering in Maths & Modern Foreign Languages. 1-9 Grading system ( 9 being the top grade) Course content will be more demanding & questions more rigorous. Pupils will be expected to learn more. Greater emphasis on Spelling, Punctuation & Grammar.

DESIGN      

MUSIC

ART

GEOGRAPHY

HISTORY

MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Year 10 GCSE Options All students study the following subjects to GCSE: Biology, Chemistry and Physics English Language and English Literature Mathematics The separate sciences, English and maths are compulsory subjects at Camp Hill.

Year 10 GCSE Options In addition to the compulsory subjects, students at Camp Hill Boys have to study four other subjects, at least one of which must be a language, from: Art Computer Science Design Technology (a choice of two courses) French German Geography History Music Religious Education This is where you should choose subjects that you enjoy; you are most likely to be successful if you are studying something you enjoy.

Year 10 GCSE Options Your son should complete the options form (at the rear of the booklet) in order of priority. This should be for all six option choices (including the language). If chosen, you should stipulate which of the two Design Technology courses he would like to study. Read the instructions carefully so that you complete the form correctly and that you have prioritised your subject choices according to your wishes.

Example Options Form. This tells me that, if a choice has to be made, this student would rather study the DT course in Resistant Materials than French. If I could not timetable French, I would then move on to his next choice, Art in this case. Please sign the form. This is how your form will look once you’ve completed it. Don’t forget to sign it!

Year 10 GCSE Options The school will attempt to accommodate all of your son’s option choices While this cannot be guaranteed (that is why you are asked to nominate reserve subjects in order of priority), we do meet the vast majority of choices Some schools choose to pre-define possible combinations by asking students to choose one from each of three columns. This is NOT the system we use here At Camp Hill Boys it is theoretically possible to choose any grouping e.g. Art and Music, Geography and History, RE and German etc By giving full flexibility of choices we are helping the students to choose the subjects that most appropriate for them.

Year 10 GCSE Options Please read the literature and discuss the subjects carefully. It is very difficult to change options once the timetabling process has begun because teaching groups are often full and staffing has already been deployed. The process of timetabling will begin on Tuesday 20 March in the morning – it is vital that all choice sheets are completed and returned to Mr Jones by Monday 19 March (if your son is absent please contact Mr Jones at school before 9.15 a.m.). It is helpful if boys let us know their choices as soon as possible – please don’t wait until the deadline. I hope to finish the process as soon as possible, so that I can let the boys know to what extent the school is able to satisfy their choice of optional subjects. Please return your form as soon as possible; the earlier we can start processing the data, the quicker we can look at resolving potential clashes.

Year 10 GCSE Options The Process: All the students’ options are entered into a computer program. The groupings of subjects are chosen according to the least number of clashes (e.g. it may be that no students have opted to study Art and Music, so those subjects can be placed in the same block). Once the combinations have been analysed, the subjects are moved about and the program run to try to find the least number of clashes.

Thank you for attending the Year 9 GCSE Options Evening Thank you for attending the Year 9 GCSE Options Evening. Year 9 Parents’ Evening is on Tuesday 13 March.