Lees Brook Community School 2018-2020 Year 9 Options Evening

Online system All pupils able to log on with school email Draft choices made during citizenship All choices to be reviewed by 16th Feb Final choices confirmed by letter home after half term

Government Reform Since Sept 2015 the Government have introduced a series of educational reforms. These include: - a new grading system at GCSE - new syllabuses - new performance measures that focus on academic ability.

New Grading System All GCSE courses starting in September 2018 will be graded on a scale from 9 - 1 New ‘Strong Pass’ level

New GCSE Qualifications Have much more content to learn Either have a 100% exam at the end of the course or significant reduction in controlled assessment New Performance Measures Greater emphasis on the number of academic subjects studied (EBacc suite) Expectation is that the majority of students study English, Maths, Science, a Foreign language and either History or Geography.

Recommended Pathways and Courses Two pathways assigned based on current academic progress Pathway 1 – Pupils who have a target to achieve at least 4 or above in French or German and also in Geography or History who are currently On Target (O) or Above (A) Pathway 2 – Pupils who have a target below 4 in Languages and/or Humanities or who are Below (B) or Significantly Below (SB) if their target is above this. Courses recommended ‘*’: - Pupils currently on or above target Pupils best subject in terms of achievement Subject that has a tradition of high achievement

How do I choose my options? https://www.sims-options.co.uk/

Making your choices Three choices in total - each subject will have 6 hours of dedicated lesson time Pathway 1 – At least 1 Humanities subject and a language Pathway 2 – At least 1 subject from Ebacc list Potential for new vocational courses to be available once accredited. This may be discussed with individual pupils for whom this may be beneficial.

Subject Choices Ebacc Subjects French German Geography History Computer Science Other Choices Art Dance Drama Music Resistant Materials Textiles Graphics Construction Hair and Beauty Business PE/Sport ICT Film Studies Performing Arts

Pathway 1 One humanities subject One free choice One language One reserve choice

Pathway 2 One Ebacc subject Two other choices One reserve choice

Other selections Triple Science – Indicate using ‘TS’ in the comments section. All interested pupils will be spoken to by science staff before final decisions are made. Rolls Royce Young Apprenticeship – Indicate using ‘RR’ in the comments section. Candidates will be formally prepared and interviewed by Rolls Royce

What did last year’s students tell us? They found the following very helpful: 14

What did last year’s students tell us? Speak to your subject teachers about courses offered. Think carefully about what you want to do as a career. Think about college and the courses you might want to study. Choose courses that you enjoy and will work hard at. 15

What did last year’s students tell us? Make sure you choose your OWN options - choosing an option just because your friends are taking them doesn't help at all. It’s not guaranteed that you’ll be in the same class as your friends anyway. Choose subjects that you think you will succeed in and not just the subjects that you think you like the most. 16

Young Apprenticeships Not included in the total number of option choices – if you are interested, please indicate this in the comments section in addition to your 3 other choices. Young Apprentices will be expected to continue with all other option choices during their KS4 studies. This may mean catching up on missed work during arranged study support opportunities. For further information regarding the Rolls Royce engineering apprenticeship please see Mr. Willan.

Appointments can be made with Miss Jones or Mr Smith to discuss options prior to final deadline: Friday 16th February 2018 Times or dates for discussion can be arranged via telephone or email at: stesmi@leesbrook.co.uk vivjon@leesbrook.co.uk https://www.sims-options.co.uk/