This evening’s presentation is available on the school website. Important Dates Subject Consultation Evenings Napier & Trenchard– 17th January Henning & Stratford – 24th January Tutor Consultation Day Friday 19th July Mocks Fortnight from 17th to 28th June for all subjects This evening’s presentation is available on the school website.

Aims of this evening To outline key aspects of the new GCSEs. To lay out expectations of GCSE study. To advise you on how best to support your son/daughter. To give key information about the core subjects.

GCSE grades The 9-1 system now exists for all subjects. 4 is considered a pass and 5 is considered a ‘good pass’. A grade below a 4 will mean a re-sit in maths and/or English [this may be subject to change in the future].

How do we support students? Outstanding learning in the classroom Focused homework Revision material Revision strategies Tracking their progress Mentoring where appropriate Support and intervention from tutor and college team

Successful students Show a positive attitude and behaviour Take pride in their class work Have a clear vision of what lies beyond GCSE Have a structured routine and space to work at home Use their planner to keep organised Build revision up over time Are active in their revision – doing not reading, not being passive

How can you support your child? Know  what  your  child  is  studying. Look at their planner regularly. Be  aware  of  what  is  going  on  in  school. Ask questions like “what homework have you got tonight?” Ensure they have a suitable place to work – free from distraction. Support, encourage and show interest. Let them teach you!

Revision material Please collect a list at the end if you didn’t get one on the way in!

English Rachel Glennie

The English Department A high performing department. Students achieve excellent results in both subjects at GCSE. Students are taught in mixed ability groups throughout Year 10 and 11. They will remain with the same main class teacher for two years. The English department has clear expectations regarding homework and behaviour. The exam board is AQA.

Changes to GCSE Literature and Language No higher or foundation tier; No controlled assessment or coursework. 100% exam based; 2 exams for each subject; 4 texts studied for Literature, including one 19th Century novel, a Shakespeare play, a modern text and a poetry cluster; A spoken language endorsement; Students are not allowed to take books into the exam; Increased emphasis on spelling, punctuation and grammar.

English Literature Students need to know a range of quotations for each text. They need to be able to talk about ‘the big ideas’ in the texts. You can help by talking to them about the texts. What do they think about characters and themes? What is the author trying to say? How can you tell? What are the pivotal moments of the texts and why? You can help by testing them on quotations to do with characters, settings and themes and by making sure that they begin revision early. What does the text / language make them think / feel / imagine?

Easy revision tasks Make an A3 poster for the wall by putting the key themes in each corner. Choose the quotations that relate to those themes and explain the impact on the audience / reader. Try and include some quotations that help you to explore the structure of the play / novel as well as the language.

English text books We’re not able to provide students with personal copies of the literature texts to take home anymore. There are class copies of the texts available for use in lessons. Each class teacher also has a bundle of the texts on ParentPay if you wish to purchase them. Pupil Premium students will be loaned copies of the texts, but must return them at the end of Year 11. Electronic versions of the texts are available on the T drive for students to access when completing homework and revision. T:\English\5. ELECTRONIC GCSE TEXTS. We’ve chosen these versions of the texts because we think they are the most useful for students.

English Club Students are welcome to come and receive support in English every night after school between 3.30 and 4.30 in C25 in the English block. Students need to bring work with them, or something that they would like to be clarified. Different teachers are there on different nights. They can see their own teacher, or they can see someone else.

The importance of reading Teenagers who choose to pick up a book for pleasure are more likely to succeed in life.

Reading …. Helps children to do better at school. Improves concentration. Improves imagination. Increases vocabulary. Helps teenagers develop empathy.

Get them to pick up a book. Fiction is better than non fiction for developing skills but reading any text is better than not reading at all. They will have to address unseen fiction and non-fiction in the exam. Regular reading is the key to success in many GCSE subjects. Encourage children to read as often as possible.

Revision Guides Revision guides can be useful to help students to focus their revision. Most will contain self test questions to check their understanding. We have guides available in the English dept. if students wish to buy them for both Literature and Language. Your son / daughter should check with their class teacher about the appropriate guide for them.

Useful Websites http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zr9d7ty http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zckw2hv Kerboodle support Sparknotes Mr Bruff

Mathematics Claire Tanner

New GCSE Increased difficulty and content Preparation began in Year 9 8 lessons per fortnight Year 10 are the fourth year group to do this course. 81% of students achieved 4 – 9 last year compared with national of 59.8%.

Two teachers The main teacher will cover the majority of the content and set homework every week The other teacher will cover a few topics and revise the work the main teacher has covered

Assessment End of half term tests Exam questions used in lessons and for homework End of year ‘mock’ exam Further formal exams in Year 11

Higher/Foundation Higher: sets 1-5 Foundation: sets 6-10 Subject to change depending on the intake of students.

Grades Higher: 4 – 9 Foundation: 1 – 5 20% of the questions will be common to both tiers, at grades 4 and 5

Preparation Have calculator (not a phone) and geometry set – don’t miss out the drawing questions. Know which formulae need to be learnt Maths clubs are for students to go over classwork and homework as well as get help with revision. Revision Guides and Workbooks Exam Practice Workbooks

The Exams 3 papers End of Year 11 1 hour 30 mins each One non-calculator paper Learn formulae

The Exams Methods have to be written down – quite a lot is needed for one mark, sometimes more stages of work are needed than marks available Students will be tested on their understanding of methods by doing standard questions and also explaining mistakes in others

Example Olly drove 56 km from Liverpool to Manchester. He then drove 61 km from Manchester to Sheffield. Olly’s average speed from Liverpool to Manchester was 70 km/h. Olly took 75 minutes to drive from Manchester to Sheffield. (a) Work out Olly’s average speed for his total drive from Liverpool to Sheffield.

Example Janie drove from Barnsley to York. Janie’s average speed from Barnsley to Leeds was 80 km/h. Her average speed from Leeds to York was 60 km/h. Janie says that the average speed from Barnsley to York can be found by working out the mean of 80 km/h and 60 km/h. (b) If Janie is correct, what does this tell you about the two parts of Janie’s journey?

Further Help corbettmaths.com/5-a-day/gcse mymaths mathsorchard.weebly.com (hardye tree) Dr Frost questions, help with answers, especially for higher tier Mathsgenie questions, answers and videos

Science Andrew Ellison

Regulatory requirements Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Combined Science only All assessment at end of course More demanding content No coursework No mixing of tiers for combined award

Grading in Combined Science Either two numbers the same: 9-9, 8-8, 7-7, 6-6, 5-5, 4-4, 3-3, 2-2, 1-1 Or one number different: 9-8, 8-7, 7-6, 6-5, 5-4, 4-3, 3-2, 2-1 No zero, so no 1-0 or 1-U

Assessments: separate sciences Qualification Papers Content Length Biology 2 papers equal weighting Topics 1-4 Topics 5-7 Under arching principles 1 hour 45 mins 100 marks Chemistry Topics 1-5 Topics 6-10 (topics 1-3 on both common content) Physics Topics 1-4 Topics 5-8 Questions on practical work woven throughout the paper

Assessments: combined sciences Trilogy Six papers, 1¼ hours, 70 marks Two papers for each subject Assessment split by content as separates Questions on practical work in all papers

Physics equations 23 equations students need to know and be able to apply (21 in combined science) 12 equations students must be able to select and apply (7 in combined science) Grades 1-3 will be given equation to apply. Simple equations with substitution of two numbers, no transformations Grades 4-5 will be given prompt ‘Write down the equation that links…’ Calculation will involve something ‘extra’ Grades 6-7 no prompt. Questions will involve transformations or ‘something extra’ Grades 8-9 no prompts. Include complex equations. Will involve transformations and multiple steps

Science at The Thomas Hardye School Students start GCSE on arrival in Y9. They have tests each ½ term to track progress. Also end of year exams and mock exams in Year 11. Students in Y10 sets 1-4 are following Triple Award (Biology, Chemistry, Physics). Sets 5-9 follow Double Award Combined Science (Trilogy). Lots of STEM clubs after school to join. Curriculum support happens closer to exams in Year 11.

Science at The Thomas Hardye School http://www.passmyexams.co.uk/ https://www.doddlelearn.co.uk/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/education