Parents Information Evening 2nd October 2018 Year 10 GCSE Parents Information Evening 2nd October 2018

Highly Effective Students Work hard over a period of time Excellent attendance Very good behaviour profile Attend additional classes and revision sessions Control their social media lives effectively Take part in whole school/out of school activities Resilience Independence Take personal responsibility for their own learning

Target grades

Why do we set target grades? An aspirational but achievable target. Helps to track progress – encourages early intervention if necessary. It is not a ceiling for expectation.

Attendance

Strategies for a successful Key stage 4 Know the dates for the Examinations and coursework deadlines. Know your target levels and expectations for each subject. Produce a revision timetable. Use active revision- Spider diagrams, keyword cards and past papers. Always catch up on worked missed, complete homework and coursework to the best of your ability. As a parent know how to supporting your child. Key dates Year 10 Examinations May 2019 Year 11 Mock Examinations February 2020 Year 11 GCSE Examinations May 2020

English Language and Literature Information for Parents

GCSE English/ English Literature 1-9 4 exams – 2 each for Language and Literature, a total of 7.5 hours of exams. Closed book – no texts, so learning quotations and being able to cite evidence of writers’ methods is crucial for success. No tiers – all sit the same exams. More challenging Literature – focus on 19th Century Prose for Language and Literature. More marks given for technical accuracy, punctuation, grammatical knowledge and subject terminology.

Yes, they both count and yes students should revise for Language… Both are crucial qualifications Traditionally, although students perceive the Literature as more challenging, a higher % get a better grade in this Language at L4 or above is required by colleges It isn’t the case that you can’t revise for Language – confidence with reading material, learning how to approach the questions to hit the criteria and developing writing skills are crucial for success. So start now. Encourage critical thinking and discussion of texts. Read online articles.

Impact on learning and organisation for students - homework Students need to be far more proactive with their own study and organisation. Strategies for approaching challenging Literature have been adopted in class and learning/ memorising material needs to be embedded at home. Students need to act on feedback. The English staff are very conscientious with giving feedback and the only way to secure success is to rework and improve on answers to ensure the skills are demonstrated.

Year 10 – getting to know the texts, exam formats and building confidence with giving a response .. For the Language papers students will be supplied with in house study and revision booklets to support the correct way to approach the questions and their literacy skills. For Literature they will be given in house revision booklets based on Jekyll and Hyde, Macbeth, Inspector Calls and the Poetry. We will also be sending out letters shortly for the purchase of the texts and CGP guides we recommend. These guides and other useful revision materials are all available on Citrix.

What you can do … Get them reading, support basic literacy Talk about the texts (Jekyll and Hyde, Macbeth, Inspector Calls and Power and Conflict Poetry). Ask about characters, themes and the methods writers’ use in these texts. Talk about the context, e.g. WW1, Victorian London. Encourage them to produce mind maps or revision cards based around key quotations and methods they illustrate. This needs to be on-going, not left until Year 11. Put up quotations linked to the texts somewhere prominent and test on/ talk about these. Quotations don’t need to be long – can they say a lot about a little? Test them. Encourage them to use YouTube for independent learning. Looking through exemplar responses and annotations of the poems/ texts. Appreciate the demands on them, across the curriculum, are great and they need support and understanding

A few things that might just help … Year 10 Maths We’re already one year into the GCSE course. Your exam board is Edexcel. The first examinations in this new specification were in 2017 and they were tough. You need to be preparing NOW! A few things that might just help …

Get a calculator (like this one) and make sure you can use it.

Year 10 & Year 11 GCSE Question of the Week Numeracy Tutor Time Year 10 & Year 11 GCSE Question of the Week Calculator allowed Calculator not allowed

Foundation Higher Week 3: 25/09/18 Focus on problem solving. Opportunity to discuss in form. Covered again in maths lesson.

ampsmaths for solutions EVERY week ampsmaths on youtube ampsmaths – view it / pause it / do it ampsmaths for solutions EVERY week https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp0OcZW01QQ

Review topic tests – get them out and revisit mistakes Review topic tests – get them out and revisit mistakes. (They should already be corrected.)

Learn the formulae. You have to know them for the exams.

GCSE Maths 5 a day revision Read the board to get the right set of questions Take an A4 page and try a little every day Print your own from Public\Maths\Year 11\5 a day Answers are there too (or at www.corbettmaths.com) Come to maths help Tuesday or Thursday for help with solutions Get a raffle ticket if you show me a completed week

What else? Maths revision = doing maths! Get a revision guide and workbook. Use them! Parentmail £5 W:\Mathematics\Year 11 or www.savemyexams.co.uk Maths help – Tuesday & Thursday lunchtimes