St Ursula’s Convent School Welcome to the Year 11 Curriculum Evening – How to support your daughter.

Welcome & Introduction Mrs Hamilton

Results this year are outstanding - some highlights are: Number of Pupils 116 English Language (Grades 9-4) 89% English Literature (Grades 9-4) 97% Mathematics (Grades 9-4) 85% English Baccalaureate (EBacc) 61% 2 or more 4+ Science 83% 1 or more 4+ MFL 74% Provisional Progress 8 +0.83 Provisional Attainment 8 59.30 5 or more GCSEs (Grades 9-7) 28% 5 or more GCSEs (Grades 9-4) 86% 5 or more GCSEs (Grades 9-1) 100% Grades 9-7 (Total Achieved) 35% (407 grades) Grades 9-8 (Total Achieved) 19% (225 grades) Grade 9s (Total Achieved) 8% (94 grades)

Subject Results 2019 Entries % 9-7s % 9-4s RE English Language 116 64 95 English Language 34 89 English Literature 50 97 Maths 29 85 Computer Science 24 92 Science (Combined) 42 2 67 Biology 72 93 Chemistry 74 31 88 Physics Food Prep & Nutrition 20 75 French 48 40 96 Design and Technology 43 35 86 Art 36 94 Drama 13 77 Geography 82 17 History 65 83 Music 38 PE 45 4 69 Spanish 54 78

In 2019, the headline measures of secondary performance are: There are now significant reforms to the way in which schools are held accountable. In 2019, the headline measures of secondary performance are: Progress across 8 subjects ( Progress 8) +0.83 Attainment across 8 subjects (Attainment 8) 5.93 (Grade B) The percentage of pupils achieving a 4 grade or better in both GCSE English and Maths - 84% The English Baccalaureate 61%

Intervention Plan Weekly RAP meetings – letters home Masterclasses Additional Revision sessions Hill Tops available for Silent Revision at lunch Peer Mentoring in Maths Walking Talking Mocks Literacy support Saturday learning One-to-ones Meetings with individual parents

Head of Religious Education Miss Cushnahan

GCSE Religious Education Exam Board: AQA Specification B Paper 1: Roman Catholic Christianity 50% Paper 2: Judaism (25%) and themes (25%)

GCSE Religious Education Paper 1 – 1hr 45mins Roman Catholic Christianity involves six areas of study: Creation Incarnation The Triune God Redemption Church & The Kingdom of God Eschatology In the exam students will be questioned on four of the six.

GCSE Religious Education Paper 2 – 1hr 45mins Judaism and Ethical themes involves four areas of study: Judaism - Beliefs Judaism - Practices Religion, Relationships & Families Religion, Human Rights & Social Justice In the exam students will be questioned on all four areas

RE pupil support Intervention group Monday 3:10 – 4pm. Regular timed question practice and feedback given. Morning sessions to begin after Christmas.

OUP Revision Guide -school ordering- @MrMcMillanREvis Textbook/Kerboodle www.cafod.org.uk BimBam on Youtube Mass attendance www.bbcbitesize.co.uk

Head of English Dept Miss Dias

The Course So far your daughter has covered and continues to work on… Yet to be covered… English Language GCSE Examinations: English Literature GCSE 1. Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing 1. Modern texts and poetry 2 hours 15 minutes 60% of the examination 50% of the examination Unseen poetry question 2. Writers’ Viewpoints and Perspectives 2. Shakespeare and the 19th Century novel 1 hours 45 minutes 1 hour 45 minutes 40% of the examination 3. Non examination – Spoken Language (separate endorsement) Please note all examinations are closed book exams.

English support programme Held every Monday after school between 3.15-4pm. Small groups of students to work intensively on a key skill that has been identified as a weakness.

Revision Guides

Revision Guides YORK NOTES FOR A LEVEL

Head of Maths Dept Mr O’Brien

GCSE Mathematics How to support your daughter

Maths revision = practice Completing revision on a little and often basis will be much more effective than cramming in the final couple of weeks! The best way to revise for a Maths exam is to complete as many practice questions as possible. You will then build up confidence in answering Maths questions, will recognise similar questions and will be used to achieving your target grade.

Practice resources available include: Past Edexcel Maths exam papers and mark schemes available from www.mathsgenie.co.uk Exam questions and solutions on topics filtered by grade can be found on www.mathsgenie.co.uk Completing practice papers will also involve completing some under timed/exam style conditions so you can get used to working with the pressure of exam time. On completion of the practice paper, students should identify areas of weakness and complete further revision of this area; for instance, of constructing and interpreting histograms was an issue, students could use mymaths to work through a lesson and online worksheet, or use mathswatch to refresh

Practice resources available include: Revision guides and workbook Many students who have purchased the revision pack from the Maths department will have a copy of a revision workbook, which will be useful to provide targetted revision of particular areas of weakness

Practice resources available include: All students have access to our online learning platform vle.mathswatch.co.uk where they can view videos covering the maths topics which they will be assessed on for their GCSE. Linked to each video is a set of interactive questions which are marked online. There is also a PDF printable worksheet for further practice. The CD has great revision clips, worksheets and examples of the new style questions. It is extremely useful if you get stuck at home revising a particular skill; play the clip, which is like a mini-lesson and you should be reminded of the key points. Available from the Maths Department for £5 if you do not yet have one

Practice resources available include: Pinpoint Learning – students upload their GCSE past paper marks onto the website. Pinpoint learning will then create a personalised and differentiated booklet of practice questions focusing on their weaknesses from that particular paper. Students can login to their personal account to see their video links for each paper and also access fully worked solutions for their booklets to self assess. Pinpoint Learning pinpointlearning.co.uk

Further resources available: Your Maths teacher ! After School revision sessions (look out for these and make sure you attend these) Easter and May-half term revision sessions (during the School holidays)