1. Preparing for New National Qualifications St Columba’s High School, Gourock. October 2013

2. Tonight’s Topics  Recap on New National Qualifications  Mr J Docherty, Head Teacher  New National Qualifications in Practice  Mrs A Devlin, Principal Teacher of English.  October to May 2014. - J Docherty  New Higher Grades (2014)  Ms M Goodfellow (DHT).  Options for 2014 - Mr B Fowley (DHT)

3. New National Qualifications  National 5  Equivalent to Credit Level and Intermediate 2.  Graded A to D  Internal Assessment.  Final Examination.  National 4  Equivalent to General Level and Intermediate 1.  Pass of Fail.  Internal Assessment only.  Added Value Unit

4. New NQs  National 3  Equivalent to Foundation Level and Access 3.  Pass or Fail  Internal Assessment only.

5. Internal Assessment  Use of SQA Materials.  Standards Assured.  Added value unit.  Project

6. Where are we now?  New NQs well underway.  On-going teacher assessments.  Unit assessments.  Judgements and feedback.  National 5.  National 4.  National 4/5.

7. Presentation Levels  Final teacher judgements by December.  Prelims January (13 th – 22 nd ).  Confirm teacher assessments.  Provide examination practice.  National 5 and National 4/5 only.  No study leave.  Reports (7 th February?)  Parents’ evening (18 th February?)

8. The Scottish Higher  Awarded for over 100 years  Progression to HE / employment  Since 2000, awarded by Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA)  New Higher introduced in 2014 / 2015  New Higher awarded in 2015  New Advanced Higher introduced 2015 /2016

9. What’s new in the new qualifications?  More personalisation and choice  Added Value Assessments  National 5 - more coursework / shorter exams

10. What won’t change in the new Higher?  Features and characteristics of H and AH will be maintained  H and AH will include Units assessed in school  To achieve H or AH – must pass all Units plus Course assessment  Prelims will continue to be scheduled  Universities will continue to seek 5 Highers in one sitting – law, medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine

11. Course Assessments  Learners will receive credit for any Units achieved  Qualifications certificate – Units passed appear on certificate

12. Progression? A young person studying National 5 has optional progression routes –  Complete Nat 5 in one year – Higher – AH  Complete Nat 5 in one year – Higher over 2 years  Work towards Units in Nat 5 in one year – complete Nat 5 the following year, then Higher

13. Support for choices  Option programme  Information / advice from departments  Option booklet  Individual interviews with guidance teacher  Support from SDS  In some cases other agencies