1. Key Stage 3 Year 7 Information Evening
Nicola Fareham
Head of Department
Leanne Dickinson
KS3 Co-ordinator
Richard Allan
Intervention Co-ordinator
Dan Radford
Teacher of Maths

2. Why do we have an information evening?
To keep you informed of the changes nationally to GCSE exams.
To keep you informed of the key dates this year:
-Parents evenings
-Assessments
To explain how we set homework and what our expectations are.
To show you what you should see in your child’s book.
To inform you of what your child can do in order to be ready to learn.

3. The New GCSE and how it will affect your child
Instead of the traditional A*-G grades, they will be numbered 1-9.
Students will be placed in classes following pathways from Year 7 through to Year 11 on these new levels.
New Mathematics topics have been introduced into the syllabus to allow students to access better opportunities after school.
Students are either working towards the Foundation (1-5) or Higher (4-9) exam depending on their ability. The tier they sit will not be determined until the end of year 10, but may possibly still change in year 11.

4. Maths GCSE Changes
All students sitting their GCSE Maths exams from 2017 will be following a new curriculum. It will be a linear specification with students having one sitting at the end of year 11.
2 calculator papers and 1 non-calculator.
Broader and deeper mathematical content.
Designed to be more rigorous to allow stretch and challenge for both Higher and Foundation students

5. Grading
A similar proportion of students will achieve a grade 4 and above as currently achieve a grade C and above.
A similar proportion of students will achieve a grade 7 and above as currently achieve an A and above.
For each examination, the top 20 per cent of those who get grade 7 or above will get a grade 9 – the very highest performers.
The bottom of grade 1 will be aligned with the bottom of grade G.

6. Grading
Grade 5 will be positioned in the top third of the marks for a current Grade C and bottom third of the marks for a current Grade B. This will mean it will be of greater demand than the present grade C, and broadly in line with what the best available evidence tells us is the average performance in countries such as Finland, Canada, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
The new maths GCSE will be tiered, with grades 4 and 5 available through both tiers.

7. Grading Ofqual Chief Regulator Glenys Stacey said
“We do need to caution against direct comparisons and overly simplistic descriptions of the approach. For example, it is not right to say simply that a new grade 4 will equal a current grade C.”

8. Year 7 Scheme of Work

9. “Corridor of delight”
All students will receive a grade tracker showing them whether or not they are on the right path to making good progress.

10. Tracking Progress
All students will receive a sticker for their books where they can record their progress and refer to it.

11. Testing
Students will be assessed four times in the year. This will allow both the student and teacher to see where progress has been made and intervention put in place with appropriate students. We will closely monitor students’ progress, and make set changes based on ALL of the results that we have available to us for each student. This is to ensure that every student is in the set that is right for THEM, and that they are working at the most appropriate level for their ability.

12. Year 7 Test Dates
All students in year 7 will be sitting the following tests this year:
Week beginning 6th October 2014
Week beginning 19th January 2015
Week beginning 9th March 2015
Week beginning 15th June 2015
After each test we will look at the setting and decide if there are any students who need to change sets.

13. Intervention
One to one intervention – any student who is not showing progress from their most recent assessment is selected for one to one tuition. This is during the school day, once per week.
After school enrichments – all teachers offer at least one hour per week to support with homework, classwork or consolidate classwork with extra practice.

14. Setting
There are 7 sets in each band in year 7. They will be working towards the new GCSE grading system.
Sets 1 and 2 are currently working towards the 3-5 tier
Sets 3,4 and 5 are currently working towards the 2-4 tier
Sets 6 and 7 are currently working towards the 1-2 tier
This has been decided based upon their attainment levels in year 6 and will be monitored throughout year 7.

15. Homework
Homework is set on a weekly basis and students will have one week to complete it. Homework will usually be set using To access mymaths you need to use the login outwood and password equilateral. Each student then has their own individual login and password. Every teacher runs at least one enrichment per week where students can seek help if they are struggling with their homework.

16. Homework Policy Maths homework is set in line with Academy policy.
Each piece of homework must be completed by a given deadline. If students do not manage this, they will be given an extension. If they then do not complete the homework by the extended deadline they will be issued with a detention (which will be recorded on a sticker in their planner).
Students are only allowed one extended deadline in maths per praising stars cycle, and any homework detention for incomplete homework will result in an E4 for that cycle.

17. What can students do? Come prepared to every Be ready to learn lesson:
Make all appropriate notes
Complete all classwork
Use correct equipment (e.g. draw diagrams with pencil and ruler)
Ensure all homework is completed on time
Book
Scientific calculator
Pen
Pencil
Ruler
Planner

18. Parents’ Evenings Tuesday 11th of November 2014
Tuesday 3rd of March 2015
Tuesday 21st of April 2015

19. Thanks for listening
Any Questions?