1. Year 8 Options - Parent Briefing
National changes to Curriculum & Assessment and the impact on our pupils
Mrs North – Deputy Headteacher (Raising Achievement)

2. Why have we changed? Changes in Government Policy and Expectation :
More students taking Ebacc subjects
Move to terminal examinations & loss of coursework
Changes in assessment – Attainment or Progress?
We need to ensure our students leave us with high quality qualifications and grades that enable them to successfully

3. Assessing Pupil Performance
Progress 8 is a new secondary accountability measure aimed at measuring the progress of pupils across a selected set of 8 subjects.
Pupils’ results are compared to the actual achievements of other pupils with the same prior attainment (based on performance at Primary School).

4. The Progress 8 measure will apply from this year
The Progress 8 measure will apply from this year. From this point, the standard will be based solely on exam results on the Progress 8 measure (no longer the current measure of 5+A*-C including English & Maths)
This means it will affect any students taking GCSE exams from Summer 2016.

5. Grades will be now measured on a 1-9 point score scale.
On this new scale, 1 is equivalent to a Grade G GCSE. An increase in one point will represent an increase of one GCSE grade up to 8, which is equivalent to an A* GCSE (at the moment !)
Old GCSE Grades
New GCSE Grades A* 8 A 7 B 6 C 5 D 4 E 3 F 2 G 1

6. The Curriculum “buckets”
The new measures will take the average of a pupils points across a set of their best 8 subjects.
The 8 qualifications that count towards the measure must fall into one of three “buckets.”
If a qualification does not fall into one of these buckets, it is not counted in the attainment or progress 8 measure.

7. The Curriculum Buckets1 2 3
EBacc
Other
English
EBacc
Other
Mathematics
EBacc
Other
Bucket 1
One slot for English and one for maths;
Subjects are double-weighted (English only if English Lit taken as well)
Bucket 2
Three from the EBacc qualifications
Sciences – Double or Triple
Computer Science
Geography
History
Languages
Bucket 3
Three “other” slots
Any remaining Ebacc qualifications
Other approved academic, arts or vocational qualifications

8. 8 Qualifications?
The 8 grades from the three buckets are added together and divided by 10 to produce a students Attainment score. The maths grade in bucket 1 is given double weighting, as is English if the pupil has taken both English Literature and English Language.
No matter how full or empty the three buckets are, a student’s score is always divided by 10 to produce an average score
(10 representing the 8 subject slots, with English & Maths double weighted)
It is not mandatory for students to fill the three buckets or take 8 qualifications.
If a student has fewer than 8 qualifications, or if some of their qualifications do not fit into one of the three buckets then they will score 0 points for the unfilled slots.

9. Our Pathways Pathway 1 Pathway 2 Pathway 3 Pathway 4 Compulsory
English (& Literature)
Maths (& Statistics)
Science (Double or Triple)
Humanities (Geog or History)
Language (Spanish or French)
Options
Option 1 – Free choice
Option 2 – Free choice
One Ebacc subject (Geog, Hist, Comp. Sci, Language)
Option 3 – Free choice
Maths
Science - Double
Option 4 – Free choice
Science – Double
INSPIRE Support
(Option 3 – Free choice)
Approx 25-30% of our students will be expected to follow pathway 1 – The Ebacc
Approx 45-50% of our students will be expected to follow pathway 2 – Progress 8
Approx 15% of our students will follow pathway 3
Approx 5% of our students will follow pathway 4

10. Further Information to support you :
A letter will be sent home this week telling you which pathway your child is on.
Options Booklet – On the school website
Thursday 21st January – Options Evening
Mrs North & Mrs Greenwood available to answer your questions.