1. KS4 information evening
Thursday 2nd November

2. Purpose of this evening
Understand the requirements / standards expected of your child’s option subjects.
How you can support your child at home.
Resources available to help support your child.

3. THE TRUTH ABOUT GCSE EXAMS
GCSE are not designed to catch students out.
They provide an opportunity for students to demonstrate their abilities.
Examiners like giving marks to people who do what is asked of them.
Exams can be completed in the allotted time.
Everyone’s memory is sufficient.

4. Work with their teachers
Ask for help
GCSE’s are harder
Be self motivated
Work with their teachers
Be organised
Be punctual
Be more independent
learners
Avoid distractions
Higher Expectations

5. An exceptional learner
Making excellent progress
Very active role in own learning
Perseverance and resilience
Seeks guidance in and out of lessons
An active learner
Likely to be making good progress
Desire and willingness to learn
Generally resilient, generally good standard of work
Seeks guidance in lessons
A passive learner
Likely to be making little or no progress
Passenger within lessons, desire to be spoon-fed
Behaviour okay/good but not working hard enough
Lack of perseverance with challenging work
A disruptive learner
Unlikely to be making progress
Actively disrupts own learning and others’ learning
Unsatisfactory amount of work completed in and out of lessons

6. Parental support is 8 times more important in determining a child’s academic success than social class. The Campaign for Learning found that parental involvement in a child’s education can mean the difference between an 9 and an ‘also-ran’ at GCSE.

7. KS4 OPTIONS INFORMATION EVENING – THURSDAY 2nd NOVEMBER 2017.
C BLOCK LECTURE THEATRE
GEOGRAPHY
B BLOCK
E BLOCK LRC
LANGUAGES
SPANISH/FRENCH
E BLOCK SIXTH FORM CENTRE
BUSINESS
A BLOCK MAIN HALL
SCIENCE
LOWER B BLOCK
UPPER B BLOCK
B1 – ART/PHOTOGRAPHY
B11 - HOSPITALITY
B2 – IT
B13 – CHILD CARE
B3- COMPUTING
B15 – HISTORY
B4 - DRAMA
B16 – FOOD
B5 – P.E
B17 – PRODUCT DESIGN
B6 - MUSIC
B18 - FINANCE
B19 – R.E
Main hall – Introduction / Science
Option 1 – Breakout
Option 2 - Breakout
Option 3 - Breakout
Option 4 - Breakout

8. General guidance
Don’t spend too long revising. There is the law of diminishing returns. If you just sit down to revise, without a definite finishing time, then your learning efficiency falls lower and lower, like this:

9. General guidance
If you decide at the beginning how long you will work for, with a clock, then, as your brain knows the end is coming, the graph rises towards the end.

10. How can you improve this even more?
One solid session
4 shorter sessions
The yellow area shows the improvement.
If you break up a 2-hour session into 4 shorter sessions, each of about 25-minutes, with a short planned break between them, then it is even better.
Compare the next 2 graphs:

11. How often should you revise?
Look at the graph below.
It shows how much your brain can recall later.
It rises for about 10 minutes …and then falls.

12. if you quickly re-revise after 10 minutes,
then it falls more slowly! This is good.
Analyse the new graph:
However,

13. Even better,
if you quickly re-revise again, after 1 day,
then it falls even more slowly! Good !

14. if you quickly re-revise again, after 1 week,
then it falls even more slowly! Great!
And even better still,

15. 10 minutes 1 day 1 week …and then 1 month.
So the best intervals for ‘topping-up’, by reviewing or briefly re-revising are:
10 minutes
1 day
1 week
…and then 1 month.
Revise – Make notes in your preferred learning style.
Repeat – Go through everything again, concentrating on what you still don’t understand.
Review – Every week, spend some time going through everything you’ve done in the past week.

16. Repetition & Questioning
Regular repetition of knowledge will strengthen it
Will enable students to prioritise what they need to learn again
E.g. review notes before sleeping

18. IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP
Sleep

20. Helping your child to do well in Science

21. Challenges Knowledge Applying knowledge and understanding
Increased expectation for students to remember key information e.g. physics formulae
Applying knowledge and understanding
More difficult questions will ask them about novel situations where they can apply their understanding. Expect the unexpected.
Mathematical requirements
Increased expectation e.g. all students are expected to know how to change the subject of formulae
Pure mathematical questions e.g. Calculate the surface area to volume ratio of this potato cube
Graphs and data analysis
Unstructured calculations
Core practical's
Will be examined ‘or a similar practical’

22. Outcomes Are set so: Triple Science Combined Science
A similar proportion of students will get a grade 4+ as got grade C+ in legacy specifications
A similar proportion of students will get a grade 7+ as got grade A+ in legacy specifications
Triple Science
Will get separate grades in Bio, Physics, Chemistry
Combined Science
Get 2 grades. Average performance across all 3 Sciences
8,8 – 8,7 – 7,7 – 7,6 etc.

23. Knowledge Can’t be guessed
Explain the importance of detail in class. Making their own notes…
Explain the importance of regular review. Test themselves!
Revision guides are good – exercise books are for practice and a thinking space
Do something with them, don’t sit and read
Tassomai will drill students with knowledge and understanding
Still available to pay for until after the weekend
You have a letter. Students have an .
Topic checklists

24. Applying knowledge Use exam sample papers – at home – in class
then go to GCSE Science 9-1
Engage in class with examples that teachers provide
It is about becoming more confident, not learning the examples
Students need to get involved, be prepared to be wrong, confused. This is a part of learning when we are thinking hard!
Have wider awareness of issues e.g. climate change
Questions often use a context from scientific issues or innovations
Hydrogen fuel cells
Nanoparticles in sun creams
Effects of alcohol
Car brakes

25. Mathematical requirements
It’s just maths. Applied to a context
Don’t use tricks and props if possible, new maths GCSEs mean all students can do this algebraically
Know formulae
Use suggested methods for multi step calculations. Examples. Past papers.
Describe graphs – every part
Line graphs with lines of best fit
Statistical measures
RTQ – sig figs etc.
UNITS
Calculators

26. Practical's Participant or passenger?
Skills practised result in being able to do the exam questions – the exam board know how to phrase questions.
Practice questions in class

27. Pitfalls
Students who don’t know anything but have quite good understanding – think they will ‘wing it’
Lack of practice relying on intrinsic understanding
Encourage them to learn their stuff – lots of resources. Don’t let them convince you they will do it eventually!
Encourage them to practise little but often e.g. calculations
Students who copy out their revision books or make pretty posters. May own a lot of stationery.
Displacement behaviour
Mind maps/concept maps involve thinking, encourage them towards this. Closed book.
Students who do not practise exam questions or start this too late

28. Tips/support
Students have checklists for every topic they have been taught. They have an link to these. Get them to print/save/use these.
Revise topics they need to improve
Students have skills sheets for
COMMAND WORDS – The TOPIC CHECKLISTS use these. The exam questions use these
Mathematical skills
Practical skills
Tassomai
Pearson Active learn – free to use
Buy revision guides, see
Students have just sat a paper 1 exam. They all have homework to review identified areas that need improving. Start now.
Triple Science students have easier topics to study at home – they DO understand the work and this will allow time for revision
Class teachers can help but we need students/parents to take some responsibility – work with us as we all want great results!

29. KS4 OPTIONS INFORMATION EVENING – THURSDAY 2nd NOVEMBER 2017.
C BLOCK LECTURE THEATRE
GEOGRAPHY
B BLOCK
E BLOCK LRC
LANGUAGES
SPANISH/FRENCH
E BLOCK SIXTH FORM CENTRE
BUSINESS
A BLOCK MAIN HALL
SCIENCE
LOWER B BLOCK
UPPER B BLOCK
B1 – ART/PHOTOGRAPHY
B11 - HOSPITALITY
B2 – IT
B13 – CHILD CARE
B3- COMPUTING
B15 – HISTORY
B4 - DRAMA
B16 – FOOD
B5 – P.E
B17 – PRODUCT DESIGN
B6 - MUSIC
B18 - FINANCE
B19 – R.E
Main hall – Introduction / Science
Option 1 – Breakout
Option 2 - Breakout
Option 3 - Breakout
Option 4 - Breakout