1. Lees Brook Community School 2018-2020
Year 9 Options Evening

2. Online system All pupils able to log on with school email
Draft choices made during citizenship
All choices to be reviewed by 16th Feb
Final choices confirmed by letter home after half term

3. Government Reform
Since Sept 2015 the Government have introduced a series of educational reforms.
These include:
- a new grading system at GCSE
- new syllabuses
- new performance measures that
focus on academic ability.

4. New Grading System
All GCSE courses starting in September 2018 will be graded on a scale from 9 - 1
New ‘Strong Pass’ level

5. New GCSE Qualifications
Have much more content to learn
Either have a 100% exam at the end of the course or significant reduction in controlled assessment
New Performance Measures
Greater emphasis on the number of academic subjects studied (EBacc suite)
Expectation is that the majority of students study English, Maths, Science, a Foreign language and either History or Geography.

6. Recommended Pathways and Courses
Two pathways assigned based on current academic progress
Pathway 1 – Pupils who have a target to achieve at least 4 or above
in French or German and also in Geography or History
who are currently On Target (O) or Above (A)
Pathway 2 – Pupils who have a target below 4 in Languages and/or
Humanities or who are Below (B) or Significantly Below (SB) if their target is above this.
Courses recommended ‘*’:
- Pupils currently on or above target
Pupils best subject in terms of achievement
Subject that has a tradition of high achievement

7. How do I choose my options? https://www.sims-options.co.uk/

8. Making your choices
Three choices in total - each subject will have 6 hours of dedicated lesson time
Pathway 1 – At least 1 Humanities subject and a language
Pathway 2 – At least 1 subject from Ebacc list
Potential for new vocational courses to be available once accredited. This may be discussed with individual pupils for whom this may be beneficial.

9. Subject Choices Ebacc Subjects French German Geography History
Computer Science
Other Choices
Art
Dance
Drama
Music
Resistant Materials
Textiles
Graphics
Construction
Hair and Beauty
Business
PE/Sport
ICT
Film Studies
Performing Arts

10. Pathway 1 One humanities subject One free choice One language
One reserve choice

11. Pathway 2
One Ebacc subject
Two other choices
One reserve choice

12. Other selections
Triple Science – Indicate using ‘TS’ in the comments section.
All interested pupils will be spoken to by science staff before final decisions are made.
Rolls Royce Young Apprenticeship – Indicate using ‘RR’ in the comments section. Candidates will be formally prepared and interviewed by Rolls Royce

14. What did last year’s students tell us?
They found the following very helpful: 14

15. What did last year’s students tell us?
Speak to your subject teachers about courses offered.
Think carefully about what you want to do as a career.
Think about college and the courses you might want to study.
Choose courses that you enjoy and will work hard at. 15

16. What did last year’s students tell us?
Make sure you choose your OWN options - choosing an option just because your friends are taking them doesn't help at all. It’s not guaranteed that you’ll be in the same class as your friends anyway.
Choose subjects that you think you will succeed in and not just the subjects that you think you like the most. 16

17. Young Apprenticeships
Not included in the total number of option choices – if you are interested, please indicate this in the comments section in addition to your 3 other choices.
Young Apprentices will be expected to continue with all other option choices during their KS4 studies. This may mean catching up on missed work during arranged study support opportunities.
For further information regarding the Rolls Royce engineering apprenticeship please see Mr. Willan.

18. Appointments can be made with Miss Jones or Mr Smith to discuss options prior to final deadline:
Friday 16th February 2018
Times or dates for discussion can be arranged via telephone or at: