1. Belfast Boys’ Model School Welcome

2. Aim: To provide guidance on how best to help your son at home To provide advice regarding Controlled Assessment and GCSE preparation To outline BBMS Pupil Tracking system & Common Assessments To outline plans for Work Experience To provide guidance on study skills and revision

3. Helping your child at home… You have a key role to play in supporting your son’s learning and your help at home will have a real impact on his success at school and beyond.

4. What can you do to help? Encourage your son to see the value of working hard at school and at home. Create a space at home where he can work in quiet, without distraction. Help him to organise his time and resources to ensure he meets deadlines. Encourage him to do his very best, give praise when it’s due. He will face lots of demands — modular exams, controlled assessments, common assessments. Help him to plan his work at home to ensure does not become overwhelmed. Be interested in school life. Ask about the school day, his teachers and friends. Talk with your son about how he is getting on. Encourage him to make the most of school by getting involved in extra curricular activities. Consult him and his pupil planner (homework diary). Encourage him to use it to record all work to be done at home. You can use it to monitor what he should be doing. Communicate with the school. If your son is experiencing problems, let us know. Early identification of problems is important. Good communication between home and school is valued at BBMS and helps the boys to do well. Be sure to attend parent-teacher consultations.

5. Different types of homework at KS4 Research (Hub available in the morning everyday – access to ICT). Written tasks. Answering past paper questions. Reading – yes! Learning new vocabulary/spellings. Artwork or design portfolios. Revision. The Homework Club (HUB) is available before school.

6. What can you do to help? If your son does not understand... Give him direction – perhaps look through his books/consult the internet. Encourage him to speak with the teacher, well in advance of deadlines.

7. High Standards… Good attendance and punctuality are essential skills for success at school and in life… Encourage you son to have high standards in both.

8. Controlled Assessment and GCSE Examinations

9. Controlled Assessment What is it? Why is it important? How does it affect GCSEs? Key issues for your son

10. What is it? A replacement for coursework A piece of work which boys complete, in class, with their own teacher, under exam conditions, within a set period of time It makes up a proportion of your son’s final GCSE marks High quality Controlled Assessments will contribute to your son achieving success in his GCSEs

11. Why is it important?  A large number of subjects will have a proportion of their marks from Controlled Assessment  Up to 60% of the final mark  Successful Controlled Assessments can mean the difference between a pass and fail at GCSE  Working on these, in class, with their own teachers, boys can achieve high levels of success

12. Key issues for your son Attendance  Absence will mean he may miss important help provided by his teachers while preparing for the Assessment  He will fall behind  The quality of his work will suffer Arrangements can be made for boys to catch up, but at this stage in his school career, attendance is absolutely vital for your son

13. Common Assessments & Pupil Tracking

14. Baseline testing in Year 11 Common Assessments  4 in Year 11  4 in Year 12  Details provided this evening Pupil Tracking  Teachers enter results  Progress is tracked across all subject areas to allow early identification  Results provided on reports

15. The Awards explained… Level 2 GCSE grades A*- C Level 1 GCSE grades D-G

16. English - The importance of reading… Success in English requires sophisticated development of language. Pupils will find it much easier to manipulate language effectively if they  Read  Read Regularly  Read Quality This will be invaluable in helping them to succeed.

17. Maths One written homework per week Departmental guidelines on completing homework Making an effort to attempt questions is as important as getting the correct answer Last class each week is revision Know Times Tables!!

18. Careers Education, Advice and Guidance…

19. Family Learning Programme 26 th September 2012 3.30pm-4.30pm in Assembly Hall Open to all Refreshments & Childminding facilities First Session –  ‘Motivation for Education’ – Ted Jensen  Other topics this term include Reading Partnership and Study Skills Workshop

20. Work Experience 12A  Fact Finding – Thurs 4 th Oct  Work Experience -Tues 16 th –Thurs 18 th Oct 12B  Fact Finding – Tues 6 th Nov  Work Experience -Tues 13 th –Thurs 15 th Nov 12C  BMC Construction Course  Work Experience – January/February 2013

21. Thank you for attending, if we can be of any further assistance please don’t hesitate to get in touch…