Physics Department

BEECHEN CLIFF

Year 10 GCSE Information Evening

Tuesday 4th October 7pm

• Good opportunity to pass on important information at the start of GCSE courses

• Parents requesting guidance on how to support

• Third year we have run this evening and hopefully it will provide useful information.

Reasons For This Evening

• Assessment and Examination Information Mr Tim Markall – Assistant Head • Careers Guidance Mr J Forrest – Head of Careers • Subject specific guidance on how to support your son

through GCSE Ms A H Baker – Head of English Mr E Gill – Head of Maths Mr A Seal – Head of Science

Outline For This Evening

• Reformed GCSEs in most subjects (9-1)

• Greater emphasis on terminal examinations

• ‘Old-style’ GCSEs in Italian and Technology (A*-G)

• A few Level 1/Level 2 courses – various grading

GCSE Assessments

Good GCSE pass

Around the top 3% nationally

• Year 10 Summer Exams – June

• Trial (Mock) Exams - Nov Year 11

• Some coursework throughout Year 10/11

• GCSE Exams at the end of Year 11

Assessments

Where To Find Information

Hand-out of Exam Board and revision information Lots more information on our website…. • Advice for parents • Advice for pupils • Key dates • Assessment information for each subject http://www.beechencliff.org.uk/school-life/academic/exams-assessment/gcse/

Reporting To Parents

• Progress Report – January

• Parents Evening – January (Trial of online bookings this year)

• Progress Report – March/April

• Full Report - July

Reporting To Parents

• Current working grade – Result of recent assessment or aggregate of assessment results so far

(Numerical and Letter grades e.g. Grade 6 (B) • Target Grade - Aspirational GCSE Target based on what

the pupil is capable of achieving with the relevant hard work

• Application – Effort & behaviour (1-5) • Homework Grade (1-4) • Teacher/Tutor/HoH Comments – Full report only

• On-going individual subject guidance

• Year 10 - Tutor based guidance before Summer Exams

• Year 11 – Revision skills afternoon before Trial Exams

• Year 11 – GCSE Revision Evening (for parents) before Trial Exams

• Year 11 – Revision skills seminars in February

• January Year 11 onwards - after-school revision sessions in all subjects (details in Wednesday Newsletter)

• Year 11 - Tutor based mentoring support and support for all in creating revision timetables

Revision Support In School

• Encouragement

• Keeping up/catching up on missed work

• Keeping on top of homework – use SMHW

• Providing access to relevant support materials

• Agreement over the balance between school work, social life, sporting activities etc.

• Key dates in your diary

• Helping with organisation

• Contact the school with any concerns/issues

Supporting At Home

If you are concerned…

• Specific subject concern – contact subject teacher or Head of Faculty

• General concern – contact tutor or Head of House

• Exam timetable queries – contact Exams Officer

Physics Department

Careers Guidance

& Support

Careers

2015

Job Families in decline and on the Rise

2015

Careers Information, Education and Guidance

Careers Department Objectives… 1. Provide students with opportunities to develop an understanding

of themselves as individuals (their strengths, skills, personal qualities, interests, attainments and capabilities).

2. Increase student awareness of the world of work and opportunities available to them after school (further/higher education, training and employment).

3. Promote the schools core values of Aspiration and Independence and stimulate students to develop skills and personal qualities necessary to gain admission to higher/further education courses and employment.

Principals of CEIAG

KS4 Program of Study

Year 10 • Personal Preferences to

working Conditions. • Interview Skills • Aspiration in Practice • Competition for Jobs • NEET • Employability • Careers Research • Employment – What's

important for you.

Year 11 • Writing a CV • Interview Skills • Entrepreneurship • Post 16 Options • Job Hunting • Choosing A-Levels • Introduction to Future

Horizons

Year 10 Work Experience

• 35-40 targeted students studying Creative/Vocational subjects.

• BET award Employability programme (minimum 25hours Work Experience, attendance at 3x1hour ‘Master Classes’, minimum of 10hours volunteering).

• Private Placements – require ‘Duty of Care Visit’ by EBP-SW Work Experience Liaison Officer.

Physics Department

English

English GCSE

Cambridge International Examinations (CIE)

English Language and English Literature

TWO GCSE qualifications

Syllabus information www.cie.org.uk

0627 First Language English

0477 English Literature

English GCSE

English Language Assessment

Three examinations in 2018

1 Reading Passages 50% 2 hrs 10 mins

2 Directed Writing and Composition 50% 2 hrs

3 Speaking and Listening is separately endorsed

English GCSE

English Literature Assessment

Three examinations in 2018 - Closed Text* ●Paper 1 two questions; Poetry and Prose.

1 hr 30 m (35%)

●Paper 2 two questions; Shakespeare and modern Drama. One passage-based question and one essay question. 1 hr 30 m (35%)

●Paper 3 one question. Compare either two poems or two prose texts, unseen. 1 hr 30 m 30%

●GPS up to 7 marks on Paper 3 (total 40 marks)

English GCSE

Closed Text*

•This means that pupils do not have their texts with them in the examination.

Pupils must know the texts well and learn quotations 'by heart'

•Assessment is straight-forward

•Boys will benefit from having their own copies of the texts

English GCSE

Please supply boys with their own copies of the texts…

English GCSE

Please buy a copy of A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller

English GCSE

Please buy a copy of

either The Secret River by Kate Granville

or Spies by Michael Frayn

Towards the end of Year 10 we will study

poems from the CIE Anthology - we will produce a booklet - and Shakespeare either Henry V or Macbeth

WE WILL LET YOU KNOW WHEN

TO BUY THESE TEXTS!

English GCSE

In Year 10 Boys will study at least two of the set texts and explore a range of other texts

In Year 11 Boys will study two further set texts and revise those studied in Year 10

They will practise the skills needed for the examinations

English GCSE

Homework and preparation tasks may include:

Reading and annotating or making notes

Drafting or rewriting essays

Learning quotations

Paraphrasing or summarising

Arguing for or against a topic

Discussing and reorganising ideas

Watching a film of a play or novel

Correcting and editing GPS

Listening to a discussion on a topic or text

English GCSE

Revision

We will set essays in class and for homework so that boys can practise organising their material and managing their time.

•Boys should do their tasks at the earliest, not the latest, opportunity. Do it on the night it is set!

•There are many revision books and websites for the set texts

•CIE produce workbooks for pupils to practise English skills

http://www.cie.org.uk/i-want-to/resource-centre/

English GCSE

Physics Department

Maths

Maths GCSE

Physics Department

Maths • Schedule • Exam structure • Weekly expectations • Revision • Equipment

Maths GCSE

Physics Department

Schedule

GCSE Maths is 100% terminal – no coursework, no controlled assessment, just THREE exams at the end of year 11, 33⅓% each, 1hr 30 each, one non-calc. Termly internal assessments, end of year 10 exam, TWO mock exams in November and February of year 11. Setting arrangements are constantly monitored.

Maths GCSE

Physics Department

Exam structure AQA 2015 GCSE 9-1 (8300)

Two tiers Higher: 9 - 4 Foundation: 5 - 1

Broadly speaking, sets 1-5 will sit Higher, sets 6 and 7 (Mr Henly/Markall and Mr Appleton) will sit Foundation. However, this is NOT set in stone and we will monitor progress of boys in sets 5, 6 and 7.

Maths GCSE

Physics Department

What’s different about the new GCSE?

Apart from the change to the grading system and 3 papers (from 2) there will be... (i) More content for BOTH tiers (ii) A greater emphasis on problem solving – pupils

will be expected to answer problems that are a little bit different from what they’ve seen before

(iii)Greater emphasis on learning formulas (far fewer will be given in the exam)

Maths GCSE

Physics Department

What your son should be aiming for

We will set aspirational targets for your son which we think are challenging but achievable. Sets 1: 8/9 Sets 2,3,4: 6/7/8 Set 5 : 5/6 Sets 6 and 7: 3/4/5

Maths GCSE

Physics Department

Weekly expectations

All boys have 4 lessons a week and two homeworks. Homework will usually be one online homework (MyMaths) and one written homework. The written homework should take the best part of 30 minutes and boys should focus on neatness and care! MyMaths can take less time, but boys should not be happy with scoring any less than their best (e.g. minimum 75%) on it. There are tutorials attached to each homework, boys can attempt the homework as many times as they like and they can ALWAYS ask for help if they are unsure.

Maths GCSE

Physics Department

Kerboodle and the online textbooks

All boys have been given a username to access two online books via the Kerboodle webpage. Online Textbook – notes, exercises and answers on the complete course. Homework book – questions that may well be set as homework. In addition boys have access to “invisipen” tutorials – video and audio to help explain many areas of the course.

Maths GCSE

Physics Department

Revision

Towards the end of year 11 focus will switch to exam preparation. We will provide boys with up to 12 practice papers and electronic mark schemes (although more papers will almost certainly be available online). We will run weekly drop in sessions over the final months and although year 11 have study leave once their exams start we will continue to run lessons up until the exams (usually quite late in the exam season). For internal tests, we will put revision material online, and boys should use class notes, homework and MyMaths to help them prepare. I will include links to online videos to Corbett Maths

Maths GCSE

Physics Department

Revision Guides

Boys may well want to purchase revision guides and workbooks. We will be putting an advert in the weekly letter very shortly. We will repeat this at regular intervals, especially in the lead up to summer and mock exams. There are several different ones that can be bought. Just make sure that they are for the NEW AQA 9-1 course.

Maths GCSE

Physics Department

Equipment We are now at a stage where this should be non-negotiable. The following equipment is CRUCIAL in lessons: Pen and pencil Ruler, compasses, protractor Scientific Calculator These are all available to buy in school (except calculators) – although they won’t always be needed every lesson boys DO need to practise using them properly and they need to be brought to all lessons.

Maths GCSE

Physics Department

Science

Science GCSE

GCSE reform: The GCSE reform means more difficult content is introduced and all content is assessed at the end of year 11. Practical skills are assessed through the final examinations. (No controlled assessments or coursework) Greater emphasis is placed on maths skills (Biology: 10%) (Chemistry 20%) (Physics: 30%) Exciting opportunity which we think the boys should relish, but they need to be well prepared and hard working.

Science GCSE

Routes through Science Route 1: Separate Sciences (classes: 10S1, 10S2, 10S3)

• AQA Biology, Chemistry and Physics • 2 x 1hr 45minute exams per subject at the end of year 11. • This will results in a separate grade for each. • E.g. Biology, 8, Chemistry: 7, Physics: 9 • Not required for A-level sciences. • Not necessarily suited to all pupils.

Science GCSE

Routes through Science Route 2: Combined Science (Classes 10C1, 10C2, 10C3, 10C4)

• AQA Combined Science – Trilogy • Pupils still study Biology, Chemistry and Physics • 6 x 1hr 15minute exams (2 Bio, 2 Chem, 2 Phys) at the end of year 11 • Less content to learn and shorter exams. • More time available in year 11 to revise. • Pupils will get two grades for “Combined Science – Trilogy” • E.g. 8,8 or 8,7. • A good grade will enable entry to A-level sciences.

Science GCSE

Routes through Science The final decision regarding which classes follow which route will be made at the end of year 10. It will be based upon: • Performance in the year 10 summer exams • Performance in previous exams (lower weighting) • Effort in class and in homework • Interest shown

Science GCSE

Resources: Kerboodle Online digital textbooks • Each pupil has their own login. • Textbook available at home.

• Should be referred to before

assessments and whilst completing homework.

• Parents can see what is being covered.

Science GCSE

Website, and homework:

Science GCSE

Website and homework:

Science GCSE

Assessments:

Refer to the teaching schedule (on the science website) to see what has been taught. Look at the topic checklists (in pupils books) to see what is required. Year 10 assessments will take place in: • November • March • Summer exams week. Preparation should be rigorous and will require about 10 hours for each of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Read textbook/revision guide Complete all online homework tasks and questions in textbook Make glossaries and learn key terms. Practise using common maths skills.

Science GCSE

And Finally…..

• This presentation will be on the school website soon.

• Hand out – will be online too

• Any questions – see us at the end