Physics Department

BEECHEN CLIFF

Year 10 GCSE Information Evening

Tuesday 9th October 7pm

• 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 Miss S O’Higgins– Head of English Mr E Gill – Head of Maths Mr A Seal –Head of Science

Outline For This Evening

• Reformed GCSEs in all GCSE subjects (9-1)

• Greater emphasis on terminal examinations, much less coursework

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

GCSE Assessments

Strong GCSE pass

Around the top 3% nationally

Old

Standard GCSE pass

• Year 10 Summer Exams – June

• Trial (Mock) Exams - Nov Year 11

• Some coursework throughout Year 10/11

(only in some subjects e.g Technology/ Creative iMedia)

• 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 • Assessment information for each subject http://www.beechencliff.org.uk/school-life/academic/exams-assessment/gcse/

• Important exam rules https://www.beechencliff.org.uk/school-life/academic/exam-board-info/

Reporting To Parents

• Progress Report – January

• Parents Evening – January • 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) , Grade 8 (A*/A) • Target Grade - aspirational GCSE target - moveable

• 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

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.

KS4 Program of Study

Year 10 • Personal Preferences to

working Conditions. • Interview Skills • Aspiration in Practice • Competition for Jobs • NEET • Employability • Post-16 Options • National Citizen Service • Barclays Life Skills • Work Experience

Year 11 • Writing a CV • Job Hunting • Choosing A-Levels • Apprenticeships • Entrepreneurship • Choosing A-Levels • Introduction to Future

Horizons • Keynote Careers Speakers

Apprenticeships

• www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship is the national apprenticeship vacancy website.

• It has vacancies from all over the UK – although you can focus your search on your nearest town and surrounding areas.

• You can register your details and set up alerts so you will be emailed when vacancies become available – but remember: not all vacancies are listed here.

Top tip:

Searching for all types of vacancy in a particular geographical area ensures you don’t miss any – under 'keywords' click 'all'.

Physics Department

English

English GCSE

AQA

English Language and English Literature

TWO GCSE qualifications

Syllabus information www.AQA.org.uk

08700 English Language

08702 English Literature

English GCSE

English Language Assessment

Three examinations in 2020

● Paper 1 Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing (Fiction)

● Paper 2 Writer’s Viewpoints and Perspectives (Non-fiction)

● Speaking and Listening is separately endorsed – completed between 2019-2020

English GCSE

English Literature Assessment Two examinations in 2020- Closed Text* Paper 1- Shakespeare and 19th Century Fiction 1 hr 45 min ● Both extract based essay questions with a need to refer to the

text as a whole Paper 2- Modern texts and Poetry 2 hr 15 ● One non-extract based essay question ● One poem will be printed with students needing to compare it

to another from their anthology (No anthology provided in the exam)

● One unseen poetry question requiring analysis and interpretation

● One comparative question requiring students to compare methods used in two unseen poems

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 either An Inspector Calls by Arthur Miller, Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman or Lord of the Flies by William Golding

English GCSE

Please buy a copy of

either Macbeth or Merchant of Venice,

Towards the end of Year 10 we will study

poems from the AQA Anthology - we will provide students with this

In year 11, students will study their 19th century text.

Students will be informed of which this will be prior to Summer break.

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 one further set text 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

Memorising quotations

Paraphrasing or summarising

Arguing for or against a topic

Discussing and reorganising ideas

Watching a film of a play or novel

Seneca Learning – app

Youtube- Mr Bruff

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!

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 1-3a/3b will sit Higher, sets 4a/4b (Miss Pratt and Mr Appleton) will sit Foundation. However, this is NOT set in stone and we will monitor progress of boys in sets 3a/3b and 4a/4b.

Maths GCSE

Physics Department

Setting structure

Set 1 Sets 2a and 2b (parallel) Sets 3a and 3b (parallel) Sets 4a and 4b (parallel)

Maths GCSE

Physics Department

How is the “new” GCSE different?

Apart from the change to the grading system and 3 papers (from 2 under the old system) there is now... (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.

Set 1: 8/9 Sets 2a and 2b: 7/8/9 Sets 3a and 3b: 4/5/6/7 or higher Sets 4a and 4b: 4/5 Now that we have had two years of exams we do have a fair idea of where grade boundaries are likely to fall and we will use this for grading of internal tests.

Maths GCSE

Physics Department

Weekly expectations

All boys have 7 lessons a fortnight and at least one homework a week. Homework will usually be an online homework (MyMaths) or a 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 18 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. The entire GCSE syllabus is on our webpage with links to relevant Corbett Maths videos.

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%) In Physics, the majority of equations need to be learned. 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 2: Combined Science - Trilogy (8464) (Classes 10C1, 10C2, 10C3, 10C4, 10C5)

• AQA Combined Science – Trilogy • Pupils still study Biology, Chemistry and Physics • 2 x 1hr 15minute exams per subject 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 GCSE grades for “Combined Science”. • E.g. 8,8 or 7,7 or 7,6 (maximum one grade difference). • Good preparation for A-Level Science.

Science GCSE

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

• AQA Biology (8461), Chemistry (8462) and Physics (8463) • 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

Science GCSE

Routes through Science Current route for pupils is not set in stone. A final decision regarding which classes follow which route will be made at the end of year 10.

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