MONDAY 16 JANUARY 2023 TO FRIDAY 27 JANUARY 2023
ORGANISATION AND SUPPORT
Dear Parent/Carer,
We are sure that you will be aware that our Year 11 mocks are taking place after the Christmas break. In order to support and prepare our Year 11 students for the January mock examinations, and ultimately the final GCSE examinations next summer, we are undertaking the following:
- An assembly for all Year 11 students explaining the purpose, support and expectations for all of our Year 11 students leading up to, and during, the mock examinations. We have undertaken one of these assemblies already.
- All Year 11 teachers will be planning a programme of teaching, advice, and support in the lead up to the examinations. Your child will be given revision materials by their class teachers to support with final mock revision in addition to the revision guides that your child was given in Year 10.
- We will post out specific revision details with a copy of your child’s personal mock examination timetable in good time before the end of term.
- A ‘Learning to Learn’ revision programme has taken place in Personal Development lessons at the start of the year.
- Maths lessons during registration have taken place since September and will continue throughout the year.
- An 8-week programme of compulsory Period 7 sessions to start Monday 7 November and to continue for the first week back after the Christmas break before the beginning of the mock examinations.
The 8-week programme of compulsory Period 7 revision sessions prior to the mock examinations will be a mixture of subject specific revision, led by a subject teacher, some self- supported independent revision and study where your child is expected to bring in his or her own study materials and some ‘subject specific revision events’ for a larger group of students. Students are expected to attend all Period 7s allocated and on these days, school for Year 11 students will not finish until 3:30pm. The Period 7 sessions take place in a range of classrooms across the school depending upon the type of Period 7. There will be three P7 sessions per week taking place on a Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. All students will receive a personalised timetable for Period 7, which will include all of the specific detail for your child.
Our compulsory Period 7 sessions have proved very successful, particularly in terms of ethos, attitude to learning, and preparation for examinations. Attendance to all compulsory Period 7 sessions is not optional. Attendance will be monitored and full attendance to every session is expected. Students will obviously receive extra Praise Stamps for attendance to the Period 7 sessions and these will contribute to the PRAISE reward system. Three Planner comments are given for an unauthorised absence from a Period 7 session.
Your child’s subject teachers and Heads of Faculty/Department are in the process of finalising the nights available and which students to be selected. In most subjects it is targeted students. If your child is identified for more than one subject, we will look at current and predicted progress against the end of key stage target. There will be further compulsory Period 7 sessions for targeted students immediately after the Year 11 mocks and for all students after the February half-term break, and for all students after Easter in the lead up to the final GCSE examinations.
If there is an extenuating circumstance why your child is unable to attend a particular Period 7 session, then please contact Mrs Hooker (Head of Year 11) in advance of the session and the absence from Period 7 can be authorised on that occasion.
- We will also hold a full Year 11 examination briefing assembly in December prior to the mocks so that Year 11 students understand what is expected of them.
- A mock examination results’ day to take place in February.
- We will issue students with their results and grades at a mock examination results’ day/session in early February.
There will be a continued planned programme of support for our Year 11 students after the mock exams as we progress throughout the spring term and on to the final GCSE examinations in summer 2023. This will include further compulsory Period 7 sessions for targeted students immediately after the Year 11 mocks and for all students after the February half-term break, and for all students after Easter in the lead up to the final GCSE examinations. We will write to you again with further details of this.
Our Sixth Form team will be writing to you about our Sixth Form Open Evening, which this year is taking place on Tuesday 6 December 2022. This will be an ‘in-school face-to-face’ event and our Year 11 students will be able to find out about all of the courses and opportunities for them in our Sixth Form. Wherever possible we would expect all of our Year 11 parents/carers and Year 11 students to attend this event.
We will also be writing to you about our Year 11 parent/carer subject teacher evening, which will take place on Tuesday 13 December 2022. We are still in discussion as to whether this will be online, face-to-face in school or a hybrid of the two.
If you have any further queries about the forthcoming mock examinations and support for your child, please do not hesitate to contact Mr Mason (Head of KS4) or Mrs Hooker (Head of Year 11).
As we have said in previous correspondence with you, whilst we stress the importance of your child taking any mocks or assessments seriously, preparing for them as best as they can, and striving to achieve their best, we equally stress the importance of health and wellbeing. We are fully committed to supporting all of our students - particularly our students who are sitting public examinations this year - in ensuring that we support and prepare them as best we can for the challenge of GCSEs next summer.
Yours faithfully,
Mr C Mason Head of KS4 & Mrs H Hooker Head of Year 11