This document provides information for an expectations evening for Year 11 students and their parents at a school. It includes: - A summary of the school's strong performance on recent GCSE exams and in the top 5% of schools nationally. - An overview of the new GCSE grading system and some of the school's highlights from last year's results, including many students achieving the highest grades. - The agenda for the evening, which will cover preparing for exams, understanding the new demands, and supporting students. - Details of the increased demands of the new GCSE exams compared to the old system. - Ways students can rise to the new challenges, including developing a strong work ethic

1. Year 11 Motto:
Excellence is not an act, it is an attitude
– you are what you repeatedly do
Welcome
Expectations Evening

2. Programme for the evening:
Mike Moss - to talk about school performance and new grading system.
Lucy Owen - Roadmap to GCSEs, understanding the demands of new GCSE and
supporting the student
Sarah Pope, Laura Cooke & Carolyn Kelleway - Core Subjects - How to prepare for
exam and what to expect.
Rob Klippel - Mocks & Post 16 Pathways

3. The new grading system
and
our school performance last year
Mike Moss

5. A* v Grade 9

6. At GCSE we are the 6th best school in Hertfordshire with a
progress 8 score of +0.68. Based on last year’s results this
would again place us in the top 5% of schools nationally.

7. Headlines – New Grades 9-1
• English
• 32% grade 7 (previous A grade) and above
• 9 students achieving grade 9 (national average is 3.2 – SBAS is
5.8%)
• Maths
• 30% grade 7 (previous A grade) and above
• 8 students achieving grade 9 (national average is 3% – SBAS is
5%)
• Over a third of students achieved the Ebacc.

8. Roadmap to GCSEs
Understanding the demands of new
GCSE
Supporting the students
Lucy Owen

9. Pathway to the GCSE
21st November - 6th Form Open Evening
4th-21st December - Mocks
8th January - Mock Results Day
18th January - Year 11 Parents’ Evening
30th March - Easter holidays
15th May - Exams begin
March - 2nd round of Mocks for Core (TBC)
5 weeks until Mocks
21 weeks until Exams

10. Every moment counts
Apply yourself in class in each lesson
Come fully equipped
Complete homework to the best of your ability
Develop an outstanding attitude to learning
Power of first
point of
delivery.
Anything else
is to
supplement
this.

11. What is does an outstanding attitude to
learning look like?
➢ You are highly motivated with high aspirations
➢ You seek challenge and frequently exceed expectations
➢ Homework is always completed and to the best of your ability
➢ You take responsibility for your own learning
➢ You show independence and extend your learning outside of
lessons
➢ You listen actively and work well with others

12. Mindset matters
Just 17 days
absence from
school a year
could result in a
drop in a GCSE
grade in all
subjects.

13. Attendance and Attainment
95% = 50 lessons
missed
90% = 100 lessons
missed
85% = 150 lessons
missed
5% = 2 weeks
absence

14. Realities of the new exams
Old GCSEs
13 exams
18¾ hours in total
Exams represent around 49% of
total GCSE assessment
New GCSEs
22 exams
33 hours in total
Exams represent around 86.5% of
total GCSE assessment
An example of the change in demands for a
student

15. Rising to the new demands
Active learning
rather than passive
learning
Starting early

16. Rising to the new demands

17. Rising to the new demands

18. Rising to the new demands

19. In school support - academic
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY
LUNCH GENERAL KS4
SUPPORT, in IT1
HISTORY revision in H1
MATHS HOMEWORK in
M4
GENERAL KS4
SUPPORT, in IT1
GEO, HIST, PRE,
BUSINESS STUDIES in
G2
P.D in DT4
GENERAL KS4
SUPPORT, in IT1
KS4 H/WORK, in E3
MFL French in L2 and L5
MFL Spanish support
sessions
L4 and L5
AFTER-
SCHOOL
SCIENCE in S5
3:25 -4:30
P.D in DT4, 15:25-16:30
CATERING, 3.30-4.30
PRODUCT DESIGN in
DT4 3:25 - 4:30
ART, in Art 1 & 3
3:25 - 4:25pm
ENGLISH REVISION in
E3 & E6, 3:30 -4:30
P.D in DT4 3:25 - 4:30
MATHS, in M4
3:25 - 4:30
Plus 6th Form mentoring - hugely successful:
➔ 100% positive parental feedback
➔ On average 1 grade improvement as a result of tutoring
➔ 65% hit target grades

20. ➢ Learning for Life content during Lesson 5
➢ Wellbeing and Exam Stress Management Programme
➢ Extra-curricular Programme
➢ Mentoring
➢ Links with home
In school support - pastoral

21. Supporting at home
➢ 5 Ways to Wellbeing
➢ Sleep and nutrition
➢ Support with planning and managing time - including R&R
➢ Help them to manage the highs and lows
➢ Spend time together where exams/revision is not mentioned

22. Booklet

23. GCSE Maths
Sarah Pope

24. Structure
• There are 3 papers each lasting 90 minutes.
• One non-calculator paper and two papers where calculators are
allowed.
• Students can be entered at either Foundation Tier or Higher Tier

25. Tier of Entry
• It is important to remember that the new Foundation Tier exam
covers grades from 1 to 5. Therefore for a lot of students,
Foundation Tier is the right exam for them to take.
• The Higher Tier exam covers grades from 4 to 9. Therefore if
students entered for Higher Tier do not achieve a grade 4 they will be
ungraded.
• This means that students who would traditionally have been on the
D/C border and would have taken Higher Tier are now better off
taking Foundation Tier.

26. Lessons Learnt from Last Year
• The exam is significantly more difficult than previous
specifications
• Most students make a lot of progress during the course of
Year 11 (it takes time to adjust to the new papers)
• Tier of Entry is critical
• We need to do a lot of practice on setting out work clearly
• Exam practice is more vital than ever
• We now have an idea of grade boundaries but are expecting
them to change

27. Revision for Maths
• Students are currently being given a set of questions to revise a
specific topic area, every week for homework. They should make
sure they do these questions and use Mathswatch/Corbett Maths or
a revision guide to look up any questions on which they need help.
• Continuous revision and following up on topics covered in class will
be far more beneficial than last minute cramming.
• Following the mock in December we will make use of papers
provided by the exam board for homework
• Exam papers from previous specifications are useful but may not
cover all the topics for the current GCSE

28. Support in Maths
• Thursday after school – general revision and help with homework
• Tuesday lunchtime – homework support

29. Sean works for a company.
His normal rate of pay is £12 per hour.
When Sean works more than 8 hours a day, he is paid overtime for each hour he
works more than 8 hours.
Sean’s rate of overtime pay per hour is
times his normal rate of pay per hour.
On Monday Sean worked for 10 hours.
Work out the total amount of money Sean earned on Monday.
This was question 9 (of 27) from one of the Foundation Tier
papers this summer. This would be considered to be a grade 2
question. In previous years this would be around question 15.

30. The area of square
ABCD is 10 cm2.
Show that x2 + 6x = 1
This was question 24 on the
Foundation paper and question 4 on
the Higher Tier paper. This would be
considered to be a grade 4 question. In
previous years this would not have
appeared on the Foundation Tier
paper.

31. White shapes and black shapes are used in a game.
Some of the shapes are circles.
All the other shapes are squares.
The ratio of the number of white shapes to the number of black shapes is 3:7
The ratio of the number of white circles to the number of white squares is 4:5
The ratio of the number of black circles to the number of black squares is 2:5
Work out what fraction of all the shapes are circles.
This was question 14 (Higher Tier) and would therefore be
considered to be a grade 7 question.

32. The diagram shows a hexagon ABCDEF.
ABEF and CBED are congruent parallelograms where AB = BC = x cm.
P is the point on AF and Q is the point on CD such that BP = BQ = 10 cm.
Given that angle ABC = 30°,
prove that cos PBQ = 1 – x2
This was the last question and would previously
only appeared at A Level.

33. GCSE English
Laura Cooke

34. English Language 8700
Paper 1
• Unseen Literature passage with
questions to test:
– reading comprehension
– analysis of language
– Analysis of structure
– evaluation
• Choice of:
Writing to describe from a picture
stimulus
or Writing a story
Paper 2
• Two unseen non-fiction texts with
questions to test:
– comprehension,
– comparative summary
– Language analysis
– Comparison of attitudes
• Writing to express a point of view
The three passages will include texts from 19th, 20th and 21st centuries

35. Paper 1
Reading
& Writing

36. Paper 2
Reading
& Writing

37. English Literature 8702
Paper 1
Two extract based questions:
• Macbeth
• The Strange Case of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde
• Textual analysis; links to
context and elsewhere in the
play/novella
Paper 2
• Choice of two essay-type
questions on An Inspector Calls
• Comparison between a named
poem and one other of your
choice from the AQA ‘Love and
Relationships’ anthology (15
poems)
• Two unseen poems to
analyse/compare
No books will be taken into the exam so good knowledge of texts,
including quotes is essential

38. Paper 1

39. Paper 2

40. How to secure your best grade
English Language
✓ Read a wide range of texts
including media and non-fiction
✓ Question language choices and
the way writing is organised.
✓ Make sure your writing skills are
good and that you habitually use
standard English correctly
(spelling, punctuation & grammar
English Literature
✓ Know your texts as well as you
possibly can: watching film versions
may be more confusing than
helpful
✓ Learn quotes early on and practice
using them
✓ Make sure you have a confident
understanding of context : events,
beliefs and values of the writer and
first readers or audience
Learning and applying key terminology for English will help with progress in both
subjects

41. man is not
truly one, but
truly twothe hate
that now
divided
them was
equal on
each side”
To be thus is
nothing;
But to be
safely thus
Such
unscientific
balderdash
Nor heaven
peep
through the
blanket of
the dark
A drum, a drum
Macbeth doth come
The door,
...was blistered
and distained

42. the man seems hardly human”
haggard shaft of daylightthe spirit of hell
awoke in me and
raged
I sought with tears
and prayers to
smother down the
crowd of hideous
images
A little water
clears us of
this deed:
I have almost forgot the taste of fears;
Unsex
me here;
that is a step
On which I must fall down,
or else o'erleap,
For in my way it lies.
Bring forth men-
children only; For
thy undaunted
mettle should
compose Nothing
but males

43. Deep-seated terror of the mind”
Poole and I
are going to
force our way
into the
cabinet
life would be relieved
of all that was
unbearable
Time and the
hour run through
the roughest day
ape-like fury
Stars hide your fires Art thou but A dagger of
the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-
oppressed brain?
So foul and fair a day I have not seen

44. look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under't

45. GCSE Science
Carolyn Kelleway

46. The New GCSE science
courses.
9-1

47. Exam Structure
In summary
• Triples have 10 ½ hrs exams
• Doubles have 7 ½ hrs exams
TRIPLE DOUBLE
Biology - paper 1 1 ¾ hrs B1-4 1 ¼ hrs B1-4
- paper 2 1 ¾ hrs B 5-7 1 ¼ hrs B 5-7
Chemistry – paper 1 1 ¾ hrs C1-5 1 ¼ hrs C1-5
- paper 2 1 ¾ hrs C 6-10 1 ¼ hrs C 6-10
Physics - paper 1 1 ¾ hrs P 1-4 1 ¼ hrs P 1-4
- paper 2 1 ¾ hrs P 5-8 1 ¼ hrs P 5-8

48. Tiers of entry
•There are 2 tiers of entry
•Foundation Level 1-5
•Higher Level 4-9
•So it is important we get the correct tier of
entry
•The mocks will help us to decide this

49. Grading

50. How will it be assessed?
Knowledge
Application
Analysis

51. Revision
•Must take into account skills and not just content
(40%)
•Skills are
•Maths, practical skills from required practicals,
analyse information and ideas, interpret and
evaluate; make judgements and draw
conclusions; develop and improve experimental
procedures.

54. Maths in Physics
• There are 23 physics equations to learn
• There are 9 physics equations given
• Important to learn the equations (in some
lower demand questions equations may be
given but we don’t know which ones)

55. Required practical- 15%
• Questions will be based around practical
techniques from required practicals
• All clearly labelled, marked and highlighted in
their exercise books
• Don’t forget to revise these fully as they will
be examined

56. RevisionGuides
Available from science preproom
Biology/Chemistry/Physics – £3 each
Combined Trilogy - £3.50 for just one and covers all 3 topics

57. How to revise for 60% of the paper
•= science SKILLS
•Practise exam questions over and over
•Use the mark schemes as tools not as tests
•Know what the Command words are asking
for such as “describe”, “explain”, “evaluate”

58. Specification

59. Where can you find them?

60. Support
•Monday after school

61. Mock information and Post-
16 pathways
Rob Klippel

62. ▶ Plan is to have 3 sessions per day – students will need to
identify where they have exams
▶ Only expected to be in when they have exams BUT they
can use the allocated rooms for revision if they wish
▶ Part of the process is to practice how to use their time
between exams – stay at school, take a break,
refreshments, go home.
Mock exams Dec 2017

63. ▶ We will allocate some slots for revisiting coursework –
these will be compulsory
▶ There will be some revision slots at the end of these exams
for those taking public exams in January
▶ Exams are a stressful time.
▶ Prepare well – plan out YOUR timetable
▶ Get a good night’s sleep – eat breakfast
▶ Bring everything you need!
Other things to consider

64. ▶ Our evening is on Tuesday 21st Nov
▶ An opportunity to discuss possible options with staff and
sixth form students
▶ Very popular…. but you are our priority
▶ New subjects should be investigated
▶ Need to review the criteria needed to take specific subjects
▶ Interviews with the sixth form team after your mock
results and parents evening in January
Sixth form /college / apprenticeships

65. Post-16 requirements

66. In the ASCL survey, 185 schools and colleges indicated they have a GSCE entry
requirement in English and Maths for access to post-16 provision. These requirements
were generally as follows:

67. Year 11 Motto:
Excellence is not an act, it is an attitude
– you are what you repeatedly do
Thank you
Expectations Evening