GCSE exams start next week
Dear parents/carers, thankyou for your recent support at parents evening. As you will no doubt be aware; GCSE exams start imminently with assessments running in some areas from next week. During the exam season I will be providing frequent updates and signposting opportunities for our young people, please support us and your child by reading updates as they arrive and ensuring that you child arrives on time each day ready to learn. All of the staff here at the Academy are committed to supporting our year 11 to have the best possible exams experience; part of that is our ongoing expectation that lessons are purposeful and free of disruption and that students show respect and kindness towards each other during this inescapably stressful time.
We have done a lot of work with students to help them to normalise feels of stress and worry which are proportionate and to be expected. Attending every day and being pro-active with revision and self organisation are two ways in which students can feel in control of their exams.
Subject Updates
MFL Speaking Exams are running on 24th And 25th April, your child will be given their exam time by their language’s teacher. For any queries please contact [email protected]
Art, Photography and Textiles exams start from the 24th April. For any queries please contact [email protected] for Art/Photography and [email protected] for Textiles.
- 11C1 Textiles 29th April and 3rd May
- 11B1 Photography – 24th and 25th April
- 11A1 Photography – 1st and 2nd May
- 11C1 Art – 29th and 30th April
The MFL, Art, Photography and Textiles exams are all formal examinations, students will not be able to catch up time missed due to illness. If your child is unwell on the day of the exam send an email to [email protected] as well as contacting the Academy absence line and a member of the team will be in contact to advise you on next steps.
Geography students are currently working on pre-released exam materials in lessons, it is vital that Geographers are in every single lesson between now and their exam to avoid missing content that will be delivered once only.
Revision
All subjects are providing students with paper revision materials to ensure that study is easy to access. Students need to be completing revision daily to strengthen their knowledge recall, the best approach is short bursts of self quizzing or setting aside more time to tackle a past paper under timed exam conditions. We recognise that students wont always be able to devote the same length of time every day to revising so encourage them to grab every available opportunity for a quick burst of learning because it all adds up!
To help we have produced a revision checklist which students can use as an overall guide to make sure that they are covering the right topics, using the right resources and links. Paper copies have been given to students, replacement copies can be provided by the year team if needed.
Exams
Students are being issued with personalised timetables today with dates, rooms and seat allocations. These need to be kept safety and students need to know which room and seat they are in for every exam for a smooth start to exams on the day
During the PPEs it was noticed that some students were not beginning calculators or exam equipment with them. Calculators can be purchased online via the parent pay system for £10 and exam pencil cases containing all required equipment for £1. We endeavour to loan equipment if it is forgotten however if demand is greater than our equipment reserves we would be unable to loan to students – please support us and your child by checking that they have their equipment with them on exam days.
Written GCSE exams start on Tuesday 7th May, the last exam is on Wednesday the 19th June. Wednesday 26th June is a national GCSE exam contingency day. You are advised to ensure that your child is available on this date. During the exam period all students are expected to attend every day until Friday 14th June when the last core subject examination takes place. This allows students to attend a bespoke timetable of revision sessions designed to give them the best chance of success in every exam. Any requests for authorised study leave during this time will be declined and absence for study leave recorded as unauthorised
Please get in touch with any questions or queries
Pastoral queries: [email protected]
Academic queries: [email protected]
