Year 9 Options Letter and Booklet - Hanham Woods Academy

Dear Parents / Carers,

As you will know, Year 9 students will be selecting their GCSE options over the course of this academic year. This is a really important decision with the implications affecting further education and potential career opportunities. Our aim at Hanham Woods Academy is to support you and your child through this process so that you can make informed decisions about what your child will study in Year 10.

It is important that your child chooses subjects and methods of study that interest and motivates them. They need to spend time thinking about what they enjoy doing, what keeps them interested in something and what makes them work hard.

Good reasons for choosing a subject/course:

You are good at the subject
You think you will enjoy the course
It fits your career ideas and plans
It goes well with your other choices
It helps to give you plenty of choice at Post–16
You think you might want to continue studying it at Post-16
Your research shows that it will interest you and motivate you to learn

Bad reasons for choosing a subject/course:

Your friends have chosen it
You think it will be easy
You think it’s a good option for a boy or girl
Someone else thinks it is a good idea
You like the teacher you have now
You did not have time to research your options properly

The purpose of this letter is to inform you of the information and support available throughout the options process. Work has already begun in helping to inform students of what courses are on offer and what careers these courses would support. Clicking on the following link will open the Y9 options booklet 2020_2021

Below is a summary of what’s happening this term:

TERM 2

Options assemblies every week (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday) during tutor time. The purpose of these assemblies is to enable teachers to clarify what students can expect from each course on offer.
Options booklet printed and given out to every student (this will also be available on the Academy website) – please ask to see this at home and spend time with your child researching the courses we have on offer.
Lesson time dedicated for students to sign up to and use the careers website: https://www.liketobe.org/ – this will help students explore future careers.
1-to-1 careers appointment with the Academy Careers Advisor, Mrs Burt (this will spill over into term 3).

I will contact you again in the New Year to provide further information about how your child will select their options and also to update you on any events we are able to offer to support the options process, in a Covid safe way.

I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce to you Mrs Burt who is our new Careers Advisor, who will also be working closely with the Year Group over the coming months to help them through the options process.

If you have any queries regarding the options process please do not hesitate to contact me: [email protected]

Yours sincerely

Mr S O’Callaghan | Vice Principal