HAGLEY CATHOLIC

HIGH SCHOOL

Year 9 Options Evening 2017

Thursday 2nd March 2017

St Nicholas Owen: make this school as safe refuge

Inspire in us a love of God and a love of our neighbour

Guide us in our work and play that we may always be faithful to Christ, our Lord.

Amen

SCHOOL PRAYER

The Purpose of this Evening:

To work in partnership with our students and their families to provide quality information and guidance that will enable our parents to support their children in choosing the most appropriate programme of study during their Key Stage 4, taking account of changes in the national key performance indicators .

How Will We Do This:

• Options Booklet – issued to Year 9 pupils during Tutorial time 28th February to enable familiarisation prior to this evening.

• A formal presentation aimed to last about 30 minutes.

• Subject presentations and the opportunity for discussions with subject staff.

• An interview for every student with a senior member of staff once the Option Form has been submitted.

How To Prepare For Key Stage 4:

• No National Curriculum (SATs) Tests BUT school tests in English, Maths and Science. These start week beginning Tuesday 2 May 2017.

• Reported before the end of the year together with Teacher Assessments in other subjects.

• These tests are VERY important – pupils need to prepare for them very carefully.

Broader Context – Educational Change

• Reform to GCSE’s, A levels and vocational subjects.

• All qualifications to include greater challenge and content.

• A movement away from modular assessment to terminal and linear assessment.

• At GCSE the expansion of the core curriculum with an emphasis on the Ebacc.

• GCSE’s now to be graded 1-9, with 9 the highest grade.

• New key performance indicators.

The new Performance Indicators:

You will be aware that there are significant changes to Key Stage 4 curriculum for next year. This reflects the changes to the performance measures for schools and students.

We have all been comfortable with the performance threshold of achieving 5 or more A*-C grades including English Language and Maths. But this is not used anymore and is completely redundant.

We now need to be focussing on The English Baccalaureate together with the Attainment 8 and Progress 8 measures.

What is the English Baccalaureate?• The English Baccalaureate (Ebacc) is not a qualification.

• An indicator for the DfE and parents to measure and compare how many pupils in a school are getting grade 4 or above in the identified academically-focused GCSEs.

• These subjects also happen to be the ones most regularly asked for by college and university courses – worth bearing in mind when deciding which GCSEs to take.

• You don’t need to have studied all of these to go to university, but having your GCSE programme including the EBacc subjects will help keep your options open.

Source: Which University

The English BaccalaureateTo secure the Ebacc students must study all of the following programme:

1. English Language and Literature GCSE

2. Mathematics GCSE

3. A double Science GCSE

4. French (as a Modern Foreign Language) GCSE

5. Either History or Geography GCSE

We believe that the majority of students can

successfully follow this programme.

Attainment 8

- calculated by adding the point scores for eight of a pupil’s best qualifications:

On the new system, the points for each subject are between 0 and 9 – where e.g. an

“old” A would be worth 7.

As English and Maths can be doubled, this effectively gives a total score out of 90.

This score is called the Attainment 8 and is often divided by 10 to give an “Average

Grade”.

Attainment 8 and Progress 8

– National Measures from…. 2016These are the new GCSE

benchmarks for schools.

Estimated Attainment 8For each student, an estimated score will be produced, based on the average performance of similar pupils at KS2.This will tell us what we should expect from a pupil to achieve a “zero value-added”.The DFE has proposed initial estimated scales with e.g. level 4.4 estimated to achieve 42 points and level 5.6 estimated 72 points.

Progress 8This is calculated as the difference between the achieved and estimated Attainment 8 values. As a value added measure, it is usually expressed in average grades.The performance of a whole cohort will be expressed in terms of an average Progress 8 value across all students. The “floor standard” is expected to be -0.5.

Attainment

- Estimation

= Progress

Broader Context – Our responseWe have designed a curriculum to ensure that our students follow an appropriate curriculum to address the developments within education.

• The students will follow one less GCSE to facilitate the greater content in the syllabi

• A much more focused selection programme with the majority of students following either Geography or History and French.

The Key Stage 4 Curriculum: (9 GCSEs)

Religious Education 1 full GCSE

Mathematics 1 full GCSE

English Language 1 full GCSE

English Literature 1 full GCSE

Double Science 2 full GCSEs

3 further GCSE subjects determined by the current language groups 3 full GCSEs

Skills ICT: Formal qualifications in ICT

Core Physical Education

Personal, Social & Health Education (PSHE)

Careers Education Information & Guidance (CEIG)

Tutorial Programme (SMSC) including Mass & Assembly

Further Subjects

• Art & Design: Fine Art

• Art & Design: Textiles

• CiDA (GCSE ICT)

• Computer Science

• Dance

• Drama

• Electronic Products

• Food Technology

• French

• Geography

• Graphic Products

• Health & Social Care

• History

• Music

• Physical Education

• Separate Sciences

Can we guarantee the option choices?

No, but we will try our best…

• Options allow pupils to identify preferences

• If pupils do not choose subjects in sufficient numbers then that subject will not run

• We will only deliver as many groups as we can staff with specialists in that subject

• Most pupils will study their preferences however, in all reality, some will not.

Progression Post 16

• You can effectively study any A Level except French and Computing without having studied the subject at GCSE

• Look for subjects where you can develop your strengths

• Look for subjects where it allows you to develop transferable skills

Pathways• 3 A Levels

• Allows progression on to university or higher level degree apprenticeships

• Applied Pathway (Here at Hagley)

• A Levels and Work Experience

• Vocational Courses

• Technical courses/ Vocational courses offered at College, usually in one specific area

• Apprenticeships

• Level 2 – based in the workplace; released for

college study

What is most important for Post 16 Study?

• Consistent, independent study habits• Homework 1hour 30 minutes per night• Asking for help when unsure• Being organised – folders, planners, stationery• Curiosity for learning• Exploring different career opportunities• Being open towards Apprenticeships• Ensuring you are in a position to compete with all

other students nationally, locally for Apprenticeships, College, University places

Supporting pupils to make their choices

• Options Assembly – Monday 27 February

• Options Evening

• Parent’s Evening: Thursday 15 March 2017

• The Options Booklet

• A meeting with a member of the Senior Leadership Team

• Support from Tutors and subject staff

• Requested interviews with Mrs Tedd or Mr Farthing for careers advice and guidance

Completing your personalised Options Form

1. Where appropriate, consider the opportunities that are available in each block.

2. Discuss your choices with your family and with relevant subject staff.

3. Prepare for your meeting with a member of the SLT

4. Complete the Option Selection Form and return to school by Monday 20 March 2017.

What next?

• On to subject presentations – see programme for locations.

• Parents Consultation Evening – Thursday 16 March 2017.

• Options Forms to be returned to Mrs Aitken Lomax on Monday 20 March 2017.

Contact with School

If you have any questions during this process

please contact:

• Subject Leaders to address subject specific questions.

• Mrs Aitken Lomax – Head of Year 9 will cover wider issues

• Mrs Imrie – Learning Support Manager for issues relating to additional educational needs.