Key dates

Thursday 9 March and Thursday 11 May 2023

Parent forums will be held in the school Theatre 17:30 to 18:30.

Wednesday 15 May up to and including Friday 23 June 2023

Exam period (click here to view timetable)

Thursday 29 June 2023

Year 11 Prom.

Key documents and links

English:

Key dates for English are simply:

Tuesdays after school – Revision
March mocks – Literature Paper 1 (Macbeth and Jekyll & Hyde); Language Paper 1 (Creative reading and writing)

Everything else is assessed during lessons.

Top Tips – Literature

Re-read/Revise the plot and structure of the texts
Memorise and revise quotes
Write character and theme summaries
Practice writing exam questions in the revision guides

Top Tips – Language

understand what each of the papers will be like;
know what the examiner wants from you on each question; and
do lots of practice questions – marking your own work to improve further.

Maths

Tips for maths GCSE

The best way to revise maths is to do maths, try as many questions as you can (from websites and past papers).

The early part of the paper is where you gain most of your marks so take your time here. Be careful so that you do not drop easy marks.
Read questions more than once to make sure you have understood what you need to do.
Read the question after you have completed it, to make sure that you have answered it properly
If you do not know how to do a question think of something that you can do to try to gain extra marks. Remember each extra mark puts you ahead of around 5000 other students sitting the exam.
Always look for the estimation question in the noncalculator paper
Know your formula and calculator. Ensure your calculator is in degrees mode
Always check the back page in case there is a question there.
Do not round part-way through a calculation. If you need to use this number later in the same question it makes resulting answers less accurate. For final answers, write the full calculator display then your rounded answer underneath

Science

Top Tips:
It can feel like there's a lot to remember in Science, so try to build small chunks of revision into your week. Make a list of the topics you cover as you go, so you can see your progress.

There are lots of resources to help you, such as:

Your revision guide
BBC Bitesize
Cognito Science
Physics and Maths tutor
Study mind

Try to include exam questions in your revision. Use the mark scheme to help you the first time you try questions if you need to.

Good luck!

Drama

Date	Work	Internally/ Externally assessed?	Notes
Friday 10^th February 2023	Final Component One Portfolio Deadline	Internally (30% of GCSE)	Portfolios completed in Year 10 – Final opportunity to hand in.
Thursday 1^st March/Friday 2^nd March (TBC) 2023	Component Two performance exam	Externally (20% of GCSE)	Students perform or design for TWO extracts of script.
Week Beginning 20^th March 2023	Component Three Written Exam (in class mock exam)	Internally (40% of GCSE – Mock)	A walking through Mock exam to support students with Component 3.
March/April 2023 TBC	Live Theatre Evaluation Trip		Trip to see a professional Live Theatre production to support Component 3 written exam.
Monday 15^th May 2023	Component Three Written Exam	Externally (40% of GCSE)	Final Written exam. 5 Questions on An Inspector Calls and 2 on a Live Theatre Production.

Top Tips –
January – March 2023 –
Students should ensure that they are learning their lines and rehearsing their Component Two script extracts AT LEAST two hours per week in their own time. This will be set as homework on CLasscharts.

February – May 2023 –

An Inspector Calls Revision – use revision guides or materials provided to look over An Inspector Calls. Students should ensure that they have made decisions about SET/LIGHTING/SOUND/COSTUME/STAGING/PROPS – ideas for DIRECTORS and DESIGNERS – How do students communicate the THEMES of the play and JB PRIESTLEY’s INTENTIONS (eg socialism, inequality, social justice etc)
Students should ensure that they are practicing written exam questions in their own time. Use materials provided to time practice answers. Students should focus on the different sections of the exam eg -Performer: 4 & 6 Mark Questions

Director: 9 & 12 Mark Questions
Designer: 14 Mark Questions
Live Theatre Evaluation: – 6 & 9 Mark Question

Ensure that students are reading An Inspector Calls and making notes on performance, direction and design choices. Consider key moments and themes and HOW can they be communicated to an audience?

Intervention and Support.
Intervention and Support Sessions are held in B07 EVERY FRIDAY WEEK A 15.15-16.30.
These are compulsory for some students but are open to all.

Art

Art Exam dates - 28^th and 29^th March 2023.
CSWK deadline - 17^th May 2023.

Top Tips:

Develop your ideas demonstrating your critical and cultural understanding and show your thought processes and planning in your sketchbook.
Experiment and use a variety of techniques, materials and processes.
Record your ideas. Take your own photographs. Draw from first hand observation.
Show in depth analysis of artists work that makes connections with the exam theme and your own work.
Prepare for the exam using the Task Sheet inside your sketchbook to plan your time.
Produce a highly skilled personal response to the exam theme.

Hospitality & catering

Food Practical Assessments are in Jan/Feb

NEA deadlines

Task 1 will need to be completed by Friday 10th Feb.
There will be a catch up day during half term TBC.
Coursework needs to be completed by March 31st FINAL DEADLINE.

After this the focus will be on the exam.

Top Tips:
Attend Monday Catch up if you are behind! Get on Top of any missing section, you cannot pass the course if even one section is not completed!! Remember it is 60% of the final grade.

History

Exam dates for history are:
Thursday May 18^th (am) Paper 1 (WW1 and USA)
Wednesday 7^th June (pm) Paper 2 (Migration and Elizabeth

Revision:
Every Thursday after school, right up until the exams

Top Tips:

Keep using the words from the question in your answer
4 marks = 5 minutes = 1 paragraph = 2 specific pieces of knowledge
In USA for the 12 marker talk about BOTH bullet points
Do not leave ANY answers blank – always best to have a guess
Bloody Mary was Elizabeth’s SISTER and Mary Queen of Scots was Elizabeth’s COUSIN
Address the tail of the question

French

Intervention/Revision session runs every Thursday 3:10-4:00 in F12.

Top tips:

Revise vocabulary little and often - you are more likely to remember words/phrases if you revise for 10 minutes a day than for 1 hour on a Sunday.
Watch and listen to French resources - this could be anything from Youtubers, music, TV shows, radio, podcasts, films etc. Just make sure you are listening in French and not dubbed in English!
Use a language app like Duolingo to remind you to practise French and to keep track of your progress.
When revising grammar always start with the very basics - present tense - and then work your way up to past tense and then future. Make sure you have a good foundation of grammatical knowledge - if you get stuck ask for help or go online to find grammar explanations!
Find someone to speak French with! It could be someone from your class or you could even start to teach your parent/carer some French at home.

Photography

Key Dates
Photography Final Exam: 20^th & 21^st April 2023
Coursework Deadline: Monday 8^th May 2023
Catch Up Sessions: Tuesdays and Thursdays (depending on teacher – check with your teacher for times)

Top Tips:

Make sure you can access Sharepoint and the school Photoshop at home – you should be able to use both of these from home.
Access and work on your digital portfolio outside lesson time to improve your work – you can go back to make improvements right up to the coursework deadline.
Complete all homework on time – this is part of your final grade and must be completed on time so that you can work on edits in the following lesson.
Ask your teacher if you aren’t sure how to go about doing a shoot at home.
Borrow cameras/props from Stan – we have LOTS so just let us know what you need
Take lots of independent shoots at home.

Also attaching a ‘What Do I Do Next’ sheet for those that have done everything and want to know what else they can do in preparation for A Levels.

Screenshot 2023-02-10 at 16.28.16.png

Spanish

Tuesdays after school we run the Spanish extra support class until 16:00

Top Tips
it is vital that students revise 3 times a week the vocabulary from all modules learned so far in the GCSE Spanish course.

All the vocabulary is available in Teams. There are many websites that are very effective to practice vocabulary. We recommend the following ones:

Wordwall (type it in Google with the topic to practice)
Memrise (type it in Google with the topic to practice)
Duolingo (type it in Google with the topic to practice)
Video tutorials available in Teams General channel
Youtube tutorials (type the topic to practice)

Textiles Art and Design

Dates and Deadlines

Exam unit: we will finish working on the exam unit on 19^th April. You will have 2 exam days on either 20/21^st April or 26^th/27^th April 2023

Portfolio unit ( All your other projects and final pieces): The final deadline for all work is 12^th May 2023

There will be 2 coursework catch up days in the holidays: 1 in February half term and 1 in Easter. Dates TBC

There are catch up sessions every Thursday after school in H01, but you are welcome to work in H01 any day and at lunch.

If you have any unfinished final pieces from previous projects please come to catch up sessions to complete them

Important things to ALWAYS remember:

Please aim to do at least 2 hours extra work in textiles every week. This can be in catch up sessions or at home.

Do not overcrowd your pages, leave space for drawing/ responses and annotation.
Present work on double page spread if possible.
Put textiles samples together in collections that are either the same theme, inspiration, or same technique.
Try to respond to all your research at some point in your project, either with drawing, designing or samples.

THE KEY THINGS the examiners are looking for and will get you more marks are DRAWING and ANNOTATION.

You must show evidence of these on EVERY page of your sketchbook. A DRAWING doesn’t always have to be a highly finished shaded piece, on some pages in might just be a quick sketch or a ‘doodle’ type image or response to your research or quick design ideas . The important thing is that you DRAW, DRAW, and DRAW some more.
Annotation doesn’t always have to be copious notes. It can be simply WORDS that DESCRIBE what is going on the page, OR more importantly, your OPINIONS on WHY you have included something and what you THINK about it. How it reflets your chosen theme or idea.
Make sure there is evidence of DRAWING and ANNOTATION on EVERY double page
There are documents in Teams that can help you with your annotation and presentation

ALSO TRY TO ……..

COLLECT images and information from a wide range of sources NOT just the internet – old books, magazines, newspapers, travel brochures, advertising leaflets and flyers….. TAKE photographs
USE APPS on your phone/tablet/computer to manipulate your photos, print them out, this is further evidence of research and experimentation with media.
TRY OUT different media when you draw – felt tip pen, biro, gel pen, charcoal, pastel, wax resist …..
EXPERIMENT with different drawing techniques - continuous line, non-dominant hand, think viewpoint!!!
DRAW/PAINT of different types of paper – brown paper, graph paper, maps, music sheet paper, old text books, wall paper, tissue paper….

Film Studies

From now until Half term - Students study Attack The Block
After Half Term - Students Study Tsotsi (roughly 4-5 weeks)

There will then be an opportunity to tidy up their coursework for a few lessons

Then it’ll be revision for the run up to the exam.

Graphics

Course work deadline – Easter, April 1^st
After school catch-up session – Thursday H04/H07
Final Exam – 19^th June

Top tips for Graphics course work:

60% of the grade comes from the design, development and making of your product, so ensure there are lots and lots of rough sketches, drawings, diagrams, models, etc… Do not worry if they are not perfect, as long as they convey your ideas put them in your project!
Refer to the ‘manufacture processes and materials’ PowerPoint if you are unsure about material choices for you course work product designs.
Always aim for at least 3 pieces of annotation for every bit of design work you do - more complex designs will require more.
You will not get credit for any work that is not scanned or put on your Project PowerPoint!
Always back up your computer based work to protect it from any IT nightmares.
Attend afterschool sessions to keep on top of everything.

PE

Key dates:

Date	Year 11 GCSE PE
21^st February	Final deadline to submit AEP coursework
13^th March	Paper 1 mock exam in class
14^th March	Practical assessment day
21st March	Final deadline for submission of practical video evidence
23^rd March	Paper 2 mock exam in class
Early May	External practical moderation day for selected pupils

The top tip would be to keep revising Paper 1 content, even while we are finishing the coursework. Everyone performed more strongly in Paper 2 than Paper 1 during the most recent mocks.

Music

Our music coursework deadlines for performance and composition are Friday 10 March. By this date pupils should have submitted:

Their free composition and annotated screenshot (minimum 1.5 minutes)
Their composition to a set brief and annotated screenshot (minimum 1.5 minutes)
Their ensemble performance (minimum 2 minutes)
Their solo performance (minimum 2 minutes)

Our music exam is scheduled to be on Wednesday 14 June afternoon (according to OCR website).

We will be holding additional coursework catch-up sessions on Tuesday and Friday lunchtimes and interventions on Tuesdays after school to help with this. This will swap to a theory focus after the deadline. Pupils are also welcome to use the computer rooms to compose any days after school providing they check in with music teachers in the office first.

Top tip for the music coursework: Put in the time! Be productive during lessons and work on it in your own time to give yourself the best chance of success. Top tip for the music exam: Listen, listen, listen! Familiarise yourself with the elements of music (MAD T-SHIRT) and whenever you listen to music, try to analyse what you hear. If you can hear it – it’s true!

Citizenship

Dates

February – In-class assessment for Spring 1 content
February/March – completion of Active Citizenship Projects
March-May – revision; revision skills; exam skills focus for remaining lessons
Easter holidays – in-school revision sessions
15^th May – Paper 1 – Active Citizenship and Politics and Participation
24^th May – Paper 2 – Life in Modern Britain and Rights and Responsibilities

Top Tips

Ensure you are revising Citizenship content every week
Ask your teacher what your focus should be eg on content or on style
Chunk your revision: Rather than revising ‘Life in Modern Britain’, drill it down to ‘Life in Modern Britain’>International Organisations>The work of the United Nations
Complete active revision tasks. Create mind-maps and flashcards; create quizzes and complete each other’s quizzes; complete practice questions.
Ensure that for one of every 3 sessions, you are learning about case studies and examples.
You will be provided with Knowledge Organisers – make sure you use them when you are revising and sorting out your notes.

Computer Science

Interventions are run by TRC every Monday in D24 and every Monday + Tuesday by RKH in C22