NAILSEA SCHOOL Preparation for Success January 17 t

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NAILSEA SCHOOL Preparation for Success January 17 t
NAILSEA SCHOOL
Preparation for Success January 17 t h
NAILSEA SCHOOL Preparation for Success January 17 t
Dear Parent/Carer

Thank you for coming tonight to Nailsea School’s ‘Preparing for Success’ Evening.

The evening has been put together to help you, as parents of students in Year 11, support
them in these important final months before GCSE exams begin.

You will have the opportunity to meet with representatives from departments and familiarise
(and maybe even practise!) the types of questions that students need to complete to achieve
their potential in these subjects.

With the evening being divided into workshops based on the colour of your booklet. I would
ask that you follow the schedule outlined below.

        Timing                 Green Booklets           Pink Booklets        Blue Booklets
       6.00-6.20                                  Introduction - GLT
       6.25-6.50             Maths - Auditorium         Science - GLT     English – Room 140
       6.55-7.20             English – Room 140      Maths - Auditorium      Science - GLT
       7.25-7.50                Science - GLT        English – Room 140   Maths - Auditorium

As we are always keen to continue to develop links and engage parents, we would
appreciate any comments you may have on the evening. These can be emailed to
lcreswick@nailseaschool.com.

A link to the resources from the evening will be available at:
http://www.nailseaschool.com/teaching-and-learning-at-nailsea/

I hope you find this evening a useful one, for both yourself and the student you are attending
with or on behalf of.

Miss Laura Creswick

Assistant Headteacher
NAILSEA SCHOOL Preparation for Success January 17 t
English Language and English Literature - Eduqas
 Group and teacher                               Group and teacher
 11X1 – Ms C Jacobs                              11Y1 – Miss L Creswick
 11X2 – Mrs E Cooper & Mrs P Truscott            11Y2 – Mrs S Wisby
 11X3 – Mrs S Rutty                              11Y3 - Ms F Cowling
                                                 11Y4 – Ms R Figgures.

The specification that your child will be entered for is a ‘no tier’ paper. This means that the grades
that can be awarded range from 9-1. The exam board is EDUQAS.
Exam dates and times:

Language Paper Component 1
Reading and analysing 20th Century Prose.
Creative Prose Writing                           Tuesday 04 June am (1hour 45mins)
Language Paper Component 2
Reading and analysing 19th and 21st Century Non-Fiction
Transactional/Persuasive Writing                 Friday 07 June am (2hours)

Literature Component 1
Shakespeare
Poetry Anthology                                     Wednesday 15 May pm (2hours)
Literature Component 2
Post 1914 Prose or Drama
19th Century Fiction
Unseen Poetry                                        Thursday 23 May am (2hours 30mins)

Revision

There are lots of incredibly useful things that students could be doing to help prepare for their
English exams. Their teachers will give them papers to be working through and your child should
make sure they are absolutely clear about what each exam paper will contain and how long they
will have to answer each section. As this is a new exam, the number of practice papers we have
are limited however we are working hard to create our own to support revision.
As we have moved away from controlled assessment, the ability to learn short, apt quotations has
also become more important.
Obviously, students are always very welcome to come and talk with their teacher or any member of
the English department for some extra help or guidance.
NAILSEA SCHOOL Preparation for Success January 17 t
How else can you help your child?

If possible, try to provide your child with a quiet space where they can work and revise. Asking
them to 'teach you' a topic is also an active and effective way of learning. This could be useful
when revising the characters or themes in the novels and play they have studied.

Daily activities such as reading newspapers or magazines can also be useful, particularly for the
non-fiction reading paper. Asking your child questions about what they have read - the purpose of
the writing, what opinions are shown can be helpful.

Being able to writing answers in timed conditions is incredibly important. Acting as a time keeper
for your child will help fine tune this skill and ensure they are prepared for writing and answering
questions in this way.

Contact Details
If you have any further questions or would like some more advice, please feel free to contact me:
Sophie Rutty - srutty@nailseaschool.com

Useful Revision Sites

www.gcsepod.com
www.eduqas.co.uk
www.gcsebitesize.co.uk
www.sparknotes.com
www.litcharts.com
www.shmoop.com
NAILSEA SCHOOL Preparation for Success January 17 t
Maths

Information In Year 11, there are 7 teaching groups organised as below:

 X -side                     Y-side                      Exam Entry
 11X1– Mrs Rogers            11Y1 – Mrs Groves           Edexcel GCSE 9-1   1MA1
 11X2 – Mrs Coates           11Y2 – Mrs Coates           Edexcel GCSE 9-1   1MA1
 11X3 – Mr Markey            11Y3 – Mr Probert           Edexcel GCSE 9-1   1MA1
                             11Y4 – Mr Markey            Edexcel GCSE 9-1   1MA1

The Exam Entry column indicates the examination board with the
subject code.
At present, our intention is that Set 1 students and those achieving
a 6 from Set 2 will sit the Higher exam which has a grade range 9 to
5. The rest will sit the Foundation exam which covers Grade 5 to 1
(old Grade B to G).

Revision

Ideally, students should be doing a bit of maths revision every day,
even if it is only for half an hour. It is very difficult to revise
effectively for a maths exam in a short space of time as mathematics is about applying procedures
and mathematical concepts to questions in a wide range of contexts. Students are highly unlikely to
ever meet the same question twice so they need to:

   •   Practice applying their learning to as many different questions as possible
   •   Students can attend sessions after school on a Wednesday, Week 2, where they can do their
       homework, work through past papers or ask for help with specific questions about any of
       their work. If students are not required in Compulsory Period 6 sessions for Drama, German,
       Media or Photography, they can also come to Maths on a Wednesday, Week 1.
   •   We will be providing all students with packs of practice papers at a small cost. The answers
       and mark schemes for these will be on Sharepoint so they can check their answers whenever
       they want.

Students can use their text book or any of the following support:
Collins revision guide and practice books - cost £3.00 each
Corbettmaths revision cards with links to videos, exam questions and solutions - cost £7.00

Online resources:
   • Hegarty maths website - has videos demonstrating topics and practice questions at
       http://www.hegartymaths.com/. Students already have login details.
   • Corbett maths - has videos and lots of revision resources and a good 5 a day random GCSE
       question section for a quick 10/15 minutes revision at http://corbettmaths.com/
•   Mr Barton maths takeaways - GCSE questions organised by topic and is being upgraded for
       the new GCSE 9-1 http://mrbartonmaths.com/students/legacy-gcse/gcse-maths-
       takeaway.html
   •   Pixie maths revision booklets - exam questions by target grade, can open on phone so does
       not require printing at https://www.piximaths.co.uk/revision-booklets
   •   Pixie maths problem solving questions at https://www.piximaths.co.uk/problem-solving
   •   Mr Chadburn - a little bit of maths each day although best printed out at
       http://mrchadburn.co.uk/a-little-bit-of-maths-each-day/
   •   Online past paper questions that give immediate yes/no feedback at
       https://www.onmaths.com/

Exam dates:

Paper 1 Non-calculator 21st May/Paper 2 Calculator 6th June /Paper 3 Calculator 11th June

How can you help your child?

We are always being asked by parents how they can help their
children with mathematics. A major key to success is to instil a
positive attitude towards maths, celebrating what your child can do
and encouraging them to be confident enough to at least try
questions they struggle with. If they get stuck on a particular
question and you are unable to help them, ask them to write down
what they think they have to do and how they did it, even if it may
be a guess. They can then show us and if we can see how they are
thinking, we can support them with sorting out the misconceptions.
Children learn far more from mistakes than from a page of correct
answers!

Another valuable way is to ask your child to explain to you what they have been doing in their lessons
or how they have done a particular question. If they can explain it well enough so that you can follow
their reasoning then it consolidates their understanding and builds confidence.
Exam Technique: with exam papers ensure that they have read the question carefully and are
showing all of their working out.

Essential Equipment
ALL students need to have a black pen, pencil, rubber, ruler, compasses, protractor and scientific
calculator for every lesson and their exams – calculator for Papers 2 and 3.

Contact Details
If you have any further queries or concerns, please contact
Mrs Ruth Coates – rcoates@nailseaschool.com
Science

The teacher with responsibility for each science group is outlined below. Students are taught by a
subject specific teacher for each of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The exam board is AQA.

                 Triple Science          Combined Science       Chemistry Only
                 11Sc1 Mr Pearson        11Sc3 Dr Mannan        11Sc6 Mr Early
                 11Sc2 Ms Evry           11Sc4 Miss Smith
                                         11Sc5 Mr Early
                                         11Sc7 Mrs Brown

Triple Science

Students in 11Sc1 and 11Sc2 will be entered for triple science, worth three GCSE grades. This will be
taken at the higher tier and tests Grades 9-4. There are 2 papers for each science, each lasting 1h 45
minutes.

Combined Science

Students studying Combined Science will be entered for Combined Science – Trilogy. There are two
papers for each of Biology, Chemistry and Physics, each lasting 1h 15 mins.
The grades awarded are linked. For example students can be awarded a 9-9, 9-8, 8-8 on a sliding scale
down to a 1-1. Papers can be taken at higher or foundation tier. A strong pass in the mocks (Grade 5)
must have been achieved for a student to enter for the Higher Tier in the summer.

Chemistry only

Students following this option will have two papers in Chemistry, each lasting 1h 45 mins.
Entries will be made at the Foundation Tier accessing Grades 5-1.

Revision

Students should be revising some science every day. There are many different activities that students
can trial for revision. Some of these target basic knowledge such as making flashcards. Accessing
higher grades will require more sophisticated approaches, combining knowledge and understanding.
Talking about science can help students to think logically but this means they need a willing audience
– perhaps you could listen to a student recount a 6 mark answer, using a mark scheme to help you
decide if they have done a good job?

Revision guides are a great place to start and contain all the knowledge base required in a systematic
order. Students also have access to legacy past papers, past paper questions set as homework,
GCSEPOD and BBC Bitesize. There are some good Youtube vloggers recommended by Y12. It is
incredibly important that students practice answering exam questions under timed conditions; again
this is another simple thing that you can help with.

Equipment

It is essential that all students, regardless of tier, have access to a scientific calculator for all science
exams. Other essential equipment required as for all exams is black pens, pencils for diagrams and
graphs, a ruler, rubber and sharpener.
If students have any queries related to their course they can of course ask any of their teachers. If
parents have queries please direct it to the lead teacher for the group.

If you have any questions relating to any part of the Science GCSEs, please don’t hesitate to get in
touch.
mevry@nailseaschool.com

Biology
Paper 1: B1-4 14th May 2019 (pm)
Paper 2: B5-7 7th June 2019 (pm)
Chemistry
Paper 1: C8-12 16th May 2019 (am)
Paper 2: C13-17 12th June 2019 (am)
Physics
Paper 1: P18-21 22nd May 2019 (pm)
Paper 2: P22-24 14th June 2019 (am)
Period 6

Subjects have designated days where extra sessions are offered to students. In some subjects, these
may have already begun. In order to avoid clashes, subjects are split by their option pool with the
core subjects, Geography and History spread across other days due to the number of students
studying them.

As these sessions are after school, we cannot expect every member of staff to offer sessions. If this
is the case, students should use the advice from lessons and the two Preparation for Success Evenings
to help them support their own revision. If students need somewhere to go to, 161 is available 3-
3.30 daily.

As we want the very best for students, some who have underperformed in their mocks or are at risk
of underachieving, may be requested to attend compulsory Period 6 sessions. Curriculum Leaders for
specific subjects will contact you via letter to let you know about this and how long students are
expected to attend for.

        1 Monday            1 Tuesday         1 Wednesday           1 Thursday          1 Friday
        English*             Science         Pool B Subjects          History       Pool C Subjects
   th
28 January Language         Geography            Drama                              Business Studies
     Unit 1 Reading                             German                                  French
4th March - Anthology                            Media                                  Spanish
                                              Photography
         Poetry
  th
29 April - A Christmas
      Carol / J + H

        2 Monday        2 Tuesday             2 Wednesday           2 Thursday          2 Friday
      English*        Pool A Subjects            Maths            Pool D Subjects       English
      st
    21 January -            Art                                      Catering
    Shakespeare         Computing                                   Engineering     Music lunchtime
 th
4 February - Language    Textiles                                 Product Design
                                                                   PE lunchtime
   Unit 2 Reading
   th
25 February - Unseen
       Poetry

*open to all groups.
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