Key Stage 3 Evening

1. Key Stage 3 Evening Tuesday 4th December 2012

2. The team • Miss L Brennan – Director of Studies • Mr L Sheppard – Assistant Director of Studies • Mrs K Jackman – Senior Link Colleague • Mrs J Sion/Mrs G McQueen – Raising Attainment Advisors • 11 tutors

3. Curriculum • Inclusive for all abilities. • Providing opportunities for success at GCSE and A level. • Strengthened by intervention and support strategies. • Making the most of years 8 and 9.

4. Homework • Our curriculum is reinforced by homework tasks. • All homework should be noted in the homework diary which should be signed by yourselves each week. • Homework should not be completed in school. • Completed and of a good quality.

5. Homework • Students should receive 3 subjects of homework each night. • Tasks may vary. • Use of homework diary. • Parents can see set homework, as well as other information, on MCAS.

6. Enrichment • Curriculum further supported by enrichment and extra curricular activities. • Students should take part in at least 6 activities per year. • Extra-Curricular clubs – lunch times and after school.

7. The Role of the Tutor • First point of contact. • Spend over 3 hours a week together. • Will monitor academic and pastoral progress.

8. Year 9 • KS3 studies in English, Maths and Science officially finish in Year 8. • In Year 9 students are preparing for their GCSE examinations.

9. Reporting and setting • Per academic year each student will have: • 2 x Progress Reviews • 1 x Full report • 1 x Parents evening • Formal assessments in each subject. • Based on these reports students may change sets, concerns addressed and intervention strategies put in place. • Successful students are commended.

10. Progress • Students should be making AT LEAST 2 sub levels of progress each year. • During the year 4c • Importance of making progress and gaining skills now for success at GCSE and post 16 qualifications. 4a

11. Contact • DOS Surgery – Every Wednesday – 3.15-4.15pm. • No need to make an appointment – just drop in. • Homework diaries. • Phone calls. • Email. • Face-to-Face evenings like tonight.

12. Guidance booklet • Produced last term • Includes expectations and policies • Term-by-term guidance as to what students are studying. • Copies can be obtained from school office.

13. Attendance and Attainment

14. Why such a high profile? 7.7 million school days are lost each year through absence. 1 in 5 pupils miss 17 days a year- these students will drop at least ONE GCSE GRADE. If a student achieves 1-4 GCSE A*-C grades wages can increase by 17%. If a student achieves 5 or more GCSE A*- C grades (including English and Maths) wages can increase by 41%. If a school can improve attendance by 1% they will see a 5- 6% improvement in attainment.

15. Attendance % What’s your child's attendance?

16. What does my attendance % mean?

17. The link between attendance and attainment

18. How do we promote good attendance at Altwood School • Attendance is celebrated through assemblies. • Communication with parents. • Weekly meetings with the Attendance Officer. • Tutors are made aware of their tutee’s attendance on a weekly basis.

19. What can you do to help improve your child’s attendance • Communicate with the school about your child’s attendance. • Check MCAS (My Child at School) to check your child’s attendance. • Only request time off for the child in exceptional circumstances.

21. Key Stage 3 English Mrs.KMiah Key Stage 3 English Co-Ordinator

22. Aims of Key Stage 3 English As a department, we aim to: • secure basic literacy skills • teach students how to question, discuss and think for themselves. • our pupils are encouraged to select critically, to interpret and to make their own mind up about the wealth of information that is available to them in the modern world.

23. Spoken Language • Shakespeare • Non-Fiction • Poetry • Fiction

24. We aim to ensure students develop their reading, writing and speaking and listening skills. We have a cyclical curriculum which continues to build on KS2 ground work.

25. KS3 English • Key difference between KS2 and KS3 is the level of analysis – critical thinking and reading required of pupils Speaking & Listening Reading Writing • Pupils also need to demonstrate the increased understanding of PURPOSE AND AUDIENCE to become more effective writers.

26. Task types Snapshot These will be responses that are spontaneous and not redrafted or revised. Polished We will complete tasks where we redraft and check our errors. Controlled These will be ‘planned for’ tests, where notes are made in preparation for these beforehand.

27. Year 9 Year 8

28. What is APP? Assessing Pupil Progress (APP) is a structured approach to periodic assessment, enabling us to: • track pupils’ progress over a key stage or longer • use diagnostic information about pupils’ strengths and weaknesses to improve teaching, learning and rates of pupils’ progress.

29. Assessment • We are committed to carefully monitoring and assessing pupil progress throughout Key Stage 3. • Each term, pupils produce an assessed piece of work (six per year).

31. Tracking Pupils’ Progress. • Year 8 are assessed using APP grids ( copies are available from the English Department). • Year 8 complete a homework project each term. • Year 9 are assessed using GCSE grades.

32. Year 9 • We lay the foundations for GCSE success by aligning the Key Stage 3 curriculum in Year 9 as closely as possible to the GCSEs to prepare our pupils for GCSE examinations and controlled assessments. For example: • Pupils study Poetry from Different Cultures to prepare them for GCSE English Literature. Pupils complete a comparison question as well as an unseen poem question. Pupils will have been taught the skills of analysing poetry and comparative writing.

33. Year 9 • Pupils also complete units of work on Spoken Language to prepare for the GCSE Unit 3c Spoken Language study. Pupils will learn a range of new terminology to aid their analysis of spoken language transcripts and also consider different public attitudes towards varieties of spoken language. • Students are also awarded GCSE grades as well as being shown GCSE mark schemes to help them understand GCSE marking.

35. Parental Support • Take an interest in what your child reads, and read some of their books. If possible, continue to read to and with them. • The reading and exploring of non-fiction texts is an essential part of a student’s progression. • When your child has homework, try to provide good working conditions. This does not mean isolating them. • Remind your children that when they are answering a question on any reading text that they should try POINT, EVIDENCE,EXPLANATION • Encourage self evaluation of all written tasks, to make sure they are using appropriate punctuation and sentence structure.

36. Thank you for listening We look forward to working with you and your child.

37. Key Stage 3 Science Mr Arnold

38. Aims of Key Stage 3 Science • The key stage 3 curriculum is designed to encourage students to become: • successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve. • confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives. • responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society. (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority)

39. How Science Works • To generate more enthusiasm for science. • To make science more interesting and relevant to more students. • To make science more accessible to more students. • To encourage more students to follow science based courses post 16

40. Students Will… • have a wide range of practical experiences. • see the importance that is placed on assessing scientific data on its merits. • have a greater awareness of science as a process and why. • understand that scientists work in a particular way. • have a greater understanding of the relevance of science to our daily and working lives. • see the relevance of science to technology and of technology to science.

41. Assessment - Yr 8 • Year 8 students will be assessed in a variety of ways including: • Regular unit examinations (one examination per term). • Assessment for Learning Tasks. • APP Science tasks.

45. Making Progress • Year 8 students should be aiming to make at least two sub levels of progress each year from their KS2 TA in Science. (A student at Level 4a in Year 6 should be on a Level 6c by the end of Year 8). Two sub levels of progress is a minimum expectation each year.

46. Making Progress • In order to make progress each academic year students must: • Develop their investigative skills and plan systematically for experiments. • Follow the guidance given on APP tasks and reflect on their strengths and weaknesses after the completion of the task. • Identify weaknesses following unit examinations. • Have support at school and at home.

47. Parental Support • Parental support can have a massive impact on the progress a student can make. • Encouraging students to dedicate a suitable length of time to APP projects and HW tasks. • Reading through your son/daughter’s exercise book or APP tasks and discuss the targets for improvement with them. • Promoting scientific literacy by encouraging your son/daughter to read science based articles in newspapers or on the internet.

48. Year 9 – Bridging Course • Year 9 students will begin their GCSE Science in Year 9 after they have completed a “Science Bridging Course”. This course aims to: • Cover KS3 topics not encountered in Year 7 or 8. • Introduce topics that will be expanded on at KS4 level. • The “Skills” element of the course is designed to support the learning of the investigative skills required for KS4 controlled assessments.

49. Year 9 – Bridging Course • Year 9 students will be studying the “Bridging Course” until Jan 2013. • Assessment: • Three 30 minute exams specifically covering one of Biology, Chemistry or Physics. • A final hour long exam involving all aspects of the course at the end of term 2 (just before Christmas break). • A practise controlled assessment in the style of GCSE controlled assessment.