NAILSEA SCHOOL Preparation for Success January 17 t
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NAILSEA SCHOOL Preparation for Success January 17 t h
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
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.
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
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.comScience
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 isincredibly 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.You can also read
