Careers

Choosing the right subjects for GCSE

Your son/daughter will make initial GCSE choices in February so that next year’s timetable can be blocked and staffing planned. They will confirm their choices at the end of this term. There is the opportunity to add any supporting comments on both initial and final option-choice forms if you feel particularly strongly about the choices that have been made. Once the final options form is submitted, the allocation of options will be made based on the information supplied on the form. Once choices have been made, the College reserves the right to withdraw any courses for which there is insufficient demand. We try to accommodate all subject choices within the prescribed framework. However, subjects are sometimes oversubscribed and availability of staffing prevents additional classes. If this is the case, we will contact you to discuss alternatives. On the following pages, you will find more information about each subject, as well as some useful advice from the Head of Careers and Higher Education, Sharon Allmark. These will help you when weighing up the various factors involved in making the most appropriate choices.

Stephen Badger Deputy Head (Teaching & Learning)

GCSE Reforms Daily Routine

7.00—7.30 am Time to get up and about—you have to wake yourself up! • All GCSE subjects are now graded and assessed using the new 9-1 structure; 7.30-8.15 am Breakfast • 9 is the highest grade, awarded to the very best candidates in the subject. The official definition of a grade-9 8.05 am All boarding girls below 5th Form should be at breakfast in the dining hallcandidate is that they will be ‘in the top 20% of those achieving grades 7-9 in the subject’; (6th Form only may have breakfast in house)• In every subject, the content is more demanding and the assessment more rigorous than previously; 8.20 am Every morning there is a House meeting in the House Common Room at 8.20am• The assessment will be mainly by exam. In some subjects such as Drama and Art, other types of assessment will be used only where they are needed to test essential skills. For further information about assessment, please speak

Monday to Friday:to the relevant Head of Department. 8.35 am Tiering of exams Assembly or Tutor Session according to daily timetable 9.00 am First lesson of the day The new GCSEs are only split into foundation tier and higher tier if one single exam paper does not give all students 10.45 am Break the opportunity to show their knowledge and abilities. Consequently, exams are tiered in Biology, Chemistry, French, German, Maths, Physics and Spanish. 12.50—1.50 pm Lunch 3.45 pm End of lessons New grading structure 4.00 pm Activity sessions start 5.00 pm End of the school working day for pupils attending Activity Session 1. 6.00pm End of the school working day for pupils attending Activity Session 2. A Day pupils may leave at these times although they are encouraged to stay for tea and evening activities including prep. (Occasional evening enrichment events are compulsory for all of a particular year group). On the rare occasion that day pupils have no further school commitments or activity sessions, they may leave at 4.00pm . 6.00-6.50 pm Tea 6.45 pm All girls back in the House after tea. Phones handed in for prep. 7.00 pm Start of prep

Current grading structure 9 A* 8 7 6 B 5 4 C 3 D 2 E F 1 G U U

9 is awarded to those pupils achieving what would currently be a top A*: perhaps at around 96%+

GOOD PASS (DfE) 5 and above = top of C and above Schools are no longer AWARDING assessed on A*-C 4 and above = bottom of C and above statistics, but on ‘9-4’ statistics. Under the updated structure, the ‘good pass’ for Maths and English is a 5, which is on the border between a C and a B under the old system.