What to expect.....

We have very high expectations for your daughter’s;

• Academic achievement
• Personal appearance
• Behaviour and commitment to the school’s ethos

We expect pupils in Year 11 to set the high standards to which our younger pupils can aspire.  This includes courtesy and respect for others.

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Key Stage 4 Curriculum

Details of your daughter’s GCSE Courses are to be found in her Key Stage 4 Curriculum booklet.  A copy of this booklet can be found in the Curriculum section of the school website.

Overview

• GCSE is a 5-term Course. All of the GCSEs taken this year are reformed GCSEs (with the exception of Product Design)
• The final term in year 11 is devoted to examinations.

Year 10

• More than half the content of a GCSE Course is covered during these 3 terms
• GCSE Science started in Year 9.

Year 11

• GCSE Courses are completed.
• Mock Examinations take place during November 2024.
• Your daughter will have to make decisions as to what she will do after GCSE in early 2025.
• She will be preparing for her final set of GCSE Examinations in May/June 2025.

Homework

• In Years 10 and 11 pupils have approximately 120 minutes of homework each evening.
• Not all homework will be written; some will involve reading, learning, researching on the internet, etc.
• If homework set does not take 120 minutes your daughter should spend her remaining homework time on revision.

Study Hall

• As part of our Behaviour for Learning policy we have a session known as Study Hall.If a pupil fails to hand in a piece of homework to a member of staff on the day it is due in, the teacher will place the pupil in Study Hall.This means that on the same day (if the lesson is in the morning) or the next day (if the lesson is in the afternoon) the pupil must report to Study Hall, a room in the Mathematics Faculty (H5)at 12.50pm. Once registered at Study Hall the pupil undertakes work for 30 minutes, usually finishing the missing piece of homework.

Study support

• An extra study session is supervised each evening (Monday-Thursday) from 3.45-5.00pm in school.Any Year 10 pupil is welcome to attend this session.Pupils who have fallen behind in their work or who are in danger of underachieving will be required to attend.
• The Library is also open until 5.00pm each evening for pupils wishing to study in school

Attendance

• The school’s target for attendance is 97% and it is vitally important that your daughter does not miss school unless she is really ill.
• You should telephone school on her first day of absence and send a note when she returns to school after her illness. Please mark the absent note clearly with your daughter’s name, form and the dates when she was absent.
• A reminder that the absence line number is 641 8133
• Medical appointments etc. should be made outside of school hours whenever possible.
• Family holidays should not be taken during school time.
• Work copied up is not an adequate replacement for being in the lesson when a topic is taught.

Punctuality
Your daughter must be in school each day by 8.30am.  She must also ensure that she arrives on time for each of her lessons throughout the day.