Dear Parent/Carer
Year 11 students will have their Mock Exam Results Assembly during Period 5 on Monday 5th January, where students will receive an envelope containing their Mock Results. The purpose of the assembly is for students to experience the feeling on the real GCSE results day in August. Results will also be emailed to parents/carers immediately after the assembly.
Year 11 Parents’ evening is the following Monday 12th January, where you will be able to discuss the results with subject teachers. This is perhaps the most important Parents’ evening of a child’s secondary education. On return from the Christmas break, Year 11 will only have 14 school weeks left until the GCSE exams begin.
Starting on Tuesday 13th January we will be extending the school day for our Year 11 students as we did last year with a Period 6 lesson. On a Tuesday to Thursday there will be a day dedicated to a ‘Subject area’ where the students will attend a study session for the dedicated subject. At the end of Period 5 the students will be brought to the canteen for refreshments before they start work again. The session will run from 15.15-16.00 Tuesday – Thursday. The Period 6 lessons will run on a two-week timetable (below) in the same way as our normal school timetable operates. The first session starts on Tuesday 13th January and will run up until the GCSE exams start. The first session is Week 1 Tuesday Option B.
Will this have impact?
Period 6 sessions provide an extra hour each fortnight (weekly for Maths), which increases curriculum teaching time by 20% for Option subjects. This extra time will have a direct impact on improving the grades students achieve in the summer. Students followed the same plan in previous years and the impact was significant.
I am therefore asking for your support in implementing this compulsory provision as it will not work if our parents/carers and students are not on board. I appreciate it is a long day, however we feel it will be very beneficial and productive. Our students are at their best when they are with their teachers as they are on hand to help and support them all the way. Our staff are fully on board with this which is just brilliant as we all have the best interests of our young people at heart.
Please talk to your child about this offer and how important it is that they embrace it. It is a small proportion out of their life which will have a really positive impact.
Many thanks as always for all your support as we could not do this without you.
Yours faithfully
Mr J Koltan
Deputy Headteacher