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Wednesday 3rd October 2018 Year 9 Learning Evening
Thursday 1st November 2018 First Progress Check comes home
Wednesday 7th November 2018 Year 9 mufti day
Monday 10th December 2018 Year 9 Exam Week
Wednesday 16th January 2019 Year 9 Options Evening
Thursday 17th January 2019 Second Progress Check comes home
Wednesday 23rd January 2019 Parents’ Evening
February 2019 Options form submission
Thursday 13th June 2019 Third Progress Check comes home
When you receive the Progress Check..
EQUIPMENT LIST
The following items must be brought to school each day;
2 x black / blue pens
2 x green pens
2 x pencil (2B and HB for Art)
Pencil sharpener
Ruler
Rubber
Glue stick
Calculator
Colouring pencils
Pair of compasses
Protractor
Reading book
Show My Homework
https://www.showmyhomework.co.uk/todos/issued
Who to contact…
• Your child’s tutor- first initial plus surname, apart from SMP, LAW, (A)DMB @plymstockschool.org.uk
• Mrs Smith, Assistant Head of Year [email protected]
• Mrs Summers, Head of year [email protected]
• Ms Offer, Attendance Officer [email protected]
• Class teachers
• Heads of Department
The Year 9 course
All work done is part of the pathway they follow to their GCSE exams.
• Covers all areas of mathematics: algebra, geometry, number, data
• Mastery of number skills
• Build problem solving skills further
• Build confidence to try questions
All students have
• Access to mymaths
www.mymaths.co.uk
• Access to mathswatch
www.mathswatchvle.co.uk
• Access to times tables rockstars www.ttrockstars.com
They also have
• Homework each week
• After School homework club available
• Access to 14 maths teachers who can help them
How can you help?
• Be positive about maths!
• Talk to your son/daughter about what they are doing in their
maths lessons
• Talk about maths in everyday life – when you are shopping,
reading a newspaper, articles in the news, money
management, cooking …• Use MyMaths or MathsWatch (or other apps) to help
• Test them on their times tables and recall of formulae
English
Mrs Kim Bradley
English Key Stage Three Manager
GCSE English and English Literature
• English Language –
» Two examinations focusing on reading and writing skills.
• English Literature –
» One examination based on the study of a Shakespeare play and a 19th Century novel.
» One examination based on a modern play or prose text and a poetry anthology.
Year 9 English Curriculum
• 20th Century Prose-Of Mice and Men/To Kill a Mockingbird
• Paper 1-Reading and Writing assessment
• War Poetry
• Shakespeare-Romeo and Juliet
• Non Fiction Reading and Writing
• BEGINNING KS4 COURSE-An Inspector Calls
Parental Support• Look at their exercise books – focus on the positive.
• Ask questions about what they are doing.
• Find aspects to praise.
• Offer support on ways to develop writing.
• Support with homework tasks.
• Find writing opportunities.• Letters, notes, messages, emails.
• Reading• Not just novels – magazines, non-fiction, food packaging, leaflets, holiday brochures, opinion
columns
• Develop vocabulary – conversations, dictionary and thesaurus, games, ‘word a day’. • Wider experiences
• Theatre, library, museums.
Further support
• CGP KS3 English study guide
• Letts KS3 English course book
Websites focusing on skills –grammar-monster.com
grammarbook.com
bbc.co.uk/skillswise
GCSE Science begins in year 9
Well…. year 7 really
How Science works
Yr 9 – 11 students study Combined Science Trilogy GCSE (a few will already have expressed an interest in choosing studying separate sciences and this is being co-taught)
• Students have 3 teachers in years 9 - 11
They take all their exams in year 11
2 Biology exams
2 Chemistry exams
2 Physics exams
Students are awarded 2 grades from 9 - 1
How to achieve in Science
1. Learn the content
There is a lot to learn… it takes 3 years to teach itThere is a lot to remember…. This takes repetitionwww.freesciencelessons.co.uk
Students learn NEW content EVERY lesson.
Lessons are about understanding the content.
Homework is set to begin the process of consolidating the
learning and remembering the facts
HOWEVER
• It is the work done at home, that is not set as homework, that really makes a difference.
• The revision guide needs to be bought and read.
A LOT!
• The revision videos need to be watched frequently.
eg… watch video before each lesson, read revision guide after each lesson and then frequently use both between the lessons and the exams/tests.
This is where parenting comes into play the most – encouraging your child to go the extra mile.
Key point
• Revision in year 11 should not be learning.
• Most students who do not achieve their targets only learn the
content in the revision period leading up to exams.
• Learning is a continuous process that is best achieved at home
under the watchful eye of the parent/guardian
• Revision is the final stage, going over work and relating it
specifically to exam style questions.
2. Understand how to answer the question
• We do a lot of work in lessons improving literacy skills
• At home you can help by encouraging your child to read.
• A wider vocabulary means greater access to the questions
Help within school
In school intervention has already begun.
• Teachers have signs on their doors stating when they are
running their help sessions
• Students should initially see their own teacher as they know
them and their needs best, however any teacher will be happy
to help.
Mrs Duff
Director of Learning Years 7 to 9
Exams are not the only means of gauging progress but the reality is that it is by examination that your child will be judged at the end of year 11.
Homework V Home Learning
Home Learning
• Preparation for a lesson can aid understanding later in class
• Homework provides opportunities for reinforcement of work learned during school time.
• Opportunities to develop research skills.
• Preparation for Years 10 and 11 where homework forms an essential part of the preparation for GCSEs and other qualifications.
Work out where your son / daughter works best
• Quiet study area in their bedroom OR kitchen / dining room table.
• If the use of a computer or laptop is required for homework and other family members also need to use this, ensure that time is allocated fairly to avoid any additional stress. (Students can use the computers in the school library after school every day and this is an option if you do not have computer access at home)
Avoid distractions
• Encourage other family members to be quiet, especially youngsters.
• Ensure that your child’s mobile phone is in a different room to their homework place.
• Having a break after 30 minutes work and reunited with phone
Help your child on the route towards independence
• Support with organisation.
• Look at SMHW each day and discuss what homework has been set and when it will be completed.
• A little time invested in ensuring that your child has fully understood the homework instructions and knows how to tackle the task will help them to settle quickly.
• Check on your child’s progress with the task after 15 minutes. This does not need to be intrusive and one reason why not having a child isolated in their bedroom works for some students is because it is easier to check they are making progress.
Establish a regular homework routine
• It is unlikely that you can always be home when your child is doing homework and it is therefore important to establish an agreed time when homework will be done.
• Household routines differ and children will have various activities they take part in throughout the week. It is important that your child has quality down time from school work so please encourage them to continue to do the activities they enjoy and meet up with friends.
• Some children will prefer to settle to homework soon after getting home, others will want a break. Discuss this with your child. Work will also need to be completed at weekends.
Having the right equipment
In addition to the items on the equipment list, your child will need paper, highlighter pens and other types of stationery when they begin to make revision resources.
Do not underestimate the contribution that you can make to improve your child’s learning
• You do not have to be a French speaking physicist with a love of mathematics and a passion for Art, Drama and an avid interest in current affairs in order to be able to support your child with their homework!
• Just show an interest in what they are doing, helping them to plan when they are going to do their work, helping them to meet homework deadlines, making them a cup of tea and giving them a chocolate biscuit, all of this will help.
• Homework can be a cause of stress in the home and your child may not initially appreciate that you are on their side and all you want to do is support them, but don’t give up.
• Be patient and try to establish routines and rules that will support good learning at home.
• Try to find time to read through any written work with your child and support them to find errors they have made in their writing, for example, spelling and punctuation errors.
It’s not YOUR homework!• the homework is regularly too hard or too easy
• your son/daughter is having problems completing assignments on time
• your child is taking too much or too little time on homework
• too much homework is being set with not enough time to meet deadlines
• your child regularly has no specific homework task set for a particular subject
• your son/daughter is becoming distressed over homework
Attempt to avoid conflict
Mind Maps
• A way of organising ideas about a topic. They can be used for
revision, making notes and planning essays and exam
answers.
• Start with a central idea with a series of branches, each relating
to one of the aspects of the main idea.
• Helps us to see a whole topic on a sheet of paper
Things to do with mind maps:
1. Stick them up somewhere you will see them regularly
2. Draw some pictures on them to help you remember some
key points
3. Explain the map to a friend or family member over and over
again
4. Try to remember the mind map
5. Use mind maps to plan essays – use each branch for each
key point
Flash Cards
• Summarise information onto a small index card.
• A brief outline of something, such as a particular topic, often using bullet points, diagrams, and colour.
• Flash cards force us to summarise information in a succinct way and make us think about what the most important part of something is
• They are also useful for practical reasons because they are quite small so your child can take them everywhere!
Suggest four reasons why a
river may slow down and drop
material?
Answer(s) • Volume of water in the river
decreases.
• The river reaches the mouth.
• Water is shallow e.g. inside a
river bend
• The amount of eroded material
in the water increases
Flash Card season
• Focus on the process not the product.
• Feeling busy isn’t the same as learning deeply.
• Challenge the illusion that creating a beautiful, colour coded card is somehow ‘job done’
Flashcard theory
• Each time we recall information without seeing it in front of us, we re-consolidate prior learning.
• Repeating this process reinforces our memory of the content of that learning.
• Flashcards are a simple and effective tool for allowing students to engage in active recall, a process proven to strengthen the neuronal connections that underpin our memories.
How can pupils best use flashcards
• Flash cards most effective when they are learner generated and used over time.
• Re-visiting the full stack of the cards on a weekly basis provides students with the spaced practice needed to strengthen the memory traces required for long term recall.
• Drop cards from the stack that have already been memorised but return them to the pack after a few weeks
