Preparing For Your Mocks

This site is mostly designed for use in the run up to summer exams. However you will find lots of material on here which will help you to prepare for your mock exams. There are topic lists, revision guides and links to useful websites such as Take Five and the VLE. If you want any guidance or hellp with revising for your mocks contact Mr Taylor.

The Blog is "resting" until the mocks

at which point it will arise phoenix-like from the flames!

Exam keywords and other important stuff

Ms. Pascoe is running a session on exam keywords for students in A1 at 12.30 on Monday. You can download a copy of her Powerpoint on exam literacy by clicking here and visiting the Megaupload site, waiting 45 seconds then choosing "Regular Download". Students will also be having VIP lesson which is designed to get students thinking about exam keywords, time management and organisation. The Powerpoint from that lesson is here and the sheet of exam keywords and definitions is here.

Booster programme during study leave

As you should be aware, we are running a comprehensive booster programme during study leave. The students will be receiving their copies of the programme on Monday at the Year 11 exams assembly. You can download a copy here (click on the link which will take you to Megaupload site, wait 45 seconds then select the "Regular Download" button. Students who have been granted study leave can plan which days they wish to attend school, those without study leave can plan which sessions they will be attending each day. There are more details on the programme itself.

What students should be doing this week (w/b 3rd May)

This week is all about making sure students are ready for study leave. Students will be getting their individual exam timetables in the next couple of days, and hopefully by the end of the week they will have a list of the sessions we are running during study leave. Students should have a chat with their tutors this week and get them to sign the forms in the back of the planner (and get parents / carers to sign them too) and take them along to Mrs Bullock in the Humanities Admin. Office in the TC building. I will be catching up with the students with whom I have been working to discuss study leave options in the coming week.

What students should be doing this week (w/b April 26th)

In this short week back after the Easter Holidays, students will have the opportunity for some revision in school on Thursday morning, along with the chance to finish off outstanding ICT work where appropriate. Please remind students to bring in some revision for periods 2 and 3 on Thursday. I will be checking up on my coached students progress during this time so there will be no meetings during registration this week. I will also take the opportunity to try and answer any questions students have about study leave and the booster programme. On the revision front, students should be continuing the work they have planned to do (remembering that the long weekend is an excellent opportunity to put in a few extra hours!

What students should be doing this week (w/b April 4th)

My advice is to make sure that students have planneda really comprehensive revision programme for the Easter holidays. The guidance in the Revision Planner is just that: guidance, and may not be appropriate for all students. However, I am recommending to the students that I am coaching that they try and do three revision sessions per day during the holidays. If they structure them using the "Prepare It! Learn It! Test It!" model, they will probably end up doing about 4 and half hours revision per day in the holidays.

GCSE Exam Timetables

I have uploaded the overview of the GCSE exam timetable as it stands at the moment, you can download it from Megaupload by clicking here .

What students should be doing this week (w/b March 28th)

This week i have asked the students I am coaching to use their revision planners to plan out exactly what they will be revising and when, and to fill in the "Revision Subject and Topic" column of the diary section of their planner. In order to help with this I have asked each subject to provide a topic list so that students can plan between 10 and 20 sessions on each GCSE subject that they have an exam in. Obviously, students should focus more on subjects where they need to make the biggest improvement, and less on subjects where they have already completed much of the course through modular exams or coursework.

There are topic lists available for download in Business Studies , Drama, Geography, Health and Social Care, History, Maths (Foundation) , Maths (Higher) , French and German , PE , RE , Science (Single, Double and Triple) .

What students should be doing this week (w/b March 21st)

This week students should decide which of the remaining boosters they should be attending at lunchtimes and afterschool. They have all the details in their planners and they can highlight the relevant sessions in there to assist with their planning. Alternatively, you can download a summary sheet of boosters from here and highlight the ones they wish to attend and display it somewhere prominent in case they "forget". I will be meeting with the students I am coaching to make sure they have done this. They can also start to think about their revision planning (which will be next week's focus) by completing the revision cards activity in the planner and finding out topic lists from the VLE and from their teachers.

Resources from the Parents / Carers Revision Evening

Here are some of the materials used at last night's Parents / Carers Revision Evening. I will add more as they appear. You can download them by clicking on the link, which will take you to the Megaupload site, wait 45 seconds for "Regular Download" to appear then click that button. So far, there are Powerpoints available for DT (see post below), Drama, Maths and the Aiming for an A* session.

Prepare It! Learn It! Test It!

We encourage the students to create a three phase revision session each time they revise, based around the sequence of preparation, learning and testing. The short film above was created by our Sixth Formers to show how they use the three phases to structure their revision.

Resources from DT and RE

Click here for the resources that Mrs Jackson used on the Revision Parents Evening for Design Technology. The link will take you to the Mega upload site where, after waiting the usual 45 seconds or so, you can select "regular download" to get the resources. Mrs Dickinson has provided a checklist for RE which you can download here. Students can access lots more stuff like this by accessing the school's VLE using the username and password they will be given tomorrow.

Revision Planner 2011

Last week students were given their Revision Planner. This contains guidance on how to revise using our tried and tested "Revise It!" method. It also contains information on using the VLE and the Take Five website, coping with exam stress and information about how to get study leave (if they want it). The main part of the planner is a diary that students should fill in outlining what they will revise, when they will revise and more importantly how they will revise.

Those students who are being coached by me or by Heads of Houses or Learning Mentors will expected to follow the guidance in the planner very closely. Other students may or not wish to follow this method but we strongly recommend that they do.

Students have two Values in Practice lessons on revision in Year 11 which should help them to understand what to do. If they need additional guidance they can book an appointment to see Mr Taylor.

Extra copies of the planner can be downloaded from Megaupload by clicking here. Remember to wait 45 seconds for the "Regular Download" link to appear.

Student Guide to Exam Stress

Mrs Dury, our Attendance Officer has prepared a PDF file of guidance for students about exam stress. To download this file click on this link. You will then be taken to a site called Megaupload, wait for about 45 seconds as instructed on the screen, then select "Regular Download" (don't click on "Premium Download" unless you have an account with the site.)

Parents/Carers Revision Evening

Parents/Carers Revision Evening is tonight at 7pm at St Mary Redcliffe School. The evening starts with a very brief overview of the support available to students and the way we encourage students to revise. This is followed by a series of workshops on a range of different subjects, which go into detail about how parents and carers can assist in the revision process as well as top tips for student success at GCSE.