Study Leave Programme

Sorry for the delay in posting this. Click here to download the final version of the Study Leave Booster Programme. Things got off to a great start yesterday with over 130 students in attendance. There is a big exam on Monday but students can still sign up for sessions for Periods 3,4 and 5 by coming to the library before school.

Exam Booklets and Study Leave

We had a Year 11 assembly this Monday at which students were given their exam booklet which provides detailed guidance about conduct during exams. It is worth familiarising yourself with this guidance, particularly the sections on mobile phones and electronic devices as candidates can be disqualified from an exam even if a device goes off in their pockets. Getting into good habits for the exams - for example removing labels from bottles of water - reduces stress on the day, which can only aid performance.


The students were also given details of how Study Leave works. From Friday 12th of May until half term we will be running a programme of booster sessions and supervised revision which students can sign up for each morning. It is recommended that all students attend this programme, although some students are given the choice whether or not to attend. More details, including the draft programme will be published early next week.

How much time should students be spending revising during the holidays?

Naturally this will vary for different students but we suggest that students try and complete three full revision sessions each day during the holiday. Each session should be based around the "Prepare it, learn it, test it." model and should last around an hour and a half. If students want to push themselves up to four of these sessions in a day then that's great. It is really important that students take regular breaks and take time away from revision to enjoy themselves and relax.

What should students be doing between now and the holiday?

By now, students should have planned their revision programme until at least the start of the Easter holidays, preferably using the Revision Planner they were given in assembly. Any students who are still struggling to do this should see Mr Taylor for help. At the moment we expect students to be completing at least five revision sessions per week of approximately an hour and a half per session. They should leave at least one day a week free in order to catch up on any sessions that they are unable to complete during the week. Obviously, if the students want to do more sessions at the weekend, then that's great but they should be careful not to over-do it or put themselves under too much pressure.

Science Booster Sessions Starting Next Tuesday

The following sessions will take place from 3:30 to 4:30 in C11:

Date	Topic	Teacher
Tue 21st March	B4	Miss Bayley
Tue 28th March	C5 Allotropes PPTEs	Mr Alexander and Dr Beattie
Tue 4th  April	C5 Extracting metals from their ores	Dr Archer
Mon 24th April	P4 Momentum and Forces	Mr Goldsmith
Tue 2nd May	B5 Growth and development	Dr Wilson
Tue 9th May	P5	Mr Horton

History Booster Sessions Now Correct!

Thank you to the eagle-eyed parent who noticed that the original History Booster list had me coming in during the holidays to deliver a session (I'm committed but not that committed!) I have now corrected the list and edit the post to include the correct information.

Revision Masterclass Thursday March 9th

This Thursday March 9th, I will running a revision "masterclass" for Year 11 students in TC6 from 3:30 to 4:30. This will be an opportunity for students to spend an hour focusing on developing their revision plans, with help and guidance from me. Students should bring their revision planners along and their revision strategy cards, having had a go at planning their revision themselves beforehand. Any students who missed last week's assemblies in the Library can come along to pick up a planner and a set of cards.

Geography Revision Sessions

Here are the revision sessions being run by "Team Geography" in the run up to the exams.

Resources from the Parents and Carers Revision Evening

Thanks to all the parents and carers who attended the Revision Evening on Thursday March 2nd and a huge thanks to all the teachers who gave up their time to run such great sessions. I am including some of the resources from those sessions here. Not all of the sessions used electronic resources (for example English) and some used specific websites like PE or Maths, so I have not included those sessions here, but there are lots of resources which I hope you will find useful.

The resources are all hosted by Mediafire and should be fairly straightforward to download (there is usually a big green button with "Download" on it - avoid clicking on adverts and if you are asked to install anything then don't, that isn't necessary to download these files) but if you are unsure or have problems please email me at the school.

The presentation on emotional well-being can be found here.
The materials from the Aiming for an A/8 session are in a zip file* here
The presentation for Science can be found here.
The History presentation can be found here
The RE presentation can be found here. 

Other materials will be added as I receive them.

*the materials are in a zip file as they are too large to post separately. You will need an unzipping application such as winzip (which is free for 30 days I think). Ask your child if you need help!

History Booster Programme

Below are the details of the History booster sessions that are available for students over the coming weeks:

Parents and Carers Revision Evening Thursday March 2nd

On Thursday 2 March from 7:00pm to 9:00pm we will be running a Revision Evening for Parents and Carers of Year 11 students. These evenings are designed to give parents and carers the opportunity to find out ways to support Year 11 students in the run-up to the GCSE exams, both in individual subjects and more generally. Year 11 students have been given a letter to take home containing full details of this event and the workshops we will be running. A copy of the letter is attached below. The letter with your preferences for workshops to attend should be returned to Mrs Bullock in the Humanities Administration Office. You can download a copy of the letter from here.

Here we go again! Getting ready for revision 2017.

After half term, students will, very quickly find themselves at the start of the revision season. For that reason it is a good idea to use the coming holiday to really make sure that they are up to date (or even ahead of the game) when it comes to their studies. This might involve making sure that any coursework has been finished off to a high standard; it might mean getting Art and Photography folders up to date; it might even mean going through exercise books and folders to establish whether any work has been missed and using the holiday to plug any gaps.


Similarly, if there are topics in key subjects such as Maths or English that students feel less confident about; the holiday is great time to revisit these areas.


In the second week back after half term, students will receive their revision planner - this contains lots of the key information and guidance they need in order to create a really effective revision programme. To help parents and carers support students through the revision process, there is also our annual Revision Evening on Thursday March 2nd - more details to follow.