Y10 GCSE English and Maths
Information
January 2017
Dave Adams, Amanda Delve,
Andy Guy, Charlene Green
Curriculum and Assessment Reform
• The main features of the new GCSEs are:
• A grading scale of 9 to 1 rather than A* to G
• More challenging knowledge-based content,
extended writing; fewer bite-sized questions
• No modular exams; all examinations will be taken
at the end of the course
• Exams will only take place in the summer (except
for a resit opportunity in English language and
maths in November of year 12).
Future UK GCSE Grades
Estimated proportion of UK students gaining
• Grade 9 will be about 4%
• Grades 7 and 8 about 17%
• Grades 4, 5 and 6 about 48%
Entry to DHSB Sixth Form 2018
Entry requirements remain as now but
converted to the new grade system
• the applicant needs to have achieved an
Average Points Score of 6.0 or higher from
their best eight GCSEs and at least a grade 5 in
both English and Mathematics.
• For unreformed GCSEs grades will be
converted as follows: A*=8.5, A=7.0, B=5.5,
C=4.0, D=3.0, E=2.0, F=1.5, G=1.0.
• DHSB students have priority for places
GCSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE
Guide to GCSE June 2018
English Language
Paper 1:
Explorations in Creative
Reading and Writing
Paper 2:
Writers’ Viewpoints and
Perspectives
Non-Examination
Assessment: Spoken
Language
What is assessed?
Section A: Reading
● One literature fiction text
Section B Writing
● descriptive or narrative
writing
What is assessed?
What is assessed?
Section A: Reading
● Presenting
● one non-fiction text
● Responding to questions
● one literary non-fiction text
and feedback
Section B: Writing
● use of Standard English
● to present a viewpoint
1hr 45 mins exam, 80 marks
50% of GCSE English
Language
1hr 45 mins exam, 80 marks
50% of GCSE English
Language
Reading, 40 marks, 25%
one single text, 4 questions:
Q1 - 4 marks
Q2&3 - 8 marks
Q4 - 20 marks
Writing, 40 marks, 25%
1 extended writing (24 content,
16 technical accuracy[20%])
Reading, 40 marks, 25%
two linked texts
Q1 - 4 marks
Q2&3 - 8 and 12 marks
Q4 - 16 marks
Writing, 40 marks, 25%
1 extended writing (24 content,
16 technical accuracy [20%])
Teacher assessed
Separate endorsement
English Literature
Paper 1
Shakespeare and the 19th Century Novel
Paper 2
Modern Texts and Poetry
What is assessed?
Section A
● Shakespeare: Macbeth
Section B
● 19th Century Novel: Jekyll and Hyde
What is assessed?
Section A
● Modern texts: An Inspector Calls
Section B
● Poetry: AQA Anthology
Section C
● Unseen Poetry
1 hour 45 min exam, 64 marks
40% of English Literature GCSE
2 hour 15 min exam, 96 marks
60% of GCSE
Section A: One question on Shakespeare
● write in detail on a given extract making
reference to the play as a whole
Section B: One question on a novel.
● write in detail on a given extract making
reference to the novel as a whole
Section A
● one essay question from a choice of two
Section B
● one comparative question on one named
printed poem and one other of choice
chosen from the anthology cluster
Section C
● one question on one unseen poem
● one question comparing this poem with a
second unseen poem
English Language Assessment Objectives
Reading
AO1: Identify and interpret explicit and implicit information and
ideas. Select and synthesise evidence from different texts.
AO2: Explain, comment on and analyse how writers use
language and structure to achieve effects and influence readers,
using relevant subject terminology.
AO3: Compare writers’ ideas and perspectives as well as how
these are conveyed across two or more texts.
AO4: Evaluate texts critically and support this with appropriate
technical references.
English Language Assessment Objectives
Writing
AO5: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively,
selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different
forms, purposes and audience. Organise information and ideas,
using structural and grammatical features to support coherence
and cohesion and texts.
AO6: Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for
clarity, purpose and effect with accurate spelling and
punctuation.
English Literature Assessment Objectives
AO1: Read, understand and respond to texts.
Students should be able to:
• maintain a critical style and develop an informed
personal response
• use textual references, including quotations to support
and illustrate interpretations.
AO2: Analyse the language, form and structure used by a
writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject
terminology where appropriate.
AO3: Show understanding of the relationships between texts
and the contexts in which they were written.
AO4: Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for
clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and
punctuation.
Literature texts - all closed texts
Shakespeare: Macbeth
Modern texts: An Inspector Calls
19th century novel: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Poetry: AQA Anthology poems Power and Conflict
Unseen poetry: we will teach a range of skills through the
poetry study which will help the boys access this component
of the exam.
How best to help our year ten boys?
• It is essential that they keep all their English exercise books along with
teacher feedback and targets.
• Copies of set texts are available through WisePay £15
• Share these with your sons
• Let them teach you what they know about the literature texts we are studying.
• Help them remember quotations and their significance
• It’s not about learning by rote - it’s about enjoying the experience. Making
those texts mean something and understand the key themes and issues that
authors and poets are exploring.
• Help them understand that all works of fiction are crafted by an author.
Characters, settings, action and plot are there to manipulate an audience - to
make us feel, think and react.
• Read newspapers and watch the news together. Discuss what is going on in
the world, encourage them to question and explore what they are being
asked to believe.
• Enjoy film, theatre and television together - read reviews and commentaries.
Consider the different ways in which texts communicate with an audience.
• Encourage them to read widely and regularly. We have a suggested reading
list.
• Help them with SPG. Use BBC Bitesize, Grammar Monster etc to help.
Sixteen by Sixteen
KS4 Suggested Reading – Classic Fiction
Austen, Jane
Pride and Prejudice; Emma
James, Henry
Turn of the Screw; Portrait of
a Lady
Bronte,
Charlotte
Jane Eyre
Joyce, James
Dubliners; Ulysses
Bronte, Emily
Wuthering Heights
Lawrence, D.H.
Sons and Lovers; Women in
Love
Collins, Wilkie
The Woman in White
Pasternak, Boris
Doctor Zhivago
Conrad, Joseph Heart of Darkness; Lord Jim
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Defoe, Daniel
Stevenson, Robert Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde;
Louis
Treasure Island
Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles Great Expectations
Dostoevsky,
Fyodor
Doyle, Arthur
Conan
Dumas,
Alexandre
Eliot, George
Stoker, Bram
Dracula
Crime and Punishment
Swift, Jonathan
Gulliver’s Travels
The Sherlock Holmes Adventures
Tolstoy, Leo
The Count of Monte Cristo; The Three
Musketeers
Twain, Mark
Middlemarch; Mill on the Floss
Wilde, Oscar
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Woolf, Virginia
Mrs. Dalloway(ML); The
Waves
Hardy, Thomas Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Hawthorne,
Nathaniel
The Scarlet Letter
Anna Karenina; War and
Peace
Huckleberry Finn; Tom
Sawyer
KS4 Suggested Reading – Modern Fiction
Banks, Iain
The Wasp Factory
Irving, John
Cider House Rules
Boyne, John
The Boy in Striped Pyjamas
Kesey, Ken
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
Nest
Donnelly, Jennifer A Gathering Light
Lee, Harper
To Kill a Mocking Bird
Du Maurier,
Daphne
Rebecca
Martel, Yann
The Life of Pi
Evans, Nicholas
The Horse Whisperer
McEwan, Ian
Atonement
Fitzgerald, F. Scott The Great Gatsby
Orwell, George
Animal Farm; Nineteen Eightyfour(1984)
Frazier, Charles
Rand, Ayn
The Fountainhead
Golding, William Lord of the Flies
Roy, Arundhati
The God of Small Things
Greene, Graham Brighton Rock
Salinger, J.D.
The Catcher in the Rye
Haley, Alex
Roots
Singh, Simon
Fermat’s Last Theorem
Heller, Joseph
Catch 22
Steinbeck, John
Of Mice and Men; The Grapes
of Wrath
Hosseini, Khaled
The Kite Runner; A Thousand Splendid
Tolkien, J.R.R.
Suns
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Cold Mountain
The Hobbit; The Lord of the
Rings Trilogy
KS4 Suggested Reading – Popular Fiction
Almond, David
Anderson, Rachel
Ashley, Bernard
Blackman, Malorie
Brooks, Kevin
Burgess, Melvin
Collins, Suzanne
Cross, Gillian
Curtis, Vanessa
Earle,
Ellis, Deborah
Flood, C.J.
Freeman, Hilary
Green, John
Haddon, Mark
Skellig
Asylum
Little Soldier; The Trouble with Donovan Croft
Noughts & Crosses Series
The Bunker Diary
Junk; Nicholas Dane; Billy Elliott
The Hunger Games Trilogy
Where I Belong
Zelah Green
Phil Heroic
The Breadwinner; Parvana’s Journey; Mud City
Infinite Sky
Lifted
The Fault In Our Stars
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
New Maths GCSE
...for first examination, summer 2017
the course
“The new mathematics GCSE will demand deeper and
broader mathematical understanding. It will provide all
students with greater coverage of key areas such as ratio,
proportion and rates of change and require them to apply their
knowledge and reasoning to provide clear mathematical
arguments. It will focus on ensuring that every student masters
the fundamental mathematics that is required for further
education and future careers. It will provide greater challenge
for the most able students by thoroughly testing their
understanding of the mathematical knowledge needed for
higher level study and careers in mathematics, the sciences
and computing.”
From: Department for Education and
The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
The GCSE course focuses on Maths as a challenging and
fulfilling discipline in its own right, allowing students to:
• enjoy the abstract
• develop mathematical thinking, reasoning and problem
solving
• acquire sound basic techniques
• appreciate clear communication, justification and simple
proof
It also concentrates on using Maths as an essential tool for
life and work, including:
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•
mathematical understanding of the world
everyday situations, e.g. finance and science
functional skills, i.e. representing, analysing, interpreting
emphasising relevance and purpose
This will be the second year of the new GCSE
specification. GCSE Mathematics has a
Foundation tier (grades 1 – 5) and a Higher tier
(grades 4 – 9).
The highest grade available on the Foundation
paper will exceed the demands of the current
GCSE grade C; additional content will reflect the
increased challenge.
● The examinations are taken are the end of year 11
● There is a mix of question styles, from short, single-mark
questions to multi-step problems.
● Students can be said to have confidence and competence
with mathematical content when they can apply it flexibly to
solve problems
first look at the new questions
familiar but non-routine
new topics
not to answer, but to explain
What we are doing?
Teaching over 3 years
Regular assessment points
Brand new resources to
match the new specification
Topic specific assessments
Online access to many of our
new resources
Resources that develop
problem solving skills
Diagnostic Questions
Inspect the Spec
Subject ambassadors
Online maths forum
“The new GCSEs in English and mathematics set higher
expectations; they demand more from all students and provide
further challenge for those aiming to achieve top grades.” DfE
resources
www.kerboodle.com
Steps to Achieve Excellence
• Decide to ‘Go For It’! Be ambitious
• Analyse areas where you can improve
• Provide, and accept, support
• Get regular, quality feedback
• Act on the feedback to improve performance
• Focus on the detail – make gains everywhere you
can
• Help those around you improve too
• Stay motivated – be resilient
• Prepare effectively
Preparing for GCSEs
• 3 years preparing for GCSE
– Need for excellent mastery, revision and memory
• Exam experience
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Year 9 exams were ¼ way through course
Year 10 exams - ½ way through course
Year 11 mock exams in November - ¾ through course
Make time for revision and follow-up
• Make sure to answer the question
– Understand differences in ‘Command Words’
– eg ‘State’, ‘Describe’, ‘Explain’, ‘Justify’ etc…
• Improve literacy skills:
– Spelling, punctuation and grammar
– Wide reading of fiction and non-fiction
Preparing for GCSEs
• Keep on top of assignments
– Homeworky lists all homework assignments for
the students and the deadlines for completion
– Classcharts will show if any assignment deadlines
have been missed
• Act on feedback given
– Deal with misconceptions as you go through the
course – don’t leave it for y11 final revision.
How do YOU revise?
How could you do it better?
◦ We learn:
◦ 10% of what we read
◦ 20% of what we hear
◦ 30% of what we see
◦ 50% of what we both see and hear
◦ 70% of what is discussed with others
◦ 80% of what we experience personally
◦ 90% of what we TEACH to someone else
Revision websites...
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www.getrevising.co.uk
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize
www.studyzones.com
www.s-cool.co.uk
www.schoolsnet.com
www.gcse.com
www.mymaths.co.uk
www.sparknotes.com
www.kerboodle.com
Apps for
for Revision:
Apps
Revision
There are plenty of apps available in the Apps store / Google Play store designed to help your revision. Many are
subject specific, however, below is a list of apps that can help you with your revision across all of your subjects:
Memrise is an app designed to help you learn key words and their definitions through matching games and
scheduled repetition. It will send you notifications when it’s time to revise again and once downloaded doesn’t need
an internet connection to run.It works brilliantly with languages, but there are courses on Memrise available for
nearly every subject. If the one you want isn’t there, you can even make your own.
Quizlet is a flashcard game. Sets of flashcards for a range of subjects are available to search through but, again, you
can make your own personalised sets too. Once you have a set, you can use them in any way you would normally
use a flachcard, including matching games against the clock.
Have trouble organising your revision? Trello is a To Do List app that can help you keep on top of your schedule and
keep you well organised with your revision.
Apps for Revision
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=reXXzWdfAyc
StudyBlue is another flashcard based app that lets you arrange your cards into subject and topic groups and
collaborate and compete with others at a range of games and quizzes based on your flashcards.
Like to talk? Audioboo lets you record short podcasts and share them. You can use it to make short revision podcasts
to listen to over and over and over again.
SimpleMind+ is an app that lets you create digital mind maps. If making mind maps to help you visualise the content
in a topic helps you, this might be the app for you. It means you can keep all of your mind maps with you on your
phone / tablet to revise from anywhere.
Cold Turkey is the app for you if you find it difficult to switch off from everything while you revise. It allows you to
block all social media, games and even specific websites from your phone for a set time and you can’t undo it until
the timer wears off! Perfect if you can’t be away from snapchat for more than 2 minutes….
Flippity - Create Flashcards etc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GHNkBWexbA
PiXL Maths and English Apps