Academic

Examinations And Assessments

Key dates in the reporting and examinations cycle for this second half term are shown below.

Calendar Michaelmas Second Half Term 2019

8 Nov - Deadline for registration for The London Institute of Banking & Finance Level 3 Certificate in Financial Studies (CeFS)

22 Nov - Prize Giving Ceremony at Warwick Arts Centre. Tickets will be posted home before Friday 15 November.

29 Nov - Upper Sixth Full Reports published and posted home; Year 7 and 10 Progress Reports published

6 Dec - Year 8 and Lower Sixth Progress Reports published

6 Dec - House Prize Winners presented with their prizes at the College Feast Day assembly                                   

External Examinations Timetables

The January 2020 exam season is relatively short and only affects a few pupils. All entries have been made and candidates have been given their timetable.  The final timetable can be viewed by clicking on the link below: 

January 2020

The Summer 2020 exam timetable has been amended by the JCQ. It affects exams in June and a revised timetable will be published in the next edition of The Flagpole.  Entries for these exams will be made in January 2020. As soon as pupils have checked and confirmed their entries, their individual exam timetable will be available to view on My School Portal.

Exam Subject Specifications and Awarding Bodies

If you’re buying revision guides it’s important to choose the correct one for the specification being followed in school. The attached documents show the exam board and specification code for each subject for GCSE and A-level.

GCSE

A-level

Shellagh Dodds
Examinations and Assessment Manager

Parents Of Lower Sixth Students - A Survival Guide

Now we are in to the second half term, it is important to recognise the stresses and demands of our Lower Sixth students. You should have noticed the level of study has increased somewhat but be aware that this level of load can cause difficulties and anxieties. Here are some tips to support your youngster.

Encourage your youngster to ask for help when they need it – seeking out a teacher before stress starts to build up is essential.  This could be as simple as finding the teacher before class, chatting to their tutor or sharing worries with friends.

Stay organised – consider how your youngster is scheduling their time and ensure that they are setting aside time for each subject throughout the week. Encourage them to start assignments early, set deadlines and make the most of study periods in the school day.

Mix up your study routine – talk to your youngster about staying focused and positive during their study time. It is important that they use a variety of study techniques from using flashcards or mind maps, writing summaries and watching online tutorials to getting a friend or family member to quiz them, completing practice tests under exam conditions and working through questions from the text book.

Take time to research your post-school options – get your youngster thinking about their future aspirations. Taking time to research and make plans for post-school life can provide a nice break from studies, while also helping them to stay motivated by reminding them of the bigger picture. This may include researching institutions and courses of interest, making travel plans for the holidays, organising things for a gap year and putting together course applications.

Stay calm and keep things in perspective – Sixth Form studies are rewarding but also demanding. Your youngster’s mental health is a vital component to success. Take time to encourage them to be involved in other activities and have a balanced life style.

For more suggestions, please click on this link.

Dr Liz Pyne
Assistant Head - Teaching and Learning

 

Year 11 Parents' And Pupils' GCSE Revision Evening - Reminder

Monday 25 November 2019 - 6.15pm to 7.45pm

"Good character education is good education - we need to take character education as seriously as we take academic education." Berkowitz and Bier (2005)

Too often disappointing student progress is ascribed to cognition, with young learners described as 'weak', or their performance diagnosed in terms of their intelligence: 'they aren't capable of this work', 'they're not bright enough to grasp this'. There is a growing body of research that suggests something very different: that successful students approach their studies with a specific set of behaviours, skills and attitudes and that despite not differing cognitively from their peers they can significantly outperform them. In short, academic success can be as much about character as it is about intelligence.

At Princethorpe College, we are committed to supporting our pupils in all aspects of their education and development and over the forthcoming academic year we will continue to embed our programme of character education, alongside our learning skills programme and our excellent Da Vinci Programme.

At the start of the academic year our key stage 4 pupils have been introduced to the five key principles of a GCSE Mindset:

·         Vision

·         Effort

·         Systems

·         Practice

·         Attitude

These key principles will be the focus of a number of tutor sessions, whereby pupils will have the opportunity to develop and explore them further in order to support their GCSE exam preparation. 

As part of this strategy, Princethorpe College will be holding an interactive GCSE revision evening, on Monday 25 November between 6.15pm and 7.45pm, for the parents and pupils in the Sports Hall. It will be hosted by Martin Griffin and Steve Oakes, both of whom have worked with more than sixty schools to develop effective character education systems. They are also authors of The GCSE Mindset (Crown House, 2017).  During the evening, Martin and Steve will explore the key principles of having a positive and proactive learning mindset and share tools and strategies for effective coaching and intervention with parents and equip parents and pupils with practical ideas and strategies to support their children throughout their GCSE courses. Pupils will be given the opportunity to trial out different revision strategies on the evening in a unique workshop style event.  These presentations have always been very well-received and we do hope that Year 11 parents and pupils will be able to join us for what promises to be a very useful and informative evening.

If you wish to attend, please complete the form here.  

We look forward to seeing you at the event. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at lizpyne@princethorpe.co.uk or Mrs Fionnuala Schofield at fionnualaschofield@princethorpe.co.uk

Dr Liz Pyne
Assistant Head - Teaching and Learning

Year 11 Academic Review Evening - Presentation Materials

I hope you were able to attend the Year 11 Academic Review Evening on Tuesday this week and that you found it informative and helpful.

Presentations from the Academic Review Evening are available below:

Supporting Your Child Using On-line Resources Handout - Andy Compton

Supporting Your Child Using On-line Resources - Andy Compton

Learning Skills for Exams - Helen Pascoe-Williams

Revision for Pupils with SpLD - Lorna Prestage

Mental Health Well-being - School Counsellors

Preparing for Sixth Form at Princethorpe - Ben Collie

Making Careers Choices - Jacqui Quinney

We look forward to receiving your responses to the Sixth Form Options Survey sent to you by iSAMS on Wednesday 6 November 2019.

Dr Liz Pyne
Assistant Head - Teaching and Learning