Dear Parents and Carers
On Monday exam boards released the adjustments to the summer 2022 exams at A Level and GCSE, their response to the disruption experienced by children over the last two years. Our Heads of Department spent the afternoon examining these and have immediately woven them into the curriculum and revision schedule. In some subjects the adjustments have led to a prescriptive list of topics to focus on. In others they have chosen to remove small parts of the syllabus, but leave most topics which will still allow choice of questions in the exam. Either way, the announcement has served as a starting pistol to the “run in”; the period of time leading to the start of exams in May.
However your child has approached Year 11 or Year 13 so far, there is enough time to make a real difference to their confidence on entering the exam rooms in May and June. They have mock results which highlight areas for further study and this information, combined with what the exam boards have told us, means the teaching they get will be highly personalised and targeted over the next few weeks.
Another part of the announcement was that the grading of exams will be more generous than pre-covid years. This can be misleading and mustn’t lead to any complacency by students as it applies to the nationwide cohort rather than individual papers. Imagine GCSE maths is complete and all students nationwide are in a long line with the highest scoring student in the country at one end and the lowest at the other. In 2019, the first 16% of students in the line were awarded grades 7, 8 and 9 (top 3% – 9, next 5.5% – 8 and next 7.5% – 7 adding up to the 16%). This then continues down the line. When they speak of being more generous, it isn’t about the marking, it is about how many students get peeled off for each grade. Therefore, when it is reported that this year will be more “generous” please remind your child that this isn’t quite right, the marking will be the same and they need to get as much correct as possible in order to be far forward in that line. We will explain all this over the next few weeks and, from what I can see, very few kids are complacent. The most important message is that they have time if they really kick on now – listen to their teachers, who are really focused on what the exam boards have told us, have a clear plan at home to revise each evening (little and often) and take advantage of all opportunities to attend the additional classes at school.
With best wishes
Andy Perry – Head Teacher
Click here to return to the current newsletter