GCSE preparation….

You can support your child by letting them know they can talk to you about their feelings and helping them to address any concerns or questions they may have. It may not always be easy to find the right time to talk; if they do open up to you, it’s worth grabbing the opportunity while you can. Here is a link to an excellent website for Mindfulness for teenagers. Focusing on the present and on gratitude has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety among young people and there are some good short guided meditations here. We also personally recommend the app ‘Insight Timer’ for guided and timed meditation. http://mindfulnessforteens.com/

The workload will certainly become more intense in Year 11. Students will be set 1 hour of work for each subject, and on occasion there may be more depending on some coursework deadlines. It’s really important that students get used to the routine of sitting and working independently each evening.

We suggest students spend a maximum of 2 hours per evening studying; this could be spent on homework, reviewing notes or reading around the subject. For example, if your child is reading a novel or play they have been recommended by their English teacher that is thematically linked to a text they are studying, this could be included in this time

You may also find the following tips useful in helping to keep your child motivated:

• Agree a balance between work and social life and stick to the agreement. Flexibility is the key – if a special night comes up, agree that they can make up the work at a specified time
• All students fall behind, feel demotivated or overwhelmed, or struggle with the balance of social, work and school demands at times. When your child feels like this, berating and threatening them will have a negative effect. Talk to them about the issues, acknowledge their feelings and adopt a sensible attitude in helping them find a solution.
• Be flexible – use the 80/20 rule. If your child is sticking to what they are supposed to be doing 80% of the time, that’s a great start.
• If your child asks for your support, encourage them by helping them to see the difficulties in perspective. Teenagers often take an all or nothing approach to difficulties – “I’ve messed up this essay, I might as well give up.” Try and help them see the bigger picture and remind them that setbacks are often temporary and usually resolvable.

• The academic calendar is split into three cycles of learning.
• Each learning cycle builds towards a formal GCSE mock exam period.
• Students will experience sitting full GCSE papers in the exact exam conditions twice in the academic year before the real exams.

Super Teaching Week

What is super teaching week?

Super Teaching Week is where teaching teams use the data from assessment week (Week 11) to identify gaps in knowledge and common misconceptions. Teachers then deliver lessons that target these areas to ensure mastery and edit their schemes of learning for future year groups so that we can teach it BETTER. Each lesson is done in purple pen to show that this is development work and we use a summative sticker in students' books for students to mark the end of each Cycle's learning.

Why is super teaching week important?

At Oxford Spires we passionate that no child should be left behind and Super Teaching Week is the vehicle we use to explicitly ensure all students from all backgrounds, in all subjects, in all classrooms have the opportunity to master and develop their learning. We also believe that no scheme of learning is perfect and we enjoy reflecting and changing our practice for our students. ‘Getting better is the exciting part’.

Scholar’s Guides are our way of communicating our knowledge rich curriculum to parents and carers and a tool to complement the work done in classrooms every day. Scholar’s Guides develop students to master core knowledge and skills quickly so that teachers can push them further later.

By making knowledge and skills clear via Scholar’s Guides, students and parents can support learning from home, especially when preparing for the week 11 assessments. 

Scholar’s Guides can be used by SEND departments and teaching assistants to preteach students who may require it and to target interventions and re teaching effectively. Some students may require more support and scaffolding but Scholar’s Guide means that every student has access to ambitious lessons planned from an aligned, sequenced curriculum and we avoid denial of knowledge!