History

GCSE Reforms House Life

Should a student wish to contact their parents using their own phone during the school day they can • All GCSE subjects are now graded and assessed using the new 9-1 structure; do this at main school reception (with permission from the receptionist), their boarding house or the • 9 is the highest grade, awarded to the very best candidates in the subject. The official definition of a grade-9 Sixth Form Centre. candidate is that they will be ‘in the top 20% of those achieving grades 7-9 in the subject’; Watches that connect to the internet can be worn but notifications must be turned off unless in the • In every subject, the content is more demanding and the assessment more rigorous than previously; boarding house or Sixth Form Centre. • The assessment will be mainly by exam. In some subjects such as Drama and Art, other types of assessment will be used only where they are needed to test essential skills. For further information about assessment, please speak Mobiles should not be used after ‘lights out’. 3rd Formers are initially not allowed ‘mobiles in school, to the relevant Head of Department. but thereafter they have to hand their mobile phones and other devices to the staff member on duty before lights out. 4th and 5th Form girls should hand their mobiles in to Matrons’ room before prep Tiering of exams and before bed time. The new GCSEs are only split into foundation tier and higher tier if one single exam paper does not give all students the opportunity to show their knowledge and abilities. Consequently, exams are tiered in Biology, Chemistry, French, Please have your own battery powered alarm clock. German, Maths, Physics and Spanish. POST Post is delivered to the House daily and placed in your pigeon-hole in the laundry room. The “out tray” for post is in the laundry room—the postman will collect post each day. You can buy stamps and hand in letters to post at the main College reception. POSTERS We like you to bring posters and pictures to liven up your dorm but please make sure you only pin them to the notice boards provided - do not blu-tack or sellotape any to the walls or furniture. A Prospective parents, staff and other visitors will often be shown around the house and therefore any posters you put up must not cause offence to anybody. If a member of staff thinks a poster is unsuitable you will be asked to remove it. Posters containing the following should definitely be avoided; racism, nudity, sex, bad/crude language, blood and gore, anything which sets out to shock.

New grading structure

Current grading structure

9 A* 8 7 6 B 5 4 C 3 D 2 E F 1 G U U

9 is awarded to those pupils achieving what would currently be a top A*: perhaps at around 96%+

GOOD PASS (DfE) 5 and above = top of C and above Schools are no longer AWARDING assessed on A*-C 4 and above = bottom of C and above statistics, but on ‘9-4’ statistics. Under the updated structure, the ‘good pass’ for Maths and English is a 5, which is on the border between a C and a B under the old system.