the ashcombe school how can we support young people through gcse’s? stuart ketley (...
TRANSCRIPT
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How can we support young people
through GCSE’s?
Stuart Ketley
Head of Upper School
Wednesday 30th September 2015
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ol Aims of tonight
1. How do we support, encourage and enthuse young people to achieve their full potential?
2. How are GCSE’s examined in 2015-17?
3. What does the school do to support pupils through Year 10 and 11?
4. What can parents do to help their children through the GCSE’s?
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Part 1 - How can we support, encourage and enthuse young people to achieve their full potential?
The ContextYour child MUST remain in Education or Training until the end of the academic year they turn 18 (July 2019)
The vision…All pupils at the end of their GCSE studies make
ambitious, suitable and realistic post-16 choices through an atmosphere of mutual support based on excellent exam results, quality careers advice and outstanding pastoral care
• Happy• Safe• Achieve
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ol The problems….
• ‘Education Maintenance Allowance’ abolished several years ago
• Tuition fees at university• Youth unemployment and demonisation of
youngsters consistently in the news• Cuts in youth service provision; including
mental health and careers• Gaining a ‘C grade’ in English Language
and Maths
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What next?...The Ashcombe Sixth Form• Realistic chance of ‘E grades’• 40 GCSE points and a good reference
A*=8A=7B=6C=5D=4E=3F=2G=1
• However, if a student is following a ‘short course’ points are halved (e.g. half history)
• Important to consider that English (Language and Literature) and Science (Science and Additional Science) have two examinations when counting points
• The school is discussing entry requirements in relation to grade changes in English and Maths
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ol A-Levels at another college
• Commonly 5 A*-C, usually including English and Maths
• Excellent reference
• Attendance (and punctuality) print out
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ol NVQ’s at a local college
• Commonly….• Level 1 – no formal qualifications• Level 2 – 4 D’s• Level 3 – 4 C’s
• Be aware some students may be completing a Level 1 course on ‘day release’
• Excellent attendance• Quality Reference
• All have ‘specialism's’, e.g. Merrist Wood (outside) and NESCOT (employment-focussed skills, including apprenticeships)
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ol Apprenticeships
• Local companies approach the school offering apprenticeships
• Seeing a rise in this (at 16 and 18) due to current economic climate, tuition fees at university and success of schools annual careers fair
www.apprenticeships.org.uk
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How can we support students emotionally?
• The dilemma
• How do we encourage, challenge and support yet avoid alienating, threatening, stressing or ‘doing for’?
1.Happy2.Safe
3.Achieve
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ol 13 years ago…….
• Exploring the world• Wanting to please • Mood swings• ‘Social Learning’• Affectionate
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How did we support our children when they were in Year 1?
• Sit and read• Ask “What new things did
you do today?”• Children bombard us with
questions• Excitement• Enthusiastic• Why is this?
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ol The dilemma of a parent
“The problem is he’s not stressed enough.”
“I’ve told her this is your last chance.”
“I don’t know what more I can do- nothing seems to get through to him.”
“She doesn’t seem to care about her exams.”
“However much I tell her that she is doing well, she still says she is rubbish.” (often a forgotten problem with high-ability pupils who have low self-esteem)
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How do you help to motivate students?
Major concern- • Should you interfere and tell children to
work yet run the risk of confrontation?• How do you encourage children?
• One of the major questions we get asked by parents
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The pressures of being an adolescent
• A time of great challenges• Frightening• Exciting
• Real fear of failure• Frightened of not meeting expectations of family,
school and friends• Pressures of alcohol, drugs, media, consumerism,
sex• Social media• Are young people being forced to grow old too early
without a clear moral compass and identity• More child than adult
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The complexity of being an adolescent
Stress and mental health issues are bigger issues than apathy
• Among teenagers, rates of depression and anxiety have increased by 70% in the past 25 years, particularly since the mid 1980’s
• The proportion of 15/16 year olds reporting that they frequently feel anxious or depressed has doubled in the last 30 years, from 1 in 30 to 2 in 30 for boys and 1 in 10 to 2 in ten for girls.
• Nearly 300,000 young people in Britain have an anxiety disorder.• Children with generalised anxiety disorder and those with
depression had the most days away from school (nationally) – a quarter had had more than 15 days absence in the previous term
• The numbers of young people calling ChildLine for help about Eating Disorders has increased by 110% since 2011
• About 25% of young people self-harm on one occasion, most commonly by cutting. 87% of young people who self-harm do not seek treatment from hospital
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ol Role of education in mental health
• Evidence that constant emphasis on exams and results can create a tired and stressed out group of pupils
• Danger- burn out of some- successful can be unfulfilled as constantly striving for next challenge-
• Alienation of those that perceive themselves to have failed
• Part of Ashcombe ethos- commitment to sustainable learning
• Avoid doing 12 or 13 GCSE’s- used advice of Cambridge
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ol What are Year 10’s like to teach?
• Most of our teenagers are a pleasure to teach (even if they do not always show these qualities at home!...)
• When asked they virtually all want to do well
• All need support to reach these ambitions
• All are going through an extremely volatile and complex period of life dominated by a fear of failure
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ol Fear of failure
• Adolescence- “Brain thrives on challenge, closes down on threat. When we experience anxiety, fear, self consciousness or any strong emotion, our neurons get flooded with electrical signals, so there’s not enough capacity left to process what is going on in the moment. We literally stop hearing and seeing what’s around us.”- J Ratey- Neuroscience
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ol How do we respond to criticism
• “People reacted negatively to criticism more than half the time and reacted positively to criticism just once out of thirteen times. In other words, the most likely response to criticism will be a negative one, the next most likely is no impact, and the chance that criticism will be helpful is about once every three weeks, if you dished it out every workday.”
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• Brain flourishes if rate of success to failure is 4:1
• Talking about success/ getting it right increases the likelihood of reoccurrence
Three key features-• Children need to feel safe• Children need to be challenged• Children need high expectations
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What is a solution focussed approach?
• Introduced to the school by Henry Kiernan• All pupils want to do well• All children have strengths• All children can achieve with the appropriate
support, nurture and understanding• Working together we can achieve much
more• Expectations of success by all is critical to
achieving it
• Look to the future rather than the past• The solution to the problem lies within the
person
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ol Key principles of this approach
• Big problems do not need big solutions
• We need to catch hold of what is already working
• It’s important to have a clear sense of where you are heading
• Carry on doing what works
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ol Social Discipline Window
Do To Do With
Do Nothing Do For
PUNATIVE• Detention • Sanction • Home- grounded, telling children
of career options, option choices
Theme - Young people feel put upon
PERMISSIVE• School- excusing, too much
support, • Home- homework done by
parents,
Theme- young people avoid taking any responsibility for their actions
NEGLECTFUL• All people give up• Allow young person to make own
mistakes• “Its up to them now”• Laissez faire approach to weekends
Theme- young people lack boundaries
RESTORATIVE• Students have a stake in choice• Career and option choices made individually
but in discussion with parents• Parents engage with children in relation to
work but work is completed by children• Encourage but not pressured
Theme- most successful approach
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ol What are the questions we ask?
• What's gone well this week?• What score would you give yourself for the
past week? (0-10 scale)• Why?• What score would you like to be?• How would you get there• Who will notice?
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All pupils want to do well in some way
• We can all forget this- school, society, friends and family
What can we all do
• Listen• Remember all want to do well• Recognise the positives and praise• Always have positive expectations
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ol Pupil ownership
• Without pupils being involved conflict can develop
• “You must do some work?”
• School and work can become the way young people choose to hurt parents when troubles arise
• By all working together with an expectation of success the school becomes a shared aspiration
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The exam boards
Have you got the following?
Specifications,
Assessments (past exam papers),
Exam reports
Part 2- How are the GCSE’s assessed?
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ol Public Examinations:
What?
4 examining boards:
1) AQA• www.aqa.org.uk• Then follow ‘subject finder’:• There are links to
Specifications (the syllabus)Assessment materialNotice boardExaminers’ reports
Art, Computer Science, DT, English, History (1/2), Maths, PE, Science
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ol Public Examinations:
What?
2) Edexcel• www.edexcel.com/• Then Qualifications / GCSE’s from 2012• When you reach subject page, select
correct qualification and scroll down to find specification, assessment material and examiner reports
Drama,Music
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ol Public Examinations:
What?
3) OCR• www.ocr.org.uk• Then subjects and choose relevant GCSE• Useful documents
Datasheets, Factsheets, Overviews & Info packs Information Briefs Mark schemes and materials Specifications and Syllabuses Specimen assessment materials Student Guides and Materials
Geography,History,RS
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ol Public Examinations:
What?
4) WJEC• www.wjec.co.uk• Select subject from drop down menu
forSpecificationExaminers reportPast Papers
MFLCatering
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ol Controlled assessment
• Different to coursework as work is completed in a controlled environment during lesson time
• Some preparation will need to be completed as part of homework
• On-going and will be part of lessons throughout year 10 and 11
• Will come at different times of the year for different subjects
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ol Frequently asked questions
What happens if the pupils miss / are late / clash for a Public Examination?– Clash: tell us as soon as possible
(although we try and identify them); – specific arrangements will be made on
an individual basis
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Frequently asked questionsWhat happens if the pupils miss / are late /
clash for a Public Examination?– There are strict regulations about what
we can do for pupils who are late; if problem ring school immediately and get into school as quickly as possible
– If pupils do not sit exam, no marks unless there is a doctor’s note given to us
– If pupil is unwell, the best approach is to come in and sit the exam, and then we can put in Special Consideration report (v. helpful if this is supported by doctor’s note - can be obtained after the exam)
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Part 3: What do we as a school do to support
• Targets• Realistic targets based on Key Stage 3
performance• 8- A*• 7- A• 6- B• 5- C• 4- D• 3- E• 2- F• 1- G
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ol Why do we have targets?
• Allows pupils to have an idea of what they should achieve if they work reasonably well
• Allows the school to monitor progress
Issues• Stress caused by high targets• What happens if you feel the targets are too
low?• Can pupils become complacent?
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ol The Pastoral Team…
• Analyse data• Praise letters• Pastoral monitoring
• Constant thought about long term
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Who can you contact if there are any problems?
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ol Part 4- How can parents help?
• Encourage a sense of ambition- visits to college, University early
• Some courses increasingly looking at GCSE results- medicine and other university courses
• School visits to East Surrey College NESCOT, Guildford College, ‘Surrey Opportunities Fair’
• Work experience- plan early• Continuous informal discussion at home
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ol How do I start to work?
• Many pupils can find it very difficult to start
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PreparationSafe and comfortable environment
– Basic preparation:– Tidy room– Tidy desk– Filed notes– No TV– Sound?– Organisation helps relieve
stress
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Preparation
– Equipment:
New stationary
All files, books, paper, pens, calculator near you
Physiological factors
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ol Fronter
• Schools virtual learning environment• Pupils have passwords• Contact the school if you don’t have details • Online reporting• Past papers• Resources• Also resources on internet
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ol SAM Learning
• On-line resource• Pupils have passwords• Contact the school if you don’t have details
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ol www.u-explore.com
• Username: AshcombeSchool• Password: AshcombeRoad
• Students have individual passwords
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ol Internet
• My maths• Username- ashcombe• Password- volume
• www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize
• Past papers now widely available on net through visiting exam board websites
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ol I-tunes
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ol On-line documentaries
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Are your children members of the library?
• On-line catalogue allows books to be ordered from across Surrey
Are you in a book club?
• Could you read set text from the English course
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Books- Alistair Smith- Help your child to succeed?
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ol How do pupils revise?
• Yr. 11 evening in March 2016 and 2017 specifically on revision- all welcome
• Can you get involved and support the process?
• Mini tests• Rewards• Short bursts of work• organisation
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Is the lifestyles conducive to work?
• School attendance and punctuality is key- 95% is aim
• Role of stress• Weekends
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ol Achievement motivation
• def An individual’s motivation to achieve for its own sake.
• Individuals levels of this are regarded as being fairly stable.
• Atkinson identified 2 types
• n.Ach• The motive to achieve success to gain pride
and satisfaction
• n.Af• The motive to avoid failure in order to avoid
shame and humiliation
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ACHIEVEMENTMOTIVATION
Personality
RewardsOn offer
IncentiveValue
Ability
ProbabilityOf Success
PastSuccess
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ol Characteristics of Naf People
• Avoid challenges• Take the easy option• Take the very difficult option• Take no responsibility• Give up if not successful• Take their time to complete task if at all• Seek situations requiring little challenge• Avoid personal responsibility• Do not want feedback on performance• Pessimistic • Avoids 50:50 situations
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Veroff’s 3 stages of achievement motivation
• The Nach approach develops in 3 stages– Autonomous competence stage
• A young performer is concerned with mastering the task e.g. simple throwing and catching
– Social Comparison stage• From the age of 6 youngsters not only perform the
skill but compare their efforts with others, e.g. so the length of a throw compared to a friends is important
– Integrated• More adult stage, all forms of internal and external
standards are used to gauge performance
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ol Characteristics of Nach People
• Enjoy competition• Welcome a challenge• Enjoy feedback• Take responsibility• Try harder after failure• Works to beat PB’s• High task persistence• Ability to complete task quickly• Willing to take risks• Optimistic• Confident
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How do I become a n.Ach? (Growth Mind-set)
–Positive experiences –set realistic goals–establish a non-evaluative environment– reinforcement from parents and role
models–develop high levels of self confidence
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ol Role of males
• Education in south east often seen as female occupation
• Dad, • Uncle• Grandad• Friends
• Parents evenings• Sitting down and doing work together
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Main points
• Mental health is a key consideration
• Ambition
• Organisation and ownership
• "You can only do your best!“
• ‘Working With to (n) Achieve”