Dear Year 8 Student,

It is time to make some important decisions about your curriculum in Year 9 which will ultimately need to reflect the GCSE subjects in which you would like to be examined at the end of Key Stage 4. Throughout this Options microsite you will find information about each subject that is available for you to study over the next three years.

We made important changes to how the options process operates back in 2022, for a number of reasons. Increasingly, students found it difficult to pick their GCSE options in Year 8, with over half of Year 9 students in 2021 requesting an option change in the first term. Therefore, there is now a phased approach to option choices, by narrowing your curriculum down in Year 9 before making some final decisions on which GCSE subjects to study in Year 10. 

There are many experienced staff to help you in this process; your Form Tutor, your Head of Year, your subject teachers, Mrs Keaveney (our Careers Adviser) and the Leadership Team are all ready to help you make the right decision. It is very important to us that you have an opportunity to discuss exactly what is right for you, and therefore you will have dedicated time with subject teachers and focused tutor time sessions on this.

We are running Year 8 Curriculum Refinement Evening on Thursday 27 March for you to be able to talk to teachers of the option subjects and to gain a better insight into what these subjects are and how they run in Year 9. 

So, make the most of the time now to get as much advice as you can. In addition to your three choices, you need to indicate a reserve choice, as we cannot always guarantee it will be possible to timetable every combination of subjects.

Your options  choices need to be completed via your Google Form and saved before 3pm on Monday 28 April when they will be closed for review.

Good luck!