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Dear Student
Welcome to this year’s options process for our Year 9 students. This is an incredibly important process and due to the introduction of the new GCSEs, students need to make the right choices from the beginning.
There are some subjects that every student in the country has to study such as English, Maths, Science, Ethics & Philosophy, PE and PSHE. The government has listened to employers and teachers who say that these subjects are so important that everyone must be educated in them. The government is also placing emphasis on a core group of five subjects referred to as the English Baccalaureate. Three of these subjects are English, Maths and Sciences which you will be studying within your core subjects. The other two are Geography or History and a Foreign Language. These remain important qualifications to aim for. Our options are organised to allow for a broad range of choices for you and in particular are linked to the English Baccalaureate. We encourage all students to select a Humanities and a Foreign Language.
When selecting your options, it is important to think carefully about courses which will suit your interests and career choices. We aim to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum and in order to achieve this we will have to group some subjects together and some combinations will not be possible. We will be basing these groups around the guidance we have received through the national curriculum ensuring you study the subjects which will allow the greatest opportunity to progress to either Higher Education and/or future employment. In addition, we have carefully considered feedback from Year 9 students with the hope of meeting the needs of all of you as closely as we can.
You will have a lot of support and guidance so that you can choose wisely. Remember that once you have chosen a course you must finish it – right up to the examination. Some advice:
Make your own decisions about your own future.
Do not choose a subject because all your friends are. It is likely that you will not be in the same group.
Do not choose a subject because you like that teacher. It is likely that it will be someone else next year.
Do not avoid a subject because you do not like the teacher. It will probably be someone else next year and at this stage of your education career you are more than capable of coping.
Do make sure that you are not cutting yourself out of a career. If you want to work in a particular field research what qualifications you need to do to reach it.
Do make sure that you know what the subject is about in Years 10 and 11. It may be different to what you are doing now. You will spend two years studying this subject so make sure you really know what it covers.
Do ask your subject teachers, your parents and your tutor for information and advice. They know you well and can help you look at your strengths and weaknesses and choose accordingly.
Once you have made your choices we will do our best to give you your first choice combination of subjects. That is very difficult to do and we do usually find a small number of students who cannot get their first choice in a subject. We will talk to you about this.
Remember, the school will sometimes ask you to reconsider your choices where we feel you may have chosen inappropriately or without enough information.
We look forward to welcoming you to the next stage of your education with us.
Mr Richard Clarke
Headteacher
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