KEY DATES & EVENTS FOR GCSE COURSE SELECTION AT WARDEN PARK (FOR students currently in YEAR 8)

Summary of support and events in place 

Tuesday 2nd January - Friday 9th February: Careers & Enterprise Lessons

During their lessons of which they have one per fortnight, students will be introduced to the Key Stage 4 curriculum, the options process, and receive guidance about how to make the right choices for themselves. The options website will also be sent to parents in the latter part of the fortnight and will be the main hub for information throughout the period. What students will do in each lesson is listed below: 

• Lesson 1: Introduction to options including the number of choices they will need to make. 

• Lesson 2: Students will watch videos about the following options: Business,  Child Development, Dance, Drama, Ingenium & Media. After which they will be able to sign up to tasters in any of these lessons. 

• Lesson 3: Students will make draft choices in lessons under the guidance of their teacher. We will then send these draft choices home for parents and carers to review. We will then open the actual options form for parents & carers to submit the final choices for their child. 

Monday 15th  January - Friday 9th February: Taster Lessons 

Throughout these weeks subject areas will be conducting GCSE taster activities with students in their regular subject lessons. There will also be taster sessions in subjects that are not currently on student timetables (Ingenium, Business, Child Development, Dance, Drama and Media). A full calendar of these activities for each tutor group will be issued to students in January and available on the options website once released.  

Thursday 25th January: Year 8 Virtual Reporting Evening

The purpose of the Year 8 reporting evening is to enable all students access to conversations regarding academic progress. Information regarding the reporting evening will be shared prior to the event. For any questions regarding this event please get in touch with Mr Sorrell: msorrell@wardenpark.co.uk.

Thursday 8th February: Year 8 Options Evening 

There will be a choice of  two presentation slots for parents and students on the evening, you will be able to book the time slot that is most convenient to you. In addition to this, you and your child/ren will be able to browse the subjects on offer and discuss the subject with staff, having any questions you may have answered. Details on how to book your presentation time slot will be sent out closer to the date. 

Monday 19th - Friday 1st March: Student Support Meetings

Students will be given the option to request a 1-1 support meeting with an experienced member of staff. This may be to further explore questions that have come up, or finalise option choices. In addition, some students may be put forward for a support meeting via a referral from their community team or our SENCO & the Additional Learning Team to help ensure students are confident in making their final choices. 

Friday 1st March: Choices Deadline 

All student choices must be finalised by 3pm Friday 1st March. Students will be making draft choices within their careers and enterprise lessons and we will share these with you in the week prior to half term. We will then ask parents and carers to submit final choices via an online form. Details regarding submission of choices will be discussed at the options evening presentation. 

Students' submitted choices will be visible shortly after the deadline on Go 4 schools and we do ask students and parents to check their submissions and alert us to any anomalies as soon the choices are displayed in the student progress area of Go 4 schools. 

Spring term (January- February): Important action for students

It is essential that students are regularly checking the student notices (published every Monday via the Student Zone), as any important information or deadlines will be communicated in this way. Students will also receive messages about their Careers and Enterprise lessons via Google classroom. 

Any notices sent to parents via School Comms will also be added via the Parent Updates page on this website. 

Summer term 2: Allocation of Choices

During the latter part of the summer term, students will be notified of their allocated options via Go 4 Schools. Students who may need to reconsider options due to subject clashes and/or oversubscription will be asked to do so at this time. Again, this is explained in more detail at Options Evening.