Types of Courses

What is a BTEC? a helpful guide from Pearson

New GCSE grades postcard from Ofqual

What do ‘GCSE’ and ‘BTEC’ stand for?

• GCSE stands for ‘General Certificate of Secondary Education’

• BTEC stands for ‘Business and Education Technology Council’

The Government introduced a programme of GCSE reform in 2018, and all GCSEs offered at Writhlington School follows this new format.

Key features of the new GCSEs are:

• All GCSE exams are studied in a linear format and be taken in Summer Exam season

• There is a greater emphasis on spelling, punctuation and grammar

• All GCSE courses are more rigorous, demanding and challenging

• No tiered exam papers except Mathematics, Science and MFL. Under the previous system, foundation and higher tier papers were available in many subjects to support students of different abilities

• The grade scale for these new GCSEs now range from 9 to 1, with 9 being the highest

What is a BTEC?

A BTEC is a work-related course. Pupils learn by completing projects and assignments that are based on realistic workplace situations, activities and demands. BTECs provide a good basis for pupils to go on to a more advanced work-related qualification.

FAQ

Will I automatically secure a place on my first choice courses?

We will work very hard to ensure that students get their first choice, however, we ask for two reserve subjects so that if we cannot meet all your first preferences we ensure we can study a reserved choice. We will contact you in the summer term if this is the case. Additionally, although at this time we are offering all of the subjects detailed within this booklet, a decision about whether or not each course can run will be based on student numbers.

Things to do/consider when making your choices:

• Your current strengths and areas for development in school work

• What you enjoy

• What you are interested in and what you are good at

• Your preferred method of learning. Are you more suited to a course with controlled assessment or coursework, rather than exam based assessment?

• Any ideas you may have about possible future careers or further courses such as apprenticeships

• Talk to your subject teachers and ask about your suitability for the course that you wish to study

• Use the internet to research careers that interest you and make sure that you know which subjects would best suit your career

• Do not choose a subject to study because your friends are – their ambitions, strengths and needs are different to yours.

• Do not choose a course just because you like/don’t like your current teacher, it is not possible to guarantee which staff member will deliver the course

The English Baccalaureate (Ebacc) Qualification

The English Baccalaureate, which signifies success in a range of GCSE subjects reflects our own curriculum policy for Key Stage 4, where students are encouraged to select a broad and balanced curriculum.

Our options process enables many students to achieve the English Baccalaureate, where they must gain a 9 - 4 grade in the following subjects:

• English

• Mathematics

• Two Sciences (Separate Sciences / Computer Science / Combined Science )

• Geography or History

• Modern Foreign Language