Letter to Y10 Parents & Carers: End of Y10 Maths

Dear Parents and Carers,

I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ella Chadbourne and I’ve had the privilege of being Head of Mathematics at Outwood Academy Shafton since your child was in year 7, so this year group are really special to me since I’ve been Head here since your child has been here. Being a parent myself, I know how crucial it is to get it right for your children and their life chances.

As the summer holidays approach, I would like to share how we can work together, both within school and at home, to help your child get ready for their GCSE Maths exams next year. Supporting your child to achieve their best in maths is incredibly important, as it will create many more options for their next steps, like going to sixth form, college, or starting an apprenticeship.

Tiering of maths exams (higher or foundation) is a really important decision that we make in order to ensure the best outcomes for your children. As a result of assessments that have taken place across the year, as well as results from the end of year exam and teacher feedback we have decided to increase the number of students who will sit the higher tier paper next year. This is a key decision and has not been made without a lot of thought put into place about which tier is right for each of our students. I include a list of teachers, classes and which tier paper their classes will complete to enable you to understand the level of maths your child will be continuing to study over the next 11 months and to make sure we have the right level of support in place.  

We have an exciting opportunity for all students in Miss Kirkham and Mr Curl’s classes who will also complete an additional and new (to us) GCSE in Number and Measure allowing them to complete a maths GCSE before everyone else as we are aiming to complete this in January. 

Students have also had the option to put their name down to sit an additional GCSE in Further Mathematics as well, and will have form and after school maths with Miss Hunter in order to study the additional content for this optional GCSE. This GCSE is available to all students currently predicted a grade 7 or above.

To support your child in preparing for their exams please see the list of useful websites below:

It would also be really beneficial to your child if you were able to purchase a scientific calculator for them that they could use at home. Our Y11 homework next year will be paper-based so your support with completion of this will also be invaluable. We recommend the Casio fx-85GT scientific calculator, costing around £10 in most supermarkets.

There will be additional opportunities for your child to have support with some students being given extra time during form to work through some key topics, or during their PE lesson. Both of these are on short-term rotations and will rotate students regularly throughout the year to ensure that all students who may need additional support to reach their potential are afforded this. We will also have after school maths on Monday from 2.30 - 3.30, and we would encourage all students to attend.

By far the most impactful thing that you can do as parents and carers to ensure your child reaches their potential next year is to encourage good attendance. Last year, 95% of students that attended school 100% of the time achieved at least a grade 4 in maths. Only 50% of students with attendance less than 90% achieved a grade 4 or higher, so students who attend, achieve.

Confirmation of your child's maths teacher for Y11 will be given out soon and I hope we can work together to provide your child the best start to the next step in their life.

If you have any questions or want any additional support with resources and revision please feel free to email me.

Yours faithfully, 

e.chadbourne@shafton.outwood.com

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End of Year 10 Maths Letter.pdf 494 KB