Letter to Y11 Parents: GCSE History

Dear Parent/Guardian, 

 

After a successful mock exam period for History students, I am really proud to say that we have seen great commitment from the majority of our History students during this period.  This has resulted in many students achieving, and in some cases, exceeding their target grades. Thank you for the support you have given to make this possible.

 

To continue this period of success, and ensure that final outcomes are achieved for all students, I am writing to tell you about a number of additional interventions that we intend to implement over the coming weeks to support your child with their History GCSE.

 

Weekly online revision sessions will continue to take place on Google Classroom on Wednesday evenings. These sessions will now take place at the earlier time of 5-6pm. I strongly urge students to attend, as these sessions cover key knowledge based both on areas to improve from mock exams, as well as what is likely to appear on the exams. Recordings will be made available on Google Classroom for any who are unable to attend. Please note that the timing of the weekly online sessions is subject to change once the exam period starts due to potential clashes with pre-exam sessions (any changes will be posted on Google Classroom).  

 

Students continue to be given weekly homework to support their revision. These are short, specific tasks, again focussing on key areas of improvement. I would appreciate any encouragement you can give to ensure this is completed, as completion of these will feed into the lesson activities the following week .  

 

In addition, it is important to use the rest of their revision time for History to work through key topics each week. Teachers will be giving students a checklist of all topics, with areas that are likely to appear on the exam papers highlighted, to help students prioritise their revision. If students need support with putting together an exam timetable, please ask them to attend Friday Enrichment/Monday Lunchtime Enrichment so that we can support them with this.

 

I  will continue to run a revision session on Monday lunchtimes each week in 4.21a. This is an opportunity for students to learn effective revision strategies, identify areas to work on and collect revision resources.  Please tell your son or daughter to speak to me (Miss Guest) if they would like to join this session for the next few weeks.

 

In addition we will continue to run our Friday enrichment after school. to support students with exam practice. These sessions will be based around feedback on the mock exams that were completed recently. At this stage, it is imperative that students are able to break down exam questions and apply the knowledge they have to them. Mr Peel and I work with small groups to focus on specific areas, and there has been proven success from students who have attended these sessions.

 

A small group of students, who have completed their Health and Social Studies course, will be given the opportunity to receive small group intervention from an external provider on Monday/Friday afternoons.  You will have received a text message if your son/daughter has been chosen for this intervention.

 

Please see the key dates below for our exams:

 

 

For general revision, students can access a wide range of resources by visiting history.outwood.com or Google Classroom. Students were also given a pack of paper revision resources in January for each topic. If they require another, please ask them to come and see me.

 

Finally, to enable success, the most important thing is for students to attend all lessons in this final approach to the exams. From this point onwards, lessons will be focussed on topics that are likely to come up on the exams. In the past, this has proven to deliver much success for students, so it is essential that these lessons are not missed.

 

Thank you in advance for your continued support.  I believe that the support of parents and teachers working together is key to ensure successful outcomes for our students in their final exams. 

 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me by email at j.guest@shafton.outwood.com.  

 

Yours faithfully,

Jade Guest

(Second in Humanities - History Lead)

File

History letter Y11 JGU Apr 24.pdf 225 KB