Dear Parents and Carer
As we continue to work together to support all of our Year 11s to achieve the best outcomes possible. I am writing to you to confirm some plans and key events that will round off our drive to success at the end of the year.
Plan for Year 11 Exams 2022
As you will be aware, it is vital that students attend every single exam and arrive early to school so as to have a calm and focused exam experience. To facilitate this, the school will open to Year 11 students from 8.00 am each morning with subject teachers available to support with revision before the morning exam. Breakfast will be provided free of charge to year 11 students from 8am. All students need to arrive at school by no later than 8:35am each day during the exam period.
Whole Year exams start with RE on Monday morning. Students will be expected to continue to attend all lessons. In the lessons that they have completed their last exam in, they will be supervised in completing independent revision. School uniform must be worn. The Breakfast and Afterschool Revision programme will be published on GoogleClassroom and on Social Media.
The overall Exam Timetable can be found here and individual timetables are available on Arbor and have also been given to pupils a few weeks ago.
Year 11 Graduation Day
This will take place on the 24th June, after the final GCSE exams – times will be confirmed at a later date. It will include:
- Mass in Church
- Graduation Assembly
- Celebration Food in Canteen
- Other Activities: Year 11 pupils have been asked to volunteer for a Graduation Committee to help plan this Day – please encourage your child to let Mrs Parry and Mrs Cotgrave know if they wish to be part of this.
Sixth Form Transition Lessons Wednesday 6th July
Pupils will be invited to choose from a menu of lessons to experience Sixth Form at St Mary’s to get ready for next academic year.
Attendance to Exams
If for any reason you feel your child cannot attend an exam you must contact the school’s exams officer immediately. This must be an exceptional circumstance, which would include a positive covid test. Please be aware,missing an exam will mean your child will not receive a mark for that paper and exam boards will take appropriate measures which the school has no control over. More information on this can be found here: https://stmaryswallasey.com/covid-measures-during-exams-this-summer/
Therefore, please contact the school’s exam officer if an exceptional circumstance does occur as soon as you can. The exams officer can be emailed at [email protected]
Exam Expectations and Regulations
Students have conducted themselves excellently in our recent mock exams, embodying our core values of excellence, responsibility and respect in their attitude, behaviour and approach. However, it always worth reminding students that during the GCSE exams there are set regulations from the examination body JCQ that every student must follow. This includes not bringing banned items into the exam hall. Banned items include:
- Mobile phones
- Watches (of any kind)
- Any notes or revision materials
- Labels on water bottles
We would advise arranging with your child that items such as mobile phones are left at home on the day of exams. Communication of any kind is also not allowed once inside in the exam hall. If the regulations are not met this can result in disqualification from the GCSE exam. Therefore, we would urge you to have a conversation with your child around the exam board regulations and expectations before their exams. These can be found on the website at https://stmaryswallasey.com/examinformation/
Support with stress
We understand that Year 11 can sometimes be an anxious time for some students. It is natural for students to be a little nervous about the upcoming exams, indeed some level of stress is actually good for ensuring optimal performance, though obviously not too much. The best way of lowering stress levels is to be in control of the situation, this means being organised, knowing what they will be examined on, starting revision early, etc. If anxiety is making life difficult for your child do encourage them to speak to someone – you, a friend or someone at school. Ms Skinner has run some sessions and assembly with Year 11 on this topic and you can find support and advice on dealing with exam stress here.
These resources are also available:
https://stmaryswallasey.com/anxiety-and-stress/
Working with us to ensure your child’s exam experience runs as smoothly as possible by following the guidance in this letter can make a real difference to how your child performs in the exams. Thank you for your continuing support during this important time in your child’s education.
Please do not hesitate to contact the school if you have any questions.
Mrs E Parry
Associate Deputy Headteacher
