Dear Parents and Carers of Year 10 Pupils 

As you will probably be aware, today Year 11 pupils begin the 2022 GCSE exam season. We are very proud of how hard they have worked in lessons, revision sessions, Saturday school and also at home. Most of these pupils will be staying on in the Sixth Form with us and we are excited at the prospect of seeing them develop into successful and happy adults. 

This time next year, it will be the turn of your child and we wanted to write to you to set out what plans we have for Year 10 to support them in the transition to Year 11 and throughout their really important year, next year.  

End of Year 10 Exams: Monday 13th June – Wednesday 29th June

Year 10 End of Year exams will start on Monday 13th June. To give pupils the best balance of support and challenge, we intend to hold Maths, English, Science and RE in the SportsHall – in true exam venue conditions with external invigilators – and other exams in classroom venues, albeit still in exam conditions. Revision Timetables will be sent out separately. 

Revision Support

Subject Teachers will begin preparing pupils for the End of Year Exams over the next few days in lessons.  Revision guidance and materials for each subject area is available on: 

  • GoogleClassroom As you will know, revision and support resources are also always available on Google Classroom which all pupils have a unique school-based login for. More information, including help videos, on how pupils can and should access this platform is available here.  
  • Breakfast Revision: Pupils will be invited to come into school at 8am for free breakfast on the mornings they have an exam
  • Afterschool Subject Revision Sessions – these will be advertised over the next few days. 
  • Helping pupils with their Mental Health during Exams – we will be running some support sessions with Year 10 on this to support healthy habits to reduce anxiety during exams. 
  • Pupils will be supported with Revision Planning and writing a revision timetable in form time and lessons.  

We will be using the results and analysis of the end of year exams to plan summer revision support and adapt and personalise our curriculum offer next year to ensure any gaps pupils have are closed. 

University and Career Pathway Events 

We have organised a number of events to enhance Year 10’s awareness and understanding of potential future pathways including; employer workshops, career fairs, apprenticeships talks, universities visits and support with applying for summer school places. For example, in the next few weeks we have the University of Oxford, the University of Liverpool and Edgehill University coming into school to talk to pupils. In July, we are running a series of events to enhance pupils’ knowledge of careers and the labour market with employers and university representatives. As part of the programme, we will be using our Start Options Programme. Year 10 pupils in the next few weeks will customise their profile with details about their skills, qualities and interests.  Start personalises this information, helping them to navigate the thousands of opportunities available to help them put their GCSE achievement into context. More information can be found here: https://careers.startprofile.com/page/after-gcse 

We encourage you to use Start with your child at home. Parents and carers can access the platform without the need to login but you can also create an account for free. To get started, please visit https://careers.startprofile.com/page/parents  .

Laptops

We still have a bank of laptops that we can lend out, if you would like one to help your child revise, please contact Mrs Witan and Mrs Watson at school or email [email protected]

Maximize High Impact Learning Day

We will be running an in-school revision skills day and parent information webinar, in conjunction with Maximize.This will cover:

  • How to maintain motivation
  • High-impact GCSE revision strategies
  • Advice from English & Maths markers
  • Tips from former high-achieving students
  • How you can raise your grades 
  • GCSE Exams – Dos and Don’ts

Duke of Edinburgh Award

Whilst the Duke of Edinburgh award is an individual journey, it is a life changing experience for all who join and involves the following aspects:

  • Fun with friends
  • Discover new talents and interests
  • Develop new skills 
  • Develop your employability skills 
  • Gain a recognised mark of achievement by all employers

 If this is something that interests you remember any young person can do their DofE. Achieving an award isn’t a competition about being first, it is about setting personal challenges and pushing yourself to achieve.

Our school vision is to work together; succeed together, Duke of Edinburgh is an award where we see this vision become a reality. 

If you or your child Expresses interest and wants to learn more you can do this by visiting our DofE website included below: https://stmaryswallasey.com/dofe-information/ or emailing [email protected]. The school also organises the expedition sections which includes training and qualifying expeditions in the north of England.