+

Updates!

The Headlines

Interesting the discrepancy between English, Maths and “All”.

Even more so given the wide publicity around the massive ramping up of English boundaries.

BBA 51.4%

BBA 58.6%

Subject TimetableTeaching from 2015, with exams in 2017:

English language and literature; maths

Teaching from 2016, with exams in 2018: Sciences; languages; geography; history; religious studies; design

and technology; art and design; drama; dance; music; PE; computer science; citizenship

Teaching from 2017, with exams from 2019: All remaining subjects

This is the current “matching” that we will all be familiar with…

How do things match?

Changes that have been announced by Gove:• Return to O-Levels• English Baccalaureate Certificate• I-Levels• CSE-Style exam for bottom 25%• Franchise (Single Exam Board per subject)• 1-9 with 1 being the highest• 1-9 with 9 being the highest• Explicitly Harder Content

• Grade 4 equivalent to a current ‘C’…meaning 6 grades at that level or above compared to current 4.

• Grade 5 likely to be the new “Pass” and internationally benchmarked to correspond to performance in “high-performing” countries.

• Grade 7 will be awarded to same proportion of students who gain an ‘A’ in 2016

• Grade 9 will be for “exceptional” performance and awarded to around ½ of those who currently secure an A*

• “National Reference Test” introduced to be sat my several thousand students per year making a representative sample. Content will stay the same each year to allow it to be used to check that GCSE standards are being maintained.

How will things match?

Early Entry – First Entry• ‘First Entry’ does not apply to qualifications taken 3 years

before reporting (ie Y8 and below)…new game?

• Science…very muddy waters and some big changes emerging to clarify:

• Students will be ‘tied in’ as soon as 1st qualification taken

• Core taken early ties students into core/additional/further additional route

• BTEC Principles taken early discounts core science

• BTEC applications can be taken alongside core

• Computer science does not discount anything

• CANNOT take core and then go on to separate sciences

• Schools need to think carefully about entry pathways in science now..... all years

Early Entry – First Entry – Science Pathways

Impact of new early entry rules• Predicts a 5% drop this year (5ACEM)

• -6% for boys and FSM

• PiXL focusing on ‘best’ not ‘first’. Student Authentic Report (SAR) details announced on 10th June.