Humanities Update
Week Beginning Mon 4th November
Introduction
Thank you for the positive feedback to the weekly Humanities emails. As a faculty, it is hard to get everyone together so these weekly bulletins are hopefully helping everyone to keep track of what is going on in the faculty.
I hope that you had a good holiday and are now ready for the next term which seems to be just as busy as the last one!
On Monday 4th November it is Post 16 Parents Evening which is the first time that we will be seeing Yr 12 and Yr 13 on the same night. The following Monday, the Exeter PGCE trainees will be starting their first placement in all three subjects, and then in the evening it is the Post 16 Transfer Evening, more details about this will be on their way when I have them.
Have a good week,
Ian
I hope that you had a good holiday and are now ready for the next term which seems to be just as busy as the last one!
On Monday 4th November it is Post 16 Parents Evening which is the first time that we will be seeing Yr 12 and Yr 13 on the same night. The following Monday, the Exeter PGCE trainees will be starting their first placement in all three subjects, and then in the evening it is the Post 16 Transfer Evening, more details about this will be on their way when I have them.
Have a good week,
Ian
Leading Roles in Humanities
Gifted & Talented and Technology
Within the faculty, Clare has taken on the Gifted and Talented rep role and she will be attending the G&T meetings and working with Tracey on behalf of Humanities. She will be keeping the faculty updated of what is going on in the G&T world and how we can help to support students on the G&T register. Jim will be investigating new technology that can be used to help our teaching within Humanities and will be passing on useful websites, tips and ideas on a regular basis by email and in faculty meetings.
Changes to GCSES
Summary
As you are probably aware, significant changes to GCSEs are on their way, with Geography and History being confirmed as being in the 2nd wave behind English and Maths. (They haven't decided if RS will be in wave 2 or 3 yet). The main changes can be summarised as follows:
- A new grading system will be introduced. Students will be awarded a grade from 1 to 9, with 9 being the highest. Students will get a U where performance is below the minimum required to pass the GCSE.
- Tiering will only be used in subjects where untiered papers will not allow students at the lower end of the ability range to demonstrate their knowledge and skills, or will not stretch the most able. The tiering model used will be decided on a subject by subject basis.
- All new GCSEs will be fully linear with assessment at the end of the course and content not divided into modules.
- Exams will be the default method of assessment, except when they can’t provide valid assessment of the skills required. Again, this will be decided on a subject by subject basis.
- Exams will only be available in the summer, apart from a November series for English Language and Maths. This series is for students who were at least 16 on the preceding 31 August.
- Ofqual is considering whether November exams should be available in other subjects for students who were at least 16 on the preceding 31 August.
And you can read about all of the changes here
http://ofqual.gov.uk/news/design-details-of-new-gcses-in-england