Year 9 Key Stage 4 Options

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We are holding our Year 9 Key Stage 4 options evening on Wednesday 4th January 2023 6pm – 8pm. The evening will commence with a short talk in the Hibret hall explaining how the option process works. This will then be followed by time for you as families to speak with each subject area and ask questions to help inform your child's option choice decisions.

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Options Advice

The choice of subjects to be followed in Key Stage 4 is an important and occasionally difficult decision. There are several ways in which we seek to help to support students and parents/carers in this process:

• Students should choose a broad range of subjects (subject to where they appear within the option blocks), hopefully ones they are interested in and ones they are good at or have had some success in.
• New subject areas that are available in the KS4 curriculum. Information from these should be studied to see if they are possible choices.
• The use of assessment information when making choices as certain methods suit some students more than others, i.e. check what % of the final mark is for coursework and how much is assessed by examination.
• Finally students should NOT be influenced by the choices of their friends. They might not end up in the same group anyway!

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The main sources of information for students and parents/carers are:

• This "Year 9 Options Booklet" gives written information on all the available subjects. It is a very important document and parents/carers and students are encouraged to study it in detail.
• The Parents’ Moving On Evening (KS4 Pathways) is on Wednesday 4th January.

Subject staff will be available to discuss the content of their GCSE course and offer advice with regard to a student’s suitability for that course in Key Stage 4.

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A summary of the key dates is therefore:

- Wednesday 4th January 2023: Key Stage 4 Options Evening

- Thursday 26th January 2023: Year 9 Parents’ Evening

- Friday 27th January 2023: Deadline for Choices Forms to be completed online.

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The academy will do its very best to ensure that students get their first choice of subjects, but not all combinations can be guaranteed (these are dictated by the option blocks), and sometimes courses may have to be withdrawn if insufficient numbers of students choose them. A Choices Form will be sent out and should be returned, once completed, to the Form Tutor.

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There are many difficulties involved in making these important option choices, and if you would like any further help in this process, please do not hesitate to contact Mr Rothera.

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To complete your options, please go to the online Submission form, and login into Microsoft Forms to submit a request. Please try to use a fresh browser, or a browser where no other Microsoft account is active. You can only make 1 submission, so think carefully. If you submit then change your mind, please see Mr Rothera to delete your request so you  can re-submit

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