HIGHFIELDS SCHOOL Year 8 Welcome Evening Congratulations well

HIGHFIELDS SCHOOL Year 8 Welcome Evening

Congratulations – well deserved

GCSE – Number grades

Year 11 Outcomes 2019 2017 2018 2019 EM Grade 4+ 71% 75% 80% EM Grade 5+ 47% 56% EM Grade 7+ 19% 23%

Year 11 Progress 2019 Progress 8 2017 0. 49 2018 0. 26 2019 0. 39

Welcome Year 8 Highfields School Mathematics Department Head of Learning School Mr Dean Head of Lower School Maths Mr Millard (Years 7 and 8)

Curriculum • KS 3 curriculum is taught in Years 7 and 8 • KS 4 - GCSE curriculum now begins in Year 9 Throughout Year 8 there are: • 3 x 50 minute lessons of curriculum topics each week and • 1 x 100 minute lesson of numeracy

Setting Across Year 8, students are timetabled in halves, with 6 maths groups in each half. Setting is based loosely on ability using information from • Continuous teacher assessment • Half termly standard assessment • End of Year final assessment Half termly test results can go up and down by topic.

Assessment Targets Students should be able to answer: • What grade am I working at? • What grade is my target? • What do I need to do to improve? This information should be apparent from their written work. .

Homework should be set weekly, and should take between 20 and 40 minutes. We focus on ‘quality, not quantity’. It may consist of • Consolidation of work from the lesson • Work bridging towards the next lesson • ICT based – research, maths websites etc. If your child is unsure about their homework, encourage them to see their teacher.

Revision Students will be given halftermly assessments and are now used to using these revision sheets that are stuck in their exercise books.

ICE – a strategy used for problem solving questions Information I Calculation C Explanation E

Using ICT as a learning resource Interactive resources: www. My. Maths. co. uk www. vle. mathswatch. co. uk www. drfrostmaths. com www. ttrockstars. com www. sumdog. co. uk www. numeracyworkout. co. uk

How can you help your child? Practise times tables every day Ensure your child has a pen, pencil, rubber, ruler and calculator every lesson Reinforce Maths in practical situations e. g. time, money, measuring Encourage them to see their teacher when they are unsure

Welcome Year 8 Highfields School English Department Head of Learning School Head of English Ms Dunlop Mrs Mc. Nealey Assistant Head of English Ms Hannon Mr Oseland

Year 8 English In Year 8 students will study: • • Crime Writing Fun, Fights and Magic (Shakespeare x 2) Poetry (pre and post 1914) Issues (Homelessness/Animal Testing/Computer Games Addiction) • Pre 1914 and Modern Drama (The Hound of the Baskervilles, Room 13, Little Soldier) • Prose x 2 (Salt to The Sea/Underground to Canada/Boy 87) • Theme Park

Assessment Students’ work is assessed in three areas: Reading, writing and the spoken word • Students are encouraged to develop independent learning skills (reading, researching independently, working in small groups, preparing for presentations). • Students will complete at least one assessment each half term designed to assess their progress and set targets to help them improve their attainment.

What we do • Building confidence by positive feedback • Making use of peer assessment and self-marking strategies. • A wide variety of different reading and writing experiences to encourage creativity and involvement. • Enrichment beyond the classroom (film, theatre, author visits).

What you can do 1. Check homework is completed and encourage improvements, especially to accuracy. (SSPS) 2. Be aware of past targets for improvement (see target sheets). 3. Talk to them about the topics they have been studying in English, books they are reading etc. 4. Encourage them to read more widely- both fiction and non fiction texts.

Welcome Year 8 Highfields School General Science Department Head of Learning School Mr Dean Head of General Science Mr Lee

Curriculum in Science In Year 8, students are taught topics on: • The human body • Chemical reactions • The structure of the Earth • Energy and energy transfer • Light and sound We spend the year building and enhancing their science specific skills to help prepare them for their GCSEs starting in Year 9.

Creating Independence in Science We use an online tool called Doddle to help support learners in Science. Doddle gives learners access to: • Key curriculum content • Quick revision material • Engaging animations It also allows teachers to set them quick quizzes that can be used to assess their learning and provide feedback.

Revision Guide • In school, we will be selling: • Revision Guides • Revision Workbooks • Revision Questions Cards • All at almost 50% off the RRP • Purchase through Parent Pay • Letter to go out this week

Lower School

Our Expectations for Year 7 Our expectations for students are clear and simple and can be easily supported at home: • Attend school • Be punctual • Be well presented • Have respect for self and others • Complete all work to the best of their ability • Be organised • Never give up easily and seek help when in difficulty

Home Learning for the 21 st Century “Family involvement in children’s education has proven to have a positive impact on a student’s school life. In Britain, studies have identified that students who are regularly supported by their parents, perform significantly better in class exercises, exams and become more confident with their independent learning. ” Parent-teacher communication – “homework acts as the bridge between home and school, the setting of homework and parents being aware of when it’s set helps to improve communication between home and school” [Epstein & Van Voorhis (2001] SMHW/ O 365 allows parents to connect with their child’s academic life and keep a check on their learning without being overly intrusive.

5 Key Student Study Habits for Successful Learning [Epstein & Van Voorhis (2001] Motivation from sense of completion and ‘being on top of things e. g. “To Do list on SMHW”. Focus encouraging students to get involved in work outside of school and the importance of independent learning. Organisation through the To Do list / push notifications to mobile / subject resources. Time Management access to own lesson time table enable to plan ahead. Retention as well as lesson resources being available on SMHW they can also access additional resources on the Highfields Learning Platform (Share. Point) to allow independent learning when it suits your child.

HP Streams

Keeping Children Safe Online What we do: Utilise Smoothwall intuitive “content” filtering to block inappropriate websites whilst in school Monitor cause for concern internet searches On all HP streams enforce Google Safe search, blocking all inappropriate searches (web and image searches); both in school and at home

Keeping Children Safe Online What you can do: Implement parental controls: IPHONE ANDROID • Go to Settings > General > Restrictions. • • Tap Enable Restrictions. • • Create a Restrictions passcode. You need your Restrictions passcode to change the settings or to turn off Restrictions. • • On the device, open the Play Store app In the top left tap Menu – Settings – Parental Controls Turn “Parental Controls” on Create a parent PIN Tap the type of content you want to filter Choose how to filter or restrict access “Share Aware” https: //www. nspcc. org. uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/onlinesafety/ Activate home broadband filtering/controls – contact broadband supplier: Sky Shield – free, with ‘watershed’ time ability; Virgin Media free web safe or pay for F-Secure, extra cover applies settings on all devices on mobile networks too.

Key Dates 2019/2020 Event Dates Progress Review 1 – all subjects w/e 8 th November 2019 Progress Review 2 – all subjects w/e 13 th December 2020 Progress Review 3 – English, Maths, Science Year 8 Parents Event - Options Year 8 Vaccinations Progress Review 4 – all subjects Year 8 Parents Evening Year 8 Reports to Parents w/e 14 th February 2020 Monday 9 th March Tuesday 17 th March w/e 3 rd April Thursday 14 th May w/e 10 th July

Year 8 Option Choices 2019 Guided OPTION A Guided OPTION B Free OPTION C Free OPTION D Free OPTION E Free OPTION F Geography Spanish Fine Art Multi media Food Health & Child History French Product Design Film Studies Enterprise Dance Literacy / Numeracy Music Drama Computing PE Geography History RE Spanish French Construction

Lower School Extra Curricular Activities Sept - Oct

Your Voice Matters As you leave tonight please take the time to complete an evaluation form. There are two forms: Form 1 - general opinions about Highfields and your relationship with the school as a parent. Form 2 - based on what you have heard tonight whethere is anything that you would like to follow up in more detail.

Thank you for attending the Year 8 Welcome Evening Our contacts are: jparker@hswv. co. uk mfanthom@hswv. co. uk dcollins@hswv. co. uk We look forward to seeing you on Monday 9 th March 2020 for Parents' Events - Options