An important decision for every student must be made half way through year 9 - whether they will study Maths content for the Higher GCSE tier, or the Foundation GCSE tier after that point.  There is too much curriculum content to learn just in year 10 and 11, so Maths switches to GCSE studies half way through year 9.

The Higher or Foundation decision is made based on our knowledge of the student's progress in years 7, 8 and 9, looking at homework scores and assessment scores as an indicator of the level of Maths the student can handle.  Extra emphasis is placed on the final KS3 assessments that happen half way through year 9, when students are mature enough to choose to put in the revision effort required in order to demonstrate their Maths ability at that stage. 

Two Maths papers are sat by all year 9 students around February/March in year 9 - a non-calculator paper and a calculator paper. Both are 1 hour long and are conducted in the classroom in exam conditions. Whilst the questions are taken from past GCSE papers, only topics learned in KS3 are tested to make it fair.

Upcoming year 9 assessment dates:

Non-Calculator - March 3rd
Calculator - March 6th

To help with the student revision needed in order to do well in these assessments, we have created a list of topics that will appear in the two assessments. Parents/carers at the recent parents' evening received a printed copy of the topics, and students have also received their own printed copy in class.

An electronic copy of this list is provided below if your son/daughter loses their sheet. As there are different levels of paper, please ensure that you refer to the correct topic list for your son/daughter:

Class	Teacher	Topic list to use below
9Ma1	Miss Malsom	Higher
9Ma2	Mrs Cook/Mr James	Higher
9Ma3	Mr Jones	Crossover
9Ma4	Mr Hinchey	Crossover
9Ma5	Miss Keitch/Mr Manns	Foundation
9Ma6	Mr Reid/Mr James	Foundation

Students will need to revise thoroughly using the topic lists (checking topics off as they go) and we have included 'how to revise' instructions on the rear of the printout.

Students MUST bring all equipment for these exams, as they will need to do in year 11. Equipment can be bought at the school, and students can bring in cash to buy what they need:

• Black pen
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Compass
• Protractor
• Rubber
• Sharpener
• Scientific Calculator

Two tier GCSE overview:

The Higher paper (designed for students who should achieve a grade 6 to 9) has harder content, and students will need an ability to wrestle with challenging content and to apply a wide range of Maths skills in order to solve problems.  

The Foundation paper has a maximum grade 5 as it has easier content. It is designed for students for whom the Higher paper is too challenging, but the pass mark for Foundation tier is higher so revision will need to be just as thorough as that needed for the Higher tier. 

For students able to achieve a grade 4 or 5, either paper is a possibility but we tend to put those students on the Foundation tier which is easier to access and offers less stress for a student who could otherwise struggle with the content or pace required for the Higher tier. 

Whichever paper a student studies for, significant personal revision and effort will be required in year 11 especially, and quality notes will be needed as soon as KS4 studies start half way through year 9.

For more information on the KS3 assessments or any other aspects of Maths at Dene Magna, please feel free to email Mr Jones (Head of Maths) at s.jones@denemagna.gloucs.sch.uk