Year 9 Transition to Key Stage 4
16th January 2025
Dear parent/carer,
Please find enclosed the GCSE subject preferences guide which provides you with curriculum information about the subjects that your daughter will be studying next year and a choice of subjects that she can choose to study next year.
As your daughter moves onto the next stage in her educational career she will be required to make some important decisions about the GCSE subjects she would like to study. Your daughter’s GCSE curriculum will be assessed under the new numerical grading system 9-1, with grade 9 being the highest grade and grade 1 being the lowest.
Please read the guide carefully to support the decision-making process.
Section 1 provides you with information about all six of the compulsory subjects your daughter will be studying over the next two years. The subject information provides you with an overview of the content that will be covered in the subject and how the subject will be assessed.
Sections 2a, 2b and 2c provide you with information about the fourteen different subjects that are on offer to your daughter and she will be required to select four of these subjects to study over the next two years.
The school has designed some guidance that will support you and your daughter in selecting a rigorous and balanced selection of subjects that will support her progression into sixth form and university.
The guidance is as follows:
Your daughter needs to select four subject preferences by selecting one subject from each option block: A, B, C and D.
Across the four option blocks, she:
- must select one green subject, maximum two
- must select one yellow subject, maximum three
- must not select more than two blue subjects
At tonight’s Year 9 preferences evening there will be a presentation about the options process. You will be able to meet members of the senior leadership team and will have the opportunity to ask them any questions you might have. Your daughter will then have assemblies during the week of 20th January where staff members from each department will provide further information about their subjects.
An online GCSE subject preferences Google form will be sent to parents on Monday 27th January 2025 after the assemblies. The deadline for the form to be returned will be Wednesday 5th February 2025.
Yours faithfully,
Ms K Vishnuram
Senior Deputy Headteacher