And so it begins … the final countdown …

For the last few years we’ve done a countdown to the exam in the form of weekly papers that we’ve sent direct to parents – along with markschemes and examiners comments and this year is no different. I try to use questions they will not have seen before and come from a variety of sources. I must point out they are not intended as best guesses but as an aid to continue to build on the interleaving of topics that we do in class so each week it focuses on 5 or 6 topics and doesn’t jump around the curriculum .. a softer benefit we’ve found has come from parents who find them really helpful – some parents just don’t know how to help their students to revise and because the topics are aimed at those at the top of foundation / bottom of the higher tier they are suitable for all students in a year group. I do however, also put in some random questions that don’t necessarily fit into a “topic” box but are skills worth revisiting on a regular basis.

I usually send them to parents/ students via email (with hard copies to those parents not on email) with the same standard text every week apart from week 1 where I elaborate about the importance of “doing maths” and focussed revision around a small group of topics (with links to support) at this point of year 11 rather than a scatter gun approach. The feedback has always been superb and shows a level of support that is being given to students to achieve their potential.

If you’re part of the JMOnline family, I’ve already put them in the teacher toolkit/ extras/ revision & exam prep … in a folder called “Summer 18 – Final Countdown” … I’ll also be emailing them out this evening and will do the same every Sunday night as I prepare each weeks collection.