At this time of year, we would normally be welcoming you to the College to take part in an information evening linked to the options process for Year 8. This year circumstances mean we are unable to run this event in the usual way, however, we have established a thorough virtual process to enable you and your child to make well-informed choices about the options that are right for them and to be supported by specialist staff at the College along the way.

Before Christmas, we asked you and your child to give us an idea about the subjects that they were thinking of choosing. To help with this, we published subject guides on our website that gave information about each of the option subjects. We have now added short video presentations for each of the subjects to complement these guides and they can be found on the ‘Year 8 and 9 Options’ page of the website.

On this web page, you will also find a video presentation from Mr Potts that provides an overview of the options process. We recommend you watch the presentation and then look at the subject guides and video presentations for the subjects that your child is interested in choosing.

We have a Parents Evening coming up on January 27th where we have arranged it so that you can book appointments with your child’s current option subject teachers. This will provide you with the opportunity to talk to the specialist teachers of the subjects your child is considering taking for GCSE. This will hopefully provide crucial guidance and reassurance during the decision-making part of the process. Year 8 parents will not be able to make appointments with teachers of Core subjects (English, maths & science) on this evening. An opportunity to speak to these staff will happen later in the academic year.

For subjects that are not taught in Year 8 but can be opted for in Year 9, please do make sure you read the guide and watch the video presentation and then if you require further information please do not hesitate to contact the subject teacher who oversees that subject. These subjects are Business Studies, Child Care, Photography, Sociology and Textiles and the name of the teacher overseeing the subject is provided in the subject guide.

We will be sending out online forms, via parent mail, to you on January 28th which will be asking for your child’s final choices for their Year 8 options. This form needs to be returned by 29th January.

All students will then have the opportunity to discuss their choices with Mrs Mack, our Careers Leader, in one-to-one interviews that will take place over the course of the rest of this term. These interviews will either be by phone or in-person depending on the situation linked to school closures.

We very much look forward to supporting you and your child through this virtual process over the coming weeks.