GCSE Exam Information and Revision Guides

Exam board: OCR

Courses: GCSE Fine Art, Textiles and Photography.

Fine Art themes: Natural forms, man-made structures (architecture) and pattern in structures.

Photography themes: Light and Dark

Textiles themes: Natural forms, Man-made structures, under the microscope.

This subject does not use books or revision guides.

Lunchtime and after school clubs run for students who need to finish work, catch up or do extra (to achieve the highest grades).

Exam board: Eduqas.

Our topics in the order of study are:

Devising for performance – component 1

Theatre Practitioners – component 1

Scripting Performance – component 2

Live Theatre reviews – component 3

Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman – component 3

Textbooks we will use in the classroom are:

• WJEC/Eduquas GCSE Drama by Garry Nicholas - ISBN: 9781908682888

• GCSE Drama Live Theatre Evaluation - ISBN:978191282097

Revision guides available:

• GCSE Drama For the Grades 9-1 Course – The Revision Guide - ISBN: 9781782949626
• WJEC/Eduquas GCSE Drama – Study and Revision Guide - ISBN:978978-1-912820-27-6

Exam board: AQA.

We do not use textbooks in the classroom, but we look at a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts.

Students would benefit from reading the openings of novels and short stories from twentieth century writers and reading non-fiction including: newspaper articles, magazine article and blogs.

Our topics in the order of study are:

English Language Paper 2 – Reading: Nineteenth Century and Twentieth Century Non-fiction and Writing to persuade and then English Language Paper 1 – Reading: Explorations in Creative Reading (Twentieth Century short stories or novel extract) and Writing to Describe.

Revision Guides:

There are lots to pick from different publishers, but most students have found CPG Revision Guides and Workbooks the most useful.

If you need any further guidance or advice, please contact your child’s class teacher or Head of Department, Miss Yeardley.

Exam board: AQA.

We do not use textbooks in the classroom, but we study a range of literature texts.

ALL STUDENTS HAVE ACCESS TO A COPY OF THEIR SET EXAM TEXTS, but you may wish to buy your own copy to annotate and make notes. Alternatively, all of the GCSE English Literature texts are available for free on-line (if you type in the name of the text followed by PDF – for example An Inspector Calls pdf) and some students benefit from listening to audio versions of the texts (some are freely available on YouTube and / or Audible).

Our topics in the order of study are:

“An Inspector Calls” by J. B. Priestley

“The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson

AQA Anthology Power and Conflict Poetry Cluster

Shakespeare play - most classes study “Macbeth”, Miss Yeardley’s class “Much Ado About Nothing”

Revision guides available:

There are lots to pick from different publishers, but most students have found CPG Revision Guides and Workbooks the most useful.

If you need any further guidance or advice, please contact your child’s class teacher or Head of Department, Miss Yeardley.

Exam board: Edexcel B 

We provide a revision guide at the start of year 10 and ask for a £3.50 financial contribution towards this. 

Optional textbooks:

Oxford publishing

Pearson

For more practice you can purchase:

https://www.cgpbooks.co.uk/secondary-books/gcse/humanities/geography/geq43-gcse-geography-edexcel-b-exam-practice

Exam board: Edexcel.

Our topics in the order of study are:

Crime and Punishment, Cold War, Elizabeth I, and Weimar and Nazi Germany.

Textbooks we will use in the classroom are:

• Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History Crime and punishment through time, c1000–Present, Pearson: ISBN: 9781292127361
• Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941–91:  ISBN:9781292127279
• Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History: Early Elizabethan England, 1558–1588 (EDEXCEL GCSE HISTORY (9-1)): ISBN: 978-1292127262
• Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-1939 (EDEXCEL GCSE HISTORY (9-1)): ISBN: 978-1292127347

Revision guides available:

There are lots to pick from different publishers including Pearson, Hodder and CGP. Make sure it this the right topics and feels right for you. For example:

• Revise Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History Crime and Punishment in Britain, c1000-present. ISBN: 9781292169705
• Revise Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History: Crime and punishment in Britain Revision Cards. ISBN:9781292257365
• REVISE Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-91. ISBN:9781292169750
• Revise Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History: Superpower Relations and the Cold War Revision Cards. ISBN:9781292257396
• GCSE History Edexcel Revision Guide: perfect for the 2023 and 2024 exams (CGP Edexcel GCSE History). ISBN: 978-1782946052

You can also get revision notebooks and practice question plus books. Please see the school website under History GCSE for other ideas about places to visit, film ideas, novels etc.

Exam board: AQA

Our topics are:

Theme 1- Identity and Culture

• Relationships
• Technology in Everyday life
• Free time activities
• Customs and Festivals

Theme 2 – Local, National, international and global areas of interest

• Home and Local Area
• Social issues (charity & voluntary work / healthy living)
• Global issues (environment / poverty & homelessness)
• Travel and tourism

Theme 3 – Current & future study and employment

• My studies
• Life at school and college
• Education Post-16
• Jobs, career choices and ambitions

We are studying in the order of one topic from each theme on a rotation so as to visit each of the 3 themes in Year 10, following the exam board’s specification.

Textbooks we use in the classroom are:

•  Amici Italian Course (OUP) Second edition

ISBN: 9780198444848

• We also use GCSE (9-1) Italian Practice Questions with detailed solutions (With Honours)

ISBN: 9781999945213

Revision guides available:

Unfortunately, there are no CGP revision guides available for Italian, as it is a niche subject.

However, there are online resources that can be helpful for revision. Little and often is the best way to practice and retain a language. For example:

• Duolingo – offers revision of the basics and can be a fun app for daily practice
• learn-italian.net – has topics and games to practise vocabulary so you can select a specific topic.
• Quizlet.com also has topic-specific vocabulary with flashcards.

There is also a revision guide made by OUP to accompany the AMICI course and it will be used in Year 11 for Revision sessions.

Exam board: Edexcel

Higher tier:

• GCSE Maths Edexcel Complete Revision & Practice: Higher inc Online Ed, Videos & Quizzes – ISBN: 9781782944058
• GCSE Maths Edexcel Exam Practice Workbook: Higher - includes Video Solutions and Answers – ISBN: 9781782944034
• GCSE Maths Edexcel Revision Question Cards – Higher – ISBN: 9781789083385

Foundation tier:

• GCSE Maths Edexcel Complete Revision & Practice: Foundation inc Online Ed, Videos & Quizzes – ISBN: 9781782949985
• GCSE Maths Edexcel Exam Practice Workbook: Foundation - includes Video Solutions and Answers – ISBN: 9781782943990
• GCSE Maths Edexcel Revision Question Cards – Foundation – ISBN: 9781789083378

Equipment needed:

• A scientific calculator (we recommend the Casio Classwiz)
• A ruler
• A protractor
• A pair of compasses
• A pencil
• A rubber
• A sharpener
• A pen (plus a spare)

Exam board: Eduqas

The link below offers a much more affordable way to access the revision guide at £7 per student for a year's access to the updated online version.

WJEC/Eduqas GCSE Media Studies Student Book – Revised Edition Boost eBook (hoddereducation.com)

Exam Board: AQA

Two exams (no coursework). Each paper is 90 minutes long. There are a variety of multiple choice, short answer questions and longer evaluation type questions (usually worth 9 marks).

Paper 1

Cognition and Development:

· Memory

· Development

· Perception

· Research Methods

Paper 2

Social context and behaviour

· Social influence

· Language, thought and communication

· Brain and neuropsychology

· Psychological problems

Textbooks:

Used in lesson: AQA GCSE Psychology by Flanagan, Berry, Jones, Jones and Liddle (ISBN: 978-1-911208-04-4)

Recommended for revision: Collins GCSE 9-1 Psychology complete revision and practice (ISBN: 978-0008646431)

The students are also given photocopied revision booklets for the two papers. These have been developed by teachers.

Exam Board: AQA Combined Science Trilogy (higher or foundation tiers) and AQA Separate Science (higher tier).

We recommend the CGP revision guides - students need to make sure they select the right guide for their tier (they should ask their Science teacher for this information).

CGP books are widely available to buy online or in shops.

All the topics for Science GCSE are listed on our website under 'curriculum'.

Exam board: AQA

Our topics in the order of study are:

Theme 1- Identity and Culture

• Relationships
• Technology in Everyday life
• Free time activities
• Customs and Festivals

Theme 2 – Local, National, international and global areas of interest

• Home and Local Area
• Social issues (charity & voluntary work / healthy living)
• Global issues (environment / poverty & homelessness)
• Travel and tourism

Theme 3 – Current & future study and employment

• My studies
• Life at school and college
• Education Post-16
• Jobs, career choices and ambitions

Textbooks we use in the classroom are:

• AQA GCSE Kerboodle Spanish Foundation (OUP)

ISBN: 978019836586

• AQA GCSE Kerboodle Spanish Higher (OUP)

ISBN: 9780198365853

We have these books available digitally and students are given access to practise topics online in computer room lessons.

Revision guides available:

Spanish AQA Complete Revision and Practice (available through the school)

There are also online resources that can be helpful for revision. Little and often is the best way to practice and retain a language. For example:

• Duolingo – offers revision of the basics and can be a fun app for daily practice · www.spanishgames-net – has topics and games to practise vocabulary so you can select a specific topic.
• Quizlet.com also has topic-specific vocabulary with flashcards.

Exam board: AQA

The students study the specification topics in the following order:

• Applied anatomy and physiology
• Movement analysis
• Physical training
• Use of data
• Sports psychology
• Socio-cultural influences
• Health, fitness and wellbeing

Over the course of the two years they’ll complete a number of sports; when they get to Christmas in year 11, this will be finalised with each sport being worth 10% of their final grade.

At the end of year 10 and going into the start of year 11, they’ll also complete their coursework (Analysing and evaluating performance) based on their key sport.

Possible revision guides that would be helpful for the students would be:

• New GCSE Physical Education AQA Revision Guide: Paperback – 23 Nov. 2023
• New GCSE Physical Education AQA Exam Practice Workbook: Paperback – 19 Dec. 2023

Key resource: www.theeverlearner.com

All the students are given an on-line revision and reference log on to this on-line site that provides learning, exemplar questions, check points, practice questions etc. for all aspects of the course.