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It outlines the new GCSE structure, 1–9 grading, stronger pass expectations, exam arrangements, and key impacts of raising participation age on post-16 study options.",{"@graph":14,"@context":66},[15,34,49],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/","Exam",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/year-8-options-guide-for-parents-and-carers/206863/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"author":36,"headline":10,"publisher":39,"fileFormat":42,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":43,"datePublished":43,"encodingFormat":42,"isAccessibleForFree":44,"interactionStatistic":45},"DigitalDocument",{"name":37,"@type":38},"Noah","Person",{"url":19,"name":40,"@type":41},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-05",true,{"@type":46,"interactionType":47,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":48},"ViewAction",{"@type":50,"mainEntity":51},"FAQPage",[52,58,62],{"name":53,"@type":54,"acceptedAnswer":55},"Who should parents and carers talk to when choosing options for Year 9 and beyond?","Question",{"text":56,"@type":57},"Information comes from the form tutor, parents or carers, subject teachers, and teachers from subjects the student has not studied but is interested in.","Answer",{"name":59,"@type":54,"acceptedAnswer":60},"How does the school guide students to choose courses that fit their needs?",{"text":61,"@type":57},"The guidance process considers academic progress since joining the school, using student scaled scores from primary school and progress through years 7 and 8 to balance support and challenge.",{"name":63,"@type":54,"acceptedAnswer":64},"What are the main differences in the new GCSEs?",{"text":65,"@type":57},"New GCSEs use a 1–9 grading scale, introduce defined benchmark pass grades (grade 5 strong pass, grade 4 standard pass), remove coursework for most subjects, and require exams at the end of the course rather than modular assessments.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":68,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":40,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":70,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":72,"site_id":7},206863,1788596415,{"code":4,"msg":75,"data":76},"success",[77,81,85,88,93,98,103,108,113,116,120],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":78,"show_sort_weight":79,"slug":80},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":82,"show_sort_weight":83,"slug":84},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},70,"exam",{"id":89,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":90,"show_sort_weight":91,"slug":92},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":94,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":99,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":104,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":114,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":115},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":118,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":119},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":121,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":122,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":123},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":75,"data":125},{"doc_id":72,"user_id":126,"nickname":37,"user_avatar":127,"doc_module":4,"category_id":33,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":128,"file_id":129,"file_url":130,"file_type":131,"file_size":132,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":133,"language":134,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":135,"faqs":136,"seo_title":137,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":73,"read_time":138},8796095462418,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/80000253c1241d02b47?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1778826106357471780","Year 8 Options Guide for Parents and Carers  \nAll together: Always learning Understanding each other Achieving excellence Enjoying creativity Committing fully  \nGuidance for Options  \nThe option choices your child makes will be important for their future. To help them make the right choices they will need to find out about the subjects they are interested in. They will need to get information from the following people:  \n1. Form tutor  \n2. Parents or Carers  \n3. Subject teachers  \n4. Teachers from subjects that they have not studied, but are interested in.  \nTo try and help your child make maximum progress and be successful in years 9, 10 and 11 the school provides a wide range of study options, some of which will provide more support for learning than others. It is important that your child chooses courses that will allow them to make the best progress, achieve the best exam results and enjoy the learning opportunities that will help them to be successful.  \nYour child’s exam results at the end of year 11 will be critical in determining what kind of study course they progress onto in the sixth form at Stoke Newington School.  \nThe new GCSE courses have a different grading system of 1 to 9 with a grade 9 being an A** . We expect nearly all our students to gain a minimum of five 9 -5 grades (old grades A*-C) by the end of year 11 with the majority of students achieving many more than this. We expect more than 35% of students to achieve at least three 7, 8 or 9 grades and approximately 15% of students to achieve grades 7 to 9 for all their subjects.  \nTo further help your child make the best choice of subjects and help them progress into an appropriate course post-16 and onto university, we will be using a guidance process that considers academic progress since joining Stoke Newington School. The starting point will be student scaled scores from primary school and we consider progress throughout years 7 and 8. The aim of this process is to provide all students with a curriculum offer that has the appropriate level of support and challenge and that allows every individual to successfully manage their learning in years 9, 10 and 11.  \nWe recognise that every young person is different and that we have a small number of students who will need additional support to reach their target grades. For these students we provide a supported learning pathway with structured support and appropriate courses to access KS4 programmes of study.  \nWe will not allow students make choices that are inappropriate or unrealistic.  \nNew GCSEs – what’s different?  \nAll GCSE courses are being reformed over a three year period. GCSE courses in maths and English language and English literature began in September 2015. Most other GCSEs such as history, geography, modern foreign languages, sciences, and the arts began being taught from 2016 with media studies and all of the technology subjects starting in September 2017. When your child begins year 9, all of their GCSEs will be the new, reformed GCSEs.  \n• The new GCSE courses have a different grading system. Instead of A* to U it has been changed to Grades 9 (A**) , 8 (A*) , 7 (A) , 6/5(B) , 5/4 (B/C) down to 0 being U or fail.  \n• The new benchmark pass grade will be grade 5 – a‘strong pass’and a grade 4 will be a ‘standard pass’.  \n• GCSEs will not have coursework except for these subjects: art, photography, music, media, PE, resistant materials, graphics, textiles and food and nutrition. Drama will retain a performance practical exam.  \n• Only maths will have tiered exams with a foundation and a higher paper. All other subjects will have a unified paper with access to the full grade set of 1 to 9.  \n• GCSE courses will have more demanding content.  \n• All exams have to be taken at the end of the course; there are no modular examinations.  \nRaising participation age and sixth form study  \nStudents are expected to remain in full time education, training or an approved programme of work and training, such as ","cbCainZTYqIvnP5d","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCainZTYqIvnP5d","pdf",141127,11,"English","# Guidance for Options\n## Who provides information\n## Supporting progress towards years 9 to 11\n# New GCSEs – what’s different?\n## 1–9 grading system\n## Benchmark pass grades\n## Coursework and exam structure\n## Exam tiering and content\n# Raising participation age and sixth form study\n## Progression into sixth form\n## Admissions criteria and expectations","[{\"question\":\"Who should parents and carers talk to when choosing options for Year 9 and beyond?\",\"answer\":\"Information comes from the form tutor, parents or carers, subject teachers, and teachers from subjects the student has not studied but is interested in.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the school guide students to choose courses that fit their needs?\",\"answer\":\"The guidance process considers academic progress since joining the school, using student scaled scores from primary school and progress through years 7 and 8 to balance support and challenge.\"},{\"question\":\"What are the main differences in the new GCSEs?\",\"answer\":\"New GCSEs use a 1–9 grading scale, introduce defined benchmark pass grades (grade 5 strong pass, grade 4 standard pass), remove coursework for most subjects, and require exams at the end of the course rather than modular assessments.\"}]","Year 8 Options Guide for Parents and Carers | PDF",28]