Back to school – setting up for success for Year 11 and GCSE English

The new school year has begun, and if you have a child in Year 11, it’s likely that ensuring they effectively prepare for their GCSEs is high priority. Navigating a complex landscape of qualifications, requirements, skills and educational jargon can be confusing; as an English teacher with a decade of experience teaching GCSE, here are my top tips to help you set your child up for success in their English Language and English Literature GCSEs.

Understand what they will be assessed on

Make sure they know exactly what is required for each English exam paper and which English Literature texts they are studying. If attending state school in England, this will consist of two exam papers for English Language and two papers for English Literature. Through the Language papers, they will be assessed on their ability to understand, analyse, compare and evaluate both fiction and non-fiction texts, and write in both fiction and non-fiction styles. For the Literature papers, they will be assessed on one Shakespeare play, one 19th century novel, one text (either fiction or a play) written after 1914 and an anthology of poetry.

What if… my child hasn’t read one of their key texts

It’s important that students have a good understanding of each text in its entirety, so it’s important to identify why they haven’t read one, or more, of one of the key texts. Firstly, don’t be alarmed if your child simply hasn’t covered one of the texts in school yet – the GCSE is designed to be a two year long course, and it’s likely they’ll be studying one of the texts in class during the autumn term.

If you’ve established that the text has been covered in class, talk with your child. Be curious and aim for a non-judgemental approach – were there any barriers to them engaging with that particular text? Or perhaps there’s a very specific circumstance that led to them missing school for a while, meaning they missed out on a chunk of learning. Audio books (tip – you can often find these for free for many of the GCSE texts on YouTube - here’s an example of one for ‘A Christmas Carol’), film versions (though be aware some are closer to the original text than others) and revision guides (like CGP’s which have clear chapter summaries) can all be useful in helping you child cover the whole text in different ways. If your child is struggling to understand a text, don’t be afraid to have a chat with their teacher to see how they are helping to make the text more accessible.

Identify their strengths and weaknesses

Knowing exactly which skills your child needs to focus their learning and revision on is key to successful exam preparation. They can begin to collect this information by looking at their mock exams, teacher feedback on classwork or homework and any reports you have received. The aim is to identify very specific skills – for example, to learn where to correctly place commas in a sentence or to practise finding a variety of connotations of key words which a writer uses in their work. This should be a straightforward process if they have already received this very specific feedback from their teacher or tutor (a process which they may have already completed with teacher guidance in class). It can help to make a list of the skills they need to work on and then prioritise which they need to crack first. Don’t forget to encourage them to reflect on and celebrate their successes as well! Remind them that there was a time when they hadn’t yet learnt the skills they can now do well and talk with them about the steps they took to achieve this. This will help to build their confidence and guide them to replicate the same or similar processes to get results on their new challenges.

What if… they don’t have any feedback from their teacher?

Your child’s teachers are there to help them, so don’t hesitate to call or arrange a visit to get a clearer picture of where your child’s current strengths and weaknesses are. Check whether there is anything they need to do to receive feedback – did they miss a key assessment that they need to catch up on? A good tutor will also be able to provide them with clear, individualised feedback on their work.

Little and often

It’s a common myth amongst students that ‘you can’t revise English’. You can – and need to for success – but it may look a little different to the revision techniques you may be used to. I’ll dive into this more in a future post, but for now, as the academic year begins, encourage your child to engage in lots of little and often English practice. Try regularly choosing an article together to both read and then discuss afterwards (regular reading is one of the best ways to support comprehension); encourage them to share their thoughts and opinions (and questions) on interesting topics in the news, supporting them to give as many reasons and examples for their ideas (important for constructing a non-fiction piece of writing); and it’s not too soon to begin creating flash cards or post-it notes for key quotations from the English Literature texts that can be used in memory games or stuck strategically around their room or the house.

What if… they don’t want me helping?

Of course, as teenagers this is really normal. As every young person is a unique individual themselves, there could be any number of reasons underpinning a rejection to attempts to help them prepare and revise. These could range from the positive and self-assured ‘I know what I need to do and I’ll get on with it on my own’ to a masking of a lack of confidence and worry. Not to mention that they are at an age where they are developing a much stronger sense of self and independence. Get curious about why they might be reluctant and try to keep the conversation open, so they know you are there for them when they are ready.

Get support

Arrange a phone call or meeting with your child’s class teacher as early as possible in the school year if you have any concerns, and as soon as possible if any concerns arise. Information is power and your child’s teacher should be able to offer clear guidance on what your child needs to work on and how to go about this if they are unsure. Agree on regular intervals to check back in and evaluate progress. If you feel dedicated 1:1 support would be beneficial, get in touch to see how I can help.

What if… everything seems to be going fine?

If they’re getting positive feedback, are on track for the grade they are hoping for and are making progress on skills they find challenging, celebrate and don’t question it – encourage them to keep doing what they are doing! Remember, support can also be as simple as them having a friend in the same class they can revise with or a trusted teacher to check in with every now and then. Having someone you can talk to as your child goes through this stage of their education, such as a friend with kids a similar age or slightly older can also be really helpful.

One final thought: the high stakes nature of GCSEs can make this year feel daunting and overwhelming. Remember to take time to step back and put things into perspective and encourage your child to do the same. Everyone will be hoping they achieve their potential, and there is immense pride to be felt in knowing you did the very best you could, but there is life and opportunity on the other side of the GCSEs, no matter what happens in the exam hall.

Any questions? Let me know in the comments below.