Only in the first school week of 2020 and the finishing line is very much in sight for all our Year 11s! With that in mind we invited in coaching specialists Elevate Education to deliver their ‘How to ace your exams’ workshop.

Elevate Education are an international company working with 100s of schools across the UK. Their study skills workshops explore a number of useful techniques which help students prepare effectively for their exams. More importantly they are designed to achieve behaviour changes so students go on to actually use and apply the skills they’ve learned.

During the sessions the Elevate presenters worked with the students on discovering which revisions techniques work best for them and how to reduce exam stress. They also explored with students the six biggest mistakes not to make in exam preparation and looked at exam room excellence. The sessions were a resounding success with 98% of students saying that they found the workshop extremely useful and would recommend it to others.

It doesn’t end there – students will now have access to Elevate Education’s website: uk.elevateeducation.com where they will find a plethora of revision tips and resources to support them in the lead up to their exams.

Commenting on the preparations being put in place Mrs German, Assistant Headteacher – Raising Standards Leader said: “Following this superb start to the year, we have relaunched our Study Skills programme. Students in Year 11 will have two lessons per week which are dedicated to revision and silent study. Teachers delivering these lessons will be teaching students how to revise using a number of techniques such as self-quizzing or how to mind map effectively. Starting these sessions now will enable students time to put these new skills into practice as well as begin vital exam preparation for the forthcoming PPE exams before half term.”

The Study Skills programme is also supported by the Revision Programme which all Year 11s are expected to attend after school each day. Various departments are opening their doors each day to ensure students have a space to study, ask questions and tackle the areas they find hardest. Daily sessions are as follows:

Monday – Humanities
Tuesday – Science
Wednesday – English
Thursday – Maths
Friday – All options

Mrs German concludes: “We were so proud of our students on Tuesday, who demonstrated a mature attitude and great interest in the workshop sessions. We believe that with all this support on offer combined with their continued hard work, this group will get outstanding results in the summer. Here’s to the class of 2020!”