Intro

Year 9 students are at the start of the process of selecting their KS4 options for Year 10. This is the most important stage in your child’s education so far and we understand it can be an anxious time. Making the right decisions and choices is of vital importance.

Below is our Options Booklet and the timeline for the options process to allow you and your child to explore NOA’s GCSE offer further.

4 Stages

Stage 1:

In the week commencing the 26^th of February, Year 9 students will have assemblies focused on outlining the options process and the importance of these choices, as well as having presentations from subjects they don’t study at KS3 so they have a greater understanding of these courses.

The week culminates in Year 9 Options Evening which is on the 29^th of February 5pm-6:30pm. This gives you and your child a chance to look round the stalls of their potential choices and discuss the demands of the course in more detail with staff. Our Careers Advisor and Sixth Form staff will be on hand to discuss your child’s post-16 choices and what might help them to achieve these goals.

Stage 2:

On the 29^th of February we will email you a link to the option selection form (this can be completed on a laptop or mobile device). If you have not received the link by 1^st of March, please email y9options@northoxfordshire-academy.org or contact the main reception. The deadline for returning the form is the 15^th of March.

Please check this carefully, ensuring your course choices and two reserve options are accurate (one of the three choices must be History or Geography). The number of course choices you have is dependent on the pathway that you have been placed on, this will be indicated in a letter to you before half term. If you are unsure of the pathway or have any questions, then please contact us.

Stage 3:

Soon after the 29^th of March, you will receive a letter with your child’s awarded KS4 options. We will do our best to ensure that students get as many of their first choices as possible but timetabling and group sizes place limitations on this.

Stage 4:

We understand that students may change their minds over options or be unhappy with the reserve place they have been given. I will look at these concerns in the week commencing the 3^rd of June as it gives students a chance to fully consider the changes before they are made.

If you have any questions or queries that are not answered in either this letter or in the options booklet, please do not hesitate to contact y9options@northoxfordshire-academy.org.