examination board for St Albans school

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KEKE11
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:00 pm

examination board for St Albans school

Post by KEKE11 »

My DS is in the second year at St Albans and am looking at starting to do some work with him but I am told I need to know what board his school follows. As i am new to this I have checked his books and asked him but i am not getting the answer. So i have come to this wonderful forum to get help from parents of older boys in the school that have been through the whole GCSE stuff, what examination board books am I to buy be able to work with him. thank you.
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: examination board for St Albans school

Post by Daogroupie »

You have been given incorrect information. As this stage St Albans will be following the KS3 syllabus so you don't need to know which GCSE or IGCSE board they use for each subject as he has not reached that stage yet. You would find it easier if you used the year numbers that were introduced twenty years ago. Your son is in Year Eight. If you go to WH Smiths or Waterstones and look for KS3 books in the education section. Smiths has a book for each year so you can get Year 8 books for the subjects he is studying. Is there one you are concerned about? As he is in private school he should be getting lots of help at school. But it is great that you are taking an active interest in his studies. Many parents take a very hands off approach at secondary school and some suddenly find their ds is struggling and they had no idea. DG
lotsakids
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 9:34 pm
Location: Herts

Re: examination board for St Albans school

Post by lotsakids »

Is there really any need to be so patronising? If a school refers to the year groups as 'first year' etc, I think we can all translate these into the new fangangled Y7, Y8 etc!
hermanmunster
Posts: 12815
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: examination board for St Albans school

Post by hermanmunster »

I don't know about St Albans but many schools use a variety of boards - my DC's certainly had several certificates for GCSE from different places, can't remember why(!) - presumably the staff preferred the syllabus etc - mixture of OCR / Edexcel / AQA etc

In some subjects it was suggested that buy specific books at the beginning of the GCSE course which would be mainly the beginning of year 10, (4th year in old money or Lower 5th at good old KEHS :lol: )
MrsP
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2011 6:53 pm

Re: examination board for St Albans school

Post by MrsP »

My DS is currently in year 5 at St. Albans. If you go onto their web site and click on the following links you will be taken to this year's GCSE timetable. The fourth column specifies the Board. Please note that although these Boards are for this year's cohort it may of course differ for your son in 3 years time:

Home / Academic & Pastoral/ Exams information / GCSE 2014 timetable

The timetable also confirms whether they are IGCSE or GCSE courses.
KEKE11
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:00 pm

Re: examination board for St Albans school

Post by KEKE11 »

Thank you for your replies, I knew I would get my answers from here. thank you all. will check Whsmith and check the link as well Mrs P. I know its early but I just want to do my bit i guess and not get overwhelmed come the GCSE time. Thanks for your advice
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: examination board for St Albans school

Post by Guest55 »

Please don't buy anything now as all the GCSEs are changing.

KS3 books aren't necessary.
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