Evaluation of the Two Year Key Stage 3 Project - Communities and ...

ANNEX F - CASE STUDY SUMMARIESPhoebeth SchoolThe case study visit took place in Autumn 2004. At that time the first cohort of Project pupils were inYear 8.Phoebeth School is a large, mixed, 11-16 school located in a village in rural England. It serves anintake with a wide range of ability. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is muchlower than the national average and very few pupils come from minority ethnic groups. In terms ofattainment, performance at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 is above the national average, and the DfESvalue added scores are in line with the national average.The school participated in Phase 1 of the Project. The idea of a shortened Key Stage 3 arose well beforethe Project (perhaps 10 years before) with an accelerated mathematics course for the top set. This arosefrom an awareness of areas of repetition within the Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 curricula. However,under this arrangement the Key Stage 3 course was simply stopped after two years at whatever pointhad been reached rather than attempting to condense the curriculum. These pupils were then following atwo year GCSE course which was completed in Year 10, followed by A level modules in Year 11.Science later followed a similar pattern and when the school heard about the Key Stage 3 Project itseemed natural to take part.Departments decided for themselves whether to participate in the Project and some, such as the ModernForeign Languages Department, elected to take part while others, such as Humanities, decided not toparticipate.Among those subjects in which a condensed Key Stage 3 was pursued departments were able to choosewhether all or just some pupils should follow a condensed Key Stage 3. For example, in mathematicsall pupils followed a two year Key Stage 3 course. For the top sets this led on to GCSE mathematicsand an additional mathematics qualification with both completed in Year 11. For the bottom sets thisimplied a foundation year in Year 7 followed by a two year Key Stage 3 in Year 8 and Year 9 leading toFoundation GCSE mathematics in Years 10 and 11. For middle sets a condensed Key Stage 3 course inYear 7 and Year 8 was followed by a three year GCSE course.In contrast only some pupils completed a Modern Foreign Languages Key Stage 3 programme in twoyears with the bottom set following an entry level qualification in Year 9 and the top set going on tostart GCSE courses in Year 9.In other subjects, following the completion of a two year Key Stage 3 course pupils could elect tofollow a ‘pre-Key Stage 4’ option course. By bringing forward option choices to Year 9 it was hopedthat pupils could elect to drop subjects in which they were not interested while having achieved thesame levels that would have been expected after three years.All three teachers interviewed expressed the view that some pupils’ attainment reached a plateau andthat bringing assessment forward could enable them to achieve the same test levels and then move on towork on programmes of study that they found more engaging.Interestingly, the mathematics department, with its experience of early entry to GCSE followed by Alevel modules in Year 11 had elected to have all pupils sit examinations in Year 11 rather than Year 10because previous experience indicated that early entry could lead to a loss of motivation among pupilsin Year 11 (some of whom would not be planning to follow mathematics at A level).72