2017 is the time to start a new fresh year for everyone whether you are starting back at work or setting your self goals to achieve, the new year is a new you and it gives everyone old or young the chance to change habits or achieve goals. Students have the perfect chance to change for the New Year, whether that is by having a more positive attitude towards learning or achieving all their predicted grades. Pupils go back to school ready to study hard and make sure they are prepared for the years to come after a fun, festive and joyful break. Students are now ready to start the hard work, which takes determination and courage as well as resilience to never give up even when they fail.
With the new GCSEs in place exams have got harder and students now have to work even harder to learn new skills ready for their GCSEs or for the next year. Sophie a high school student, says "I don't like how they've changed the grades. I think it's a lot less complicated with the letter grades. I would've liked to have done coursework, as I think that a 100% exam based GCSEs is too stressful." Not only is there new exams but the levelling has changed to and instead of grading by letters it's now changed to numbers. This makes it hard for students to track their progress and to see where they are, but it’s not just complicated and confusing for students but parents will find it hard to understand their child’s progress and what areas their child/children need to work on. At the same time it means students practice getting the information into their heads and revising without putting themselves down for getting a grade that they are not 100% sure what it means, whether it's good or bad or if they are where they are predicted to be. This means that students should be less anxious when it comes to exams because they are still getting use to the new grades.
The New Year doesn’t only bring a chance to continue learning but it also brings some new exciting opportunities. At Carshalton High School for Girls they have given there year 10 students the chance to go on a week’s work experience to learn new life skills which will help them in the near future. It’s not only a week that they learn what it’s really like to work but they also learn how to get a job or in their case a placement. Students had to spend time writing up their CVs and had to learn how to make a phone call or how to send an email to apply for a placement.
2017 has a lot of amazing opportunities in store for everyone.
Emily Morris
