01723 582194 hello@gps.hlt.academy
Principal - Lesley Welsh
01723 582194 hello@gps.hlt.academy
Principal - Lesley Welsh

Exams and PPEs

KS4 PPEs and GCSE examinations

During Y10 and Y11, students will sit a range of PPEs (Pre-Public Examinations/Mocks) as well as their final GCSE examinations in May/June 2025 for the current Y11 students and in May/June 2026 for the current Y10 students. 
 
Year 10 PPEs
Y10 students will sit their PPEs over the course of June 2025 and an examination timetable will be shared in May 2025. The examination window is from 2nd until the 27th June 2025. 
 
Y11 PPEs and GCSE examinations
Y11 students will have 2 sets of PPEs, PPE1 in November 2024 and PPE2 in February 2025. These PPEs are designed to give the students practise under full examination conditions and will be conducted in exactly the same way as the final GCSEs. They will give students and teachers valuable feedback on what knowledge is secured and what needs further development.
 
 
To achieve the grades that students are capable of in both their PPEs and final GCSEs, it is essential that students attend school regularly. Any absence leads to missed learning opportunities. Curriculums are planned so that knowledge builds each lesson, so if students miss lessons, they will miss vital knowledge, leading to knowledge gaps that may never be covered again in lessons. 
 
We know that all the research shows that students that achieve more than 90% of the time achieve approximately 1 grade higher than similar students that do not. Every day really does matter, particularly in Y11. 
 
Revision
To support revision in Y11, teachers are very kindly offering additional lessons after school. These are called Lesson 6 and are available for all students to attend. These are excellent opportunities for students to work with staff on areas that they are not sure about, supported by expert practitioners. 

Year 11 students will also be offered additional support during Tutor time after PPE1, when tutor groups will be realigned to support academic progress based on information from the examinations. 
 
Students need to revise independently to develop their own knowledge and the school has invested in ‘Learning Walkthrus’, which cover key study skills that students can easily master to enable them to revise effectively. Knowing how to revise is essential as lots of time can be wasted with ineffective revision. 
 
 
There are lots of revision websites that students can use to support them with their revision but all effective revision needs to start with a plan! There are many revision planning websites that are available and a few are linked below: 
 
 
 
 
Examination Guidance and Legislation
All Public Examinations are overseen by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) About JCQ – JCQ Joint Council for Qualifications and they produce all of the guidance that schools must adhere to when conducting external examinations. 
 
They produce a set of documents that have to be shared with candidates, which the school will be circulating formally closer to the GCSE examinations. 
 
 
The checklist that they produce is excellent to help familiarise you with the key information about the examination process: Preparing to sit your exams – 2024/25