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GCSE German: Aiming For Grades 8-9
Course Code: T0139 £249.00
ABOUT THIS COURSE
This course is designed to ensure your GCSE German students achieve the highest marks under the new 2024 GCSE specification, incorporating insights from the first exam series. It focuses on the characteristics of top-band responses, the linguistic demands of grade 8–9 performance and practical teaching strategies proven to stretch high-ability students.
BENEFITS OF ATTENDING
- Understand what the first exam series revealed about grade 8–9 performance
- Understand where marks were most commonly lost in the first exam series
- Explore the updated requirements of the new GCSE and how to meet them (for both AQA and Edexcel)
- Take away teaching ideas that stretch, challenge and develop high-attaining students
- Learn creative strategies to accelerate progress and raise standards
- Analyse and discuss grade 8–9 style responses
- Gain insights into effective feedback for top-band students
- Learn how to adapt existing resources to the new specification
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
- GCSE German teachers
- Heads of German and Heads of MFL
- Teachers of high-attaining GCSE German students
- Teachers looking to improve grades 8–9 outcomes
PROGRAMME
10.00am – The Assessment Demands for Top Grade Outcomes in GCSE German- What the first exam series showed about barriers to high grades
- Updated expectations for top-band performance under the 2024 spec
- What examiners rewarded most strongly (spontaneity, control, clarity)
- How to build the linguistic profile of a grade 9 student
10.45am – Break
11.00am – Stretching and Challenging Your More Able Students
- Analysis of grade 8/9 style responses from the first exam series
- Strategies to read around unfamiliar words and phrases
- High-order thinking tasks that deepen understanding
- Encouraging students to create effective, personalised study materials
- Building spontaneity and flexibility — key features of top-band work
11.30am – Maximising Exam Performance: Where Top Marks Are Lost
- Insights from the first exam series: common pitfalls and how to avoid them
- Ensuring students understand exactly what examiners look for
- Structuring high-mark answers for clarity and control
- Embedding Assessment Objectives in everyday teaching
- Effective Retrieval Practice and Reviews that build exam-ready skills
- Ten practical strategies that reliably maximise marks
12.15pm – Lunch
1.15pm – Exemplar Grade 8–9 Answers (Updated)
- Updated grade descriptors based on first exam series feedback
- Model answers for Papers 1–4 aligned with the new spec
- Candidate-style responses and commentaries
- Peer-marking routines that help students recognise top-band features
- How examiners identify top band answers
2.00pm – Effective Feedback for 8/9 Students: Comments, Not Marks
- Feedback strategies that stretch high-ability learners
- Asking questions as feedback to promote metacognition
- Using mark schemes to guide student self-correction
- What examiners look for in top-band writing and speaking
- Moving beyond templates: helping students internalise top-grade features
2.45pm – Break
2.45pm – Designing a Rich Curriculum with High Expectations
- Effective teaching strategies for high-ability students
- Three steps to revision success
- Helping students take ownership of their revision
- Balancing exam technique with meaningful engagement in German
- Signposting to A-Level and building long-term linguistic confidence
3.45pm – Depart / Finish
GCSE - Code: T0139GCSE German: Aiming For Grades 8-9
COURSE LEADER
Silvia Bastow is a German teacher and Head of Languages with over 20 years’ experience in secondary education. She is a Specialist Leader in Education for MFL, a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and has been a GCSE examiner since 2018, including as an examiner for Edexcel German Higher Writing (Paper 4). She has extensive experience in teaching, assessment and teacher development, and has worked as a textbook and resource writer for leading educational publishers, including Pearson. She is the author and co-author of several books for MFL teachers. Silvia is also an experienced CPD facilitator and regularly works with teachers and schools on evidence-informed approaches to language teaching and assessment.
Course Brochure
