Staffroom Catch-up: Emma Stockill, Scalby School
We've been catching up with teachers at schools and colleges around the UK to find out how teaching with Eduqas is working for them and their learners. Emma Stockill, Head of English at Scalby School in Scarborough, shares her experience:
"I’m Head of English at Scalby School in Scarborough. Between the ten members of the English department here teach around 1000 learners per year. We’ve been teaching English with Eduqas, and before that WJEC, for a long time now - probably since 2006. We’re really proud of the results our students have achieved over that time.
The Eduqas team have always been helpful and friendly when we’ve needed them. For example, we had super support from Catherine, our Regional Support Team rep, in the early days of preparing for the ‘new’ GCSEs a few years ago. This allowed us to successfully plan for the rollout before making the leap. This made for a reasonably smooth transition – something our students benefitted from.
We’ve also found Eduqas’ exams less unpredictable than those of some of the larger exam boards, and more accessible - especially the English Language papers. We can hand on heart say that, with very few exceptions, we’ve been able to support students of all abilities through them.
It helps that as a department we enjoy many of the texts on the Eduqas spec. Our passion and interest rubs off on the students, who’ve also responded well to the content for the most part.
Having texts that resonate with both teachers and pupils is one of the key things for ensuring success - aside from the hard work and expertise of amazing teachers like ours!
And speaking of amazing teachers, over half of the team are now also examiners with Eduqas! The insight this provides means that we can be confident that we’re delivering the qualifications to the best of our ability, and that marking is consistent and fair.
Going forward we’re hoping to make more use more of Eduqas’ free teaching resources - the Spoken Language exemplars have been invaluable, and I’m sure there’s lots more our students can benefit from."
Learn more about English with Eduqas
Find out how switching to Eduqas for English could benefit you and your learners: