STUDENTS Tag

The Key Subjects of IGCSE: What Should Students Expect?

Coast Academy Student Studying

The IGCSE is a reputed education qualification that’s awarded by Cambridge International and offered by top schools throughout the world.  It’s designed for students aged 12 to 16. While the demand for IGCSE education has grown progressively year-on-year, some students still struggle to select the best subjects. With other options to choose from, depending on what they want to study in the future.  Below are the subjects offered in the IGCSE Curriculum

Lower secondary (Year 7-9)

In the Lower Secondary level students are required to do the following subjects.

• English Language
• Mathematics
• Science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
• ICT
• History
• Geography
• French
• Kiswahili
• Art and design
• Music
• E and Swimming

After sitting for the Year 9 checkpoint exams, we guide our students through a career talk and subject selection based on their career of choice. At this point, students can now choose their subjects of choice as per their career aspirations. In years 10 and 11, the following subjects are compulsory.

• Maths
• English language
• Information & Communication Technology (ICT)

In addition, 5 subjects are to be selected from the following Optional Subjects offered, of which one must be a science.

• Physics
• Geography
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Business Studies
• Swahili
• French
• English Literature
• Art & Design
• Accounting
• History

When choosing subjects, it is recommended to read the subject syllabus overview of that particular subject which gives one an overview of the areas of study of the subject. IGCSE is preferred by many because it teaches students how to think critically and expands their knowledge. Not only do the exam questions test the student’s ability to understand key concepts but also test the student’s creative and innovative abilities.

8 Ways to Support Your Child’s Mental Health and Well-Being

As parents and caregivers, there are ways we can support our children to give them the best chance to stay mentally healthy.

Parents play a huge role in teaching activities that promote good mental health. The ability to label and manage emotions, identify needs, and ask for support are worth building for everyone — especially since these skills may help protect against future mental health concerns. You can help a child to have good mental health

1. Listen to Your Children’s Concerns

It is essential to listen to your children’s concerns. Let them feel heard and understood.  Have a one-to-one conversation with them and listen to any concerns that might have. Once your child feels safe with you, they learn to trust you in every situation which is essential for their mental health.

2. Encourage physical activity

Physical health and good mental health are strongly correlated. Encourage your child to get exercise regularly or engage in other physical activities such as swimming, cycling, or whichever activity they love doing. Such activities uplift their energy, mood, and mental health.

3. Teach Your Child The Art of Positive Self-Talk

Teach your child how to engage in positive self-talk with themselves. This changes how they view the situation and help manage their feelings and response behavior. For example, “Come down, It’s now worth getting into an argument over this.”,  “I am going to relax and it will pass.” and “I can do this.”

4. Encourage Your Child to Build Meaningful Friendships

Encourage your child to make new friends at school and around the neighborhood. You could also enroll them in a summer camp or classes of activities that they enjoy such as skating and swimming. Meet their friends and get to know the kind of influence they will have on your child.

5. Discipline Without Labeling

Practice gentle parenting. When disciplining your child, avoid using mean words like stupid, dumb, or calling them bad. This leads to the child feeling like they can’t do anything right or that they are not good enough for you. Instead, correct your child’s wrong behavior by explaining why their action was inappropriate and encouraging them to give it another try when they feel ready.  This gives them the push to want to correct their mistake and do better.

6. Be Generous With Praise

Make it a point to always praise good behavior. Praise your children more than you reprimand them. Constant criticism will only lower your child’s self-esteem and make them feel like they can’t get anything right which is detrimental to their mental health. Praising your child whenever they have done a good deed boosts mental health.

7. Journaling 

Journaling is an excellent coping strategy when dealing with big emotions. It may also help improve your child’s social skills by encouraging self-reflection from a young age. It could be as simple as writing three things that they are grateful for at the end of each day.

8. Get Professional Help If Needed

It is very important to spend enough time with your child so that you can easily recognize when they need professional help. Most parents tend to shy off when they notice that their child might need more help than what they have to offer. Addressing mental health concerns earlier on in life is the best thing you can do for your child. Children who grew up with good mental health tend to become responsible adults who know how to manage their emotions well.

You can also read 7 Effective Classroom Management Strategies at Coast Academy

Cambridge Checkpoint Results For The Year 2023

8 SIMPLE WAYS TO STUDY MORE EFFECTIVELY

While there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ study technique,  there are methods that one can use to ensure a better understanding of concepts and the ability to recall. What works for one person will not necessarily work for another. Through consistency and planning your study time accordingly,  you are bound to achieve your full potential by developing your memory and academic excellence.

1. Plan

Making a realistic schedule will help you avoid cramming and procrastination.  Use a planner to keep track of deadlines, dates, and times so you do not forget anything important. Studying in small bits over time will help in remembering unlike staying up all night to cram before exams. Aim to schedule some study time each day.

2. Study In An Appropriate Environment

Pick a quiet corner in your room/ house or in the school library that is properly lit and well-ventilated away from distractions and preferably on a desk. Keep your phone away and on silent.

3. Prioritize

Start with the hardest tasks first. Incorporate flash cards if possible as they are excellent in boosting memory. Use applied learning if you are having trouble remembering.  You can do this by thinking about something that applies to your subject of study in real-life situations. Find out what works best for you.

4. Take Care Of Yourself

Eat well, sleep, and exercise. Getting enough sleep is crucial for good memory. A balanced diet with lots of water helps your brain in absorbing new information, while exercise helps reduce stress. Nuts, dark chocolate, grapes, and apples are supper foods for the brain. Avoid sugar, carbs, and processed foods.

5. Break It Up

Tackling individual parts is much easier than tackling the whole. Breaking a big assignment into smaller bits will make it easier to manage and understand. Always save your least challenging tasks for the end of your study session.

6. 30-40 Minutes Per Study Session

Our brain only absorbs information from the first and last 15 minutes of studies. This means that anything studied outside that time frame will likely be forgotten. Breaks are good for your mental health. They also improve your attention span, your creativity, and your productivity.

7. Join A Study Group

Forming study groups with your friends is a great way to help each other and challenge each other to better. It helps develop good study habits, teamwork and boosts confidence.

8. Reward Yourself

Reward yourself for a job well done after every study session. This in turn prevents burnout, uplifts your mood, and makes you look forward to the next study session. You could go for a walk, take a nap, indulge in your favorite snack, or hang out with your friends.

Why The IGCSE System Is The Best Option For Your Child

IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATING THE GIRL CHILD

Half of the girls in Kenya are getting little to no education. One in 2 girls in Kenya is married at the tender age of 19. It is a fundamental right of the girl child to receive a quality education. All learning centers should ensure that they provide a friendly, safe, and conducive environment for the safety of the girl child. Educating the girl child is like educating the entire community.  Below are 5 reasons for educating the girl child.

1. Increase in literacy level

When girls are educated, they Acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in the labor market. This gives them the will and confidence needed to join the employment task force.

2. Ability to Make Smart Decisions

Educated women make better decisions when it comes down to healthcare, and marriage and are less likely to endure domestic abuse. Social skills, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills are also impacted and in turn, can help in settling disputes in the community.

3. Reduction of Child Marriages.

If all girls went to school and proceeded to finish secondary, it would have a great impact on the number of early marriages in school-going girls.

4. Reduction in Child Mortality Rates

According to the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative, children of educated mothers are twice as likely to survive past the age of five. This is because they are more aware of the importance of good health care and would ensure that their children get all necessary vaccines required.

5. Continuation of Cycle

Education equips one with the socio-emotional and life skills necessary to adapt to the changing world. A girl that is educated will definitely want the same for her daughter’s education. They will beat all odds to ensure that their daughter gets quality education.

6. Economic Growth

Women invest their salaries into their families and their community at large. This in turn helps in poverty eradication. Educating the girl child will mean having more women in the workforce thus increasing the labor force needed for the country’s economic growth.

7. Self-Reliance

An educated woman is able to be self-sufficient. She is capable of taking care of her own needs without being dependent on either her husband or any other relative for survival.

Why The IGCSE System Is The Best Option For Your Child

Why the IGCSE system is the best option for your child.

4 years after the introduction of the CBC curriculum in Kenya, most parents are yet to comprehend and understand its structure and what it entails.  With most parents not ready to embrace the CBC curriculum, many have started looking into the IGCSE system in trying to decide which of the 2 is the better option for their children.

Below is why IGCSE is the best choice for your child.

1. IGCSE is internationally recognized

Internationally recognized

IGCSE is an internationally recognized system developed by Cambridge University and considered the baseline for employment in most countries. It consists of early years, junior school and senior school. IGCSE certificate is recognized in any part of the world which makes it excellent preparation for further study in any University worldwide.

2. A wide scope of subjects to choose from

IGCSE offers a broad scope of more than 70 subjects to choose which are both applicable in life and offered at the universities such as law and psychology. Among the 70 subjects, 30 are languages. Learners select their subjects of choice based on their interests and abilities.

3. IGCSE is ability based

Unlike CBC, where all learners are equally tested, IGCSE exams cater to different learning and interpretation abilities as it considers that milestones are different in every individual. The exam board separates questions as per difficulty level.

4. Extended curriculum

IGCSE offers its learners an option to extend the curriculum. It mostly applies to students that are academically advanced and wish to take a supplement paper to support the core subject. This makes them become more advanced.

5. IGCSE is multicultural

Being an internationally recognized system, students from different cultures easily fit into the IGCSE system of Education which offers 30 different languages to choose from. Children whose English is not their first language are allowed more time to familiarize themselves with it before sitting for the exam.

6. Development

Learners gain skills that include listening skills, problem-solving skills, logical thinking skills, and practical skills among many others which they can apply in their day to day lives.

7. University scholarships to the UK

The IGCSE certificate is given preference in UK’s university placement. It is held with high value among the European Universities thus, increasing the chances of being selected to pursue higher education in their institutions.

 In conclusion, the IGCSE education system offers an all-rounded, in-depth, internationally recognized and quality education for learners of all abilities.  It is easy for a child to transition into IGCSE from the CBC curriculum since it is learner-based and the child is allowed to pick subjects that they have an interest in and would wish to pursue in Universities. IGCSE nurtures students into capable and fully equipped individuals ready to take on the world.

You should also read is the 844 system better than IGCSE?