'To instil creativity for life… Our aim is to equip students with the relevant skills, knowledge and understanding to enable them to become the best possible artist they can be, developing their cultural capital. Striving for excellence through determination.’
We want our students to build a long-term understanding of relevant practical skills, along with theoretical and analytical knowledge. The curriculum will enable our learners to understand and ask questions about the world of art and design, its processes and context. We also want our students to be conscious global citizens whose moral compass and actions are underpinned by secure cultural knowledge and understanding. It is important that students understand the importance and relevance of art and design beyond the school environment and as such, we want knowledge, understanding and skills to be developed both in and outside the classroom.
Our intent is to develop holistic knowledge and skills related to art and design at Key Stage 3 in order to create a platform on which to build at GCSE. At all levels, we will use pertinent contemporary and historical references, which help students develop their knowledge and understanding of art movements, artists and designers, cultural references and context.
Regardless of whether our students continue their art studies at GCSE or post-16, we want to have helped them understand the key elements of the world of art and design. We will support our learners to develop skills and cultural capital that are valuable across all subjects and employment in later life.
We implement our aims through the delivery of rigorous and high-quality education, which promotes a love of learning about the creative world of art and design. Work must be accessible and engaging for all students to allow them to make sustained progress. Schemes of work are bespoke to our context. We will ensure high levels of challenge are consistently embedded in light of our selective cohort. We aim to ‘teach to the top’ and scaffold and support to enable all students to meet learning objectives. Early in Key Stage 3 we aim to bridge the gaps in knowledge and understanding that students present from our 101 feeder primary schools. Knowledge and practical skills are as equally weighted as possible with increasing levels of challenge from Years 7 to 13. As such, our curriculum will be our progression model. Students will develop their enquiry skills in relation to art and design. Opportunities, support and scaffolds with regards to enquiry will be timely and deliberate over time with fully independent research being the ultimate goal at A Level.
In Art the curriculum will make a profound, positive impact on the outcomes of our students, including vulnerable groups. We will know that this is true as we are delivering a high standard of education, quality assured through qualitative and quantitate measures such as:
Attainment and achievement outcomes;
Observing lessons and scrutinising planning;
Standards of learning in books;
Destination data;
Our aim in Business and Economics is to offer a diverse, high-quality curriculum relevant to the dynamic business environment that supports students in developing their economic well-being in line with the school philosophy of learning for life.
We offer a two-year Business GCSE that provides our students with time to build deeper knowledge and take advantage of personal enrichment and entrepreneurial opportunities. In the Sixth Form the department offers A Levels in both Business and Economics. The department allows students to study both subjects alongside each other, as we believe that the skills and concepts complement, rather than repeat, each other. The varied subject offering provides stretch and challenge, co-curricular experiences and caters for all learning styles to enthuse students in pursuing academic excellence.
The real-world nature of the subject provides regular opportunities to promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, which are an integral part of our day-to-day work, whether in discussing the ethics in globalisation, the motivation and leadership theory involved in the treatment of workers or the role of technology in business interaction.
Naturally, careers education is a major part of teaching, with students learning how a range of employment roles will be involved within many types of organisation, the importance of self-employment and entrepreneurial spirit, as well as understanding the theory and application of labour markets.
The department’s skilled professional practitioners create a safe but challenging environment that encourages our students to be resilient, reflective and to improve their own metacognition.
Our intent is implemented through rigorous and high-quality education which promotes within students a greater understanding of the world around them. Work must be accessible and engaging for all students to allow them to make sustained progress. Schemes of work are bespoke to our context. We will ensure high levels of challenge are consistently embedded in light of our selective cohort. We aim to ‘teach to the top’ and scaffold and support to enable all students to meet learning objectives. Students starting at GCSE will be taught in a manner that harnesses and builds on their current world knowledge, ensuring that learning is always contextual and contemporary. Each function of business is examined independently, before drawing it together holistically in the context of businesses operating in a dynamic environment. A Level Business is taught assuming that students have not studied the subject at GCSE, but with rapid progress in the first year so no student is left behind. A Level Economics is taught from the perspective of the subject as a social science, with a logical approach taken to modelling in the real world. Great emphasis is placed on contextualising learning to real news stories.
Recovery Curriculum – COVID-19 response
The Business and Economics Department recognises the significant emotional toll that the pandemic has had on learners within the school, as well as the lost face-to-face teaching time.
While the department continued to deliver resources during the first period of lockdown, and then delivered ‘live’ online lessons in the second lockdown, there may well be gaps in experience and access between students. To support the recovery of this, all lessons planned from September 2021 include interleaving activities, specifically at the beginning of the lessons. This is an opportunity to refresh student memory, as well as address any gaps as identified from these activities. From these gaps it is then possible to design and deliver specific activities to support closing these gaps.
In Business and Economics the curriculum will make a profound, positive impact on the outcomes of our students, including vulnerable groups. We will know that this is true as we are delivering a high standard of education, quality assured through qualitative and quantitate measures such as:
We want our students to be curious about the technological world around them. The curriculum will enable our learners to understand and ask questions about technology, its uses as well as the moral and ethical aspects of using technology. We also want our students to be conscious global citizens whose moral compass and actions are underpinned by secure technical knowledge and understanding of how technology can improve people’s lives but can also affect people’s behaviour detrimentally. It is important that students’ knowledge, understanding and skills enable them to keep developing within this key field of progress both in and out of the classroom.
Our intent is to develop a good, solid, working knowledge of both Computing and ICT at Key Stage 3 in order to create a platform to build on at GCSE. At GCSE and A Level we will use the exam board’s curriculums to ensure that students develop their knowledge and understanding of technology and programming as well as the more creative side of the subjects.
Regardless of whether our students continue their Computing or ICT studies through to GCSE or post-16, we want to have helped them understand the key elements of how technology can be used effectively in both the IT and creative industries and be able to create products that are effective in their outcomes be it a Python Program or a digital graphic. We will support our learners to develop skills and cultural capital that are valuable across all subjects and employment in later life.
We implement our aims through the delivery of rigorous and high-quality education, which promotes a love of learning about the world of technology. Work must be accessible and engaging for all students to allow them to make sustained progress. Schemes of work are bespoke to our context. We will ensure high levels of challenge are consistently embedded in light of our selective cohort. We aim to ‘teach to the top’ and scaffold and support to enable all students to meet learning objectives. Early in Key Stage 3 we aim to bridge gaps in knowledge and understanding, which students present from our 101 feeder schools. Computing and ICT are as equally weighted as possible with increasing levels of challenge from Year 7 to 11. As such, our curriculum will be our progression model. Students will develop their technological enquiry skills. Opportunities, support and scaffolds with regards to enquiry will be timely and deliberate over time with fully independent research being the ultimate goal at A Level.
In Computing/ICT the curriculum will make a profound, positive impact to the outcomes of our students, including vulnerable groups. The curriculum will embed core skills that students will require regardless of chosen career path. We place an emphasis on transferrable skills such as critical and logical thinking, problem solving and creativity. We will know that this is true as we are delivering a high standard of education, quality assured through qualitative and quantitative measures such as:
We want our students to have an appreciation of design and how it has shaped the world in which we live. The curriculum will enable our learners to understand and ask questions about materials, ingredients, processes, social influences and sustainability. We also want our students to be conscious global citizens whose moral compass and actions are underpinned by secure knowledge and understanding.
Our intent is to develop a holistic knowledge of DT through a practical understanding of the subject, providing a clear foundation for those wishing to pursue the individual pathways at GCSE and A Level, and equipping students with knowledge and understanding of the world and issues facing it in the 21st century.
Regardless of whether our students continue their studies through the suite of DT subjects beyond Key Stage 3, we want them to understand key elements of materials, processes and design influences in the world. We want our learners to develop skills and cultural capital that are valuable across all subjects, providing both learning opportunities and employment later in life. We also aim to weave skills from other subjects, such as mathematics, into our schemes of work, so they are given real-life meaning and our students understand their application.
We implement our aims through the delivery of rigorous and high-quality projects, which promotes a love of learning. Work is accessible and engaging for all students to allow them to make individual and sustained progress. Schemes of work are bespoke to context with challenge consistently embedded. We aim to scaffold and support all students to meet their learning objectives. Early in Key Stage 3, we aim to bridge any gaps in knowledge and skills due to our multiple feeder primary schools. Students will develop their enquiry skills so that if taken to A Level and beyond, they will be able to fully research design issues independently.
In Design Technology our teaching will make a profound, positive impact on the outcomes of our students. We know this is true as we are delivering a high standard of education, quality assured through qualitative and quantitative measures such as:
The English Department is a successful and forward-thinking department, characterised by a strong sense of enthusiasm for our subject. We view English as the academic study of language and literature and as such, our ambition for all students to experience the highest quality texts as part of their entitlement is an important principle that underpins our curriculum. This curriculum enables our learners to engage with, and contribute to, class discussion in a respectful manner, prompted by the study of a range of diverse contemporary texts as well as those celebrated within the canon of our literary heritage. Our vision is that our students become conscious global citizens and this growth is facilitated through their empowerment to critically evaluate how writers present concepts and issues across a range of literary and non-literary texts. As a consequence, personal perspectives become framed through independent thought, in response to the conceptual and contextual ideas that are contained within the texts (politics, economics, gender, aesthetics, class, morality, psychology and philosophy).
Our students develop the ability to communicate effectively in a wide range of contexts. They are enabled to use accurate written English and are encouraged to develop an interest in the richness of the English language in its various forms. We embolden students to strive to extend the range of their own language in terms of style, vocabulary, structure and form, providing them with the tools to become engaging and imaginative writers.
Our intent is to develop a broad holistic knowledge of English Language and Literature at Key Stage 3 in order for students to build their confidence in noticing and analogising how meaning is informed in subsequent texts for Language and Literature, as they embark upon their GCSE and A Level studies.
We strive to offer a wide range of enrichment opportunities, including theatre trips, workshops and collaborative experiences. Above all else, we aim to provide a curriculum that offers a rich and diverse range of learning experiences, inspiring all students to share our passion for the subject.
We implement our aims through the delivery of a curriculum that is underpinned by a strong focus on knowledge and which is intentionally sequenced through all Key Stages. In light of our selective cohort, we are unashamedly ambitious with our text choices and our expectations of the conceptual explorations of our curriculum. Consequently, discussion and debate are a regular feature of lessons, as are extended opportunities for reading and writing. Students are exposed to a range of texts from Years 7 to 11, which includes the study of plays, novels, poetry and a variety of extracts from fiction and literary non-fiction texts. Knowledge is embedded across our schemes of work through regular retrieval practice; the sophistication of the skills increases each year to support students’ progress. Throughout Key Stage 3, there is also a focus on grammar and how to write increasingly erudite sentences and academic essays.
In English, the curriculum makes a profound and lasting impact on the outcomes of our students, including those in vulnerable groups. Given the significance of English as a core subject, a subject that encompasses the fundamental skills required for all future courses and careers, we are committed to ensuring that the impact of our curriculum is evident. This manifests itself through an increasing fluency and mastery of the subject, as students’ skills and knowledge improve incrementally through the Key Stages. These will be measured and quality assured through qualitative and quantitative processes such as:
The Food and Nutrition Department aims to develop its students’ curiosity and understanding of the world around them through the products they use and the food they eat. The ‘hands-on’ practical aspects of the course serve to develop students’ skills and confidence with ingredients and kitchen equipment. They learn how to use equipment safely and appropriately and how to select ingredients according to their specific properties and uses. We want students to understand how simple it is to prepare their own food and to understand the impact good food choices can make on health and lifestyle. They learn about food storage and hygiene and learn to think about food providence – how and where it is produced. Students develop a wide range of practical skills in the kitchens, preparing, cooking and presenting savoury and sweet dishes. The dishes chosen reflect both the cultural diversity found in the UK but also dishes students will be less familiar with from different cultures and countries around the world. Tunbridge Wells is located in a semi-rural area with many diverse opportunities for our students to enter the hospitality and tourism sectors. We hope our GCSE courses give students an insight into future vocational opportunities and the skill, ambition and qualifications to gain positions in further education or employment.
In Year 7 students study Food and Nutrition for one hour a week for six months. Students are introduced to the school food room and to good hygiene practices when preparing and storing food. They learn basic preparation and knife skills and use of the hob while preparing both savoury and sweet dishes. Year 9 students further develop their practical skills and use a wider range of cooking and preparation methods.
In Year 10 students begin their GCSE course content. They recap and develop a wide range of culinary preparation and cooking skills, including food styling for presentation of their finished dishes. They make investigations into the science and nutrition aspects underpinning preparation of food and make links to healthy diet choices. Students practise the two NEA tasks through structured food science investigations and planning, preparing and presenting a recipe of several dishes.
Year 11 targets the two NEA tasks: NEA1 Food investigation, which researches and tests a food science hypothesis and NEA2 Food preparation, which involves planning towards a three-hour practical assessment. Throughout the year students also revisit the knowledge and skills needed for the exam through specific lessons supported by homework tasks. They sit a mock exam in November and the final exam in June.
In Food & Nutrition our curriculum will make a profound, positive impact to the outcomes of our students. We know this is true as we are delivering a high standard of education, quality assured through qualitative and quantitative measures such as:
We want our students to be curious about the world. Our challenging curriculum will enable our learners to understand and ask questions about places, processes and issues. Climate change, sustainable resource management and global inequality are likely to be the biggest challenges facing our students. Our curriculum should provide our able cohort with the foundations to become future leaders in these fields. We want our students to be conscious global citizens whose moral compasses and actions are underpinned by secure geographical knowledge and understanding.
Regardless of whether our students continue their Geography or Geology studies at GCSE or post-16, we want to have helped them understand the key elements of both human and physical earth systems. We will support our learners to develop skills and cultural capital that are valuable across all subjects and employment in later life.
We implement our aims through the delivery of rigorous and high-quality education, which promotes a love of learning about the world. Work is accessible and engaging for all students to allow them to make sustained progress. Schemes of work are bespoke to our context. We ensure high levels of challenge are consistently embedded in light of our selective cohort.
Our curriculum not only meets the requirements of the national curriculum, GCSE and A Level exam specifications but draws on other aspects of geography that we have deemed important. Early in Key Stage 3 we aim to bridge the gaps in knowledge and understanding that students present from our 101 feeder primary schools. Human and Physical Geography are weighted as equally as possible, with increasing levels of challenge from Year 7 to 11. As such, our curriculum is our progression model.
Students develop their geographical enquiry skills. Opportunities and support with regards to enquiry are timely and deliberate over time with fully independent research being the goal at A Level. Linked to this, it is important that students experience geography ‘in action’ and as such, we want knowledge, understanding and skills to be developed both in and outside the classroom.
Assessment in Geography at TWGSB is multi-faceted. It is valuable for both students and teachers. Students are made aware of their key strengths and weaknesses and are able to act upon that information during DIRT (‘directed improvement and reflection time’). Teachers will be able to triangulate different sources of information to make judgements about students and plan for progress.
In Geography the curriculum will make a profound, positive impact on the outcomes of our students, including vulnerable groups. We will know that this is true as we are delivering a high standard of education, quality assured through qualitative and quantitate measures such as:
Our intention is to develop a passion and enthusiasm for history among the students we teach. We aim to cultivate a love of history and engagement in the subject beyond the classroom. To instil such an awareness of history being something around us rather than just in the classroom, we aim to include as much local history as possible. Throughout their history lessons, students will also begin to understand how historians use a range of historical sources to build their understanding of the past and start to gain an appreciation of different perspectives on a range of historical issues. The past is rich with fascinating events and people, and our aim is to bring this alive as much as possible and give our students an insight into the past and how it links to their lives today. In doing this, our intention by drawing on lessons from the past, is to enable our students to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to deal with life in the 21st century.
We implement our curriculum through the delivery of rigorous and high-quality teaching, which promotes a love of learning about the past. Work is accessible and engaging for all students to allow them to make sustained progress. There is a scheme of work with centralised department resources which can be used, but subject teachers are encouraged to use bespoke lesson plans and content delivery as a way of both having ownership of their lessons and sharing their subject expertise on certain topics. We aim to ensure that high levels of challenge are consistently embedded considering our selective cohort. We aim to ‘teach to the top’ and scaffold and support to enable all students to meet learning objectives – this clearly requires careful differentiation with an emphasis on stretch and challenge to provide for the most able students. We aim for consistent, personalised, appropriate and increasing levels of challenge and support for students and staff. As such, our curriculum choices in each year group will be our progression model where students will build on their schema of knowledge and become more advanced historians.
The History curriculum will make a profound, positive impact on the outcomes of our students, including vulnerable groups. We will know that this is true as we are delivering a high standard of education, quality assured through qualitative and quantitate measures such as:
The intent of the curriculum is to create thinking students who are mathematically literate and who understand underlying mathematical concepts. It moves completely away from trying to secure the ‘correct’ answer to looking at conceptual understanding and the language of maths.
The curriculum is designed to prepare students for external exams but also to promote genuine understanding of mathematics and its importance to society as a whole.
The whole idea behind the resources and curriculum is to encourage mathematically thinking literate students who are risk taking, understand underlying concepts, and who are not reliant on constant teacher input.
All students are to have the same experience, no one class should be compromised because of low teacher expectations, poor teacher subject knowledge, or lack of exposure to challenging material.
To help secure this, workbooks have been printed to control for across-class variability, and contain questions that are variated – the underlying concept remains the same, but the questions look different. The variated questions have more than one purpose – firstly, they check student understanding; secondly, they force students to read questions carefully, and finally, students cannot just learn ‘a method’ and apply – they need to understand underlying concepts in order to make progress.
Students (and teachers) take a while to adapt because this isn’t about teaching a method that applies to certain questions. For example, solving quadratics are taught in Year 7 through a ‘reading’ approach. This approach requires teachers to be open minded and move beyond their traditional teaching practice, and to understand that conceptual understanding of mathematics encourages thinking.
Teachers are encouraged to move away from power point presentations because the focus of a prepared power point is on delivery of content rather than student learning. Mathematics is an interactive subject. Questions of students should be based on their responses to the teacher, and should not be restricted to the questions placed on a power point.
Power points encourage a passive, ‘method’-based approach to teaching, with explanation followed by student practice. Teacher talk can go on for too long. Mathematical learning is best when students are actively involved and work with the teacher in trying to make links for themselves. This fits hand in hand with an explicit instruction approach to maths learning – that is, students are not just left to try and randomly make links, the choice of questions and the expertise of the teacher in the questions that they use to introduce topic and guide student learning is key.
The use of mini whiteboards to help develop learning is key. One cannot teach a language without substantial student teacher interaction – all students need to converse with the teacher and receive constant feedback when acquiring new learning.
We want our students to be curious and have a greater understanding about Hispanic- and French-speaking countries and communities. Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) are an important part of our young people’s education. There are so many clear personal, cultural, social, moral and career benefits in being able to communicate confidently in another language that every child in our school should have the chance from this young age to develop. We want our students to be enthusiastic, engaged and challenged, and to develop their ability to use and understand another language. Our MFL curriculum also aims at encouraging our students to learn what lies behind a different language, enhancing the richness and the diversity of different cultures by using authentic resources and materials. All students in the school study French and Spanish at KS3 and must choose to continue with one of them at GCSE, but they can also choose to study both languages. Students can then also study French and/or Spanish at A Level.
Our intent is to develop a love for languages in both French and Spanish at Key Stage 3 in order to be able develop into confident and independent students who are not afraid to communicate in a different language using all four skills areas (listening, reading, speaking and writing) and have a good understanding of grammar, translation, literature, history, culture and film and are able to use the knowledge they have gained, which is transferrable across all subjects and employment.
All students are taught all four language skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing and each of these skill areas are practised, consolidated, reinforced and assessed on a regular basis. There is a positive and innovative approach to target language teaching and we encourage our students to use the language for their own purposes. We implement our aims through the delivery of rigorous and high-quality education, which promotes a love of learning about Francophone and Hispanic cultures. Work is accessible and engaging for all students to allow them to make sustained progress. Schemes of work are bespoke to our context. We will ensure high levels of challenge are consistently embedded in light of our selective cohort. We aim to ‘teach to the top’ and scaffold and support to enable all students to meet learning objectives. At Key Stage 3 we endeavour to bridge the gaps in knowledge and understanding that students present from over 100 feeder primary schools. Having two native-speaking Modern Foreign Language assistants to help students allows them to develop their communication skills further.
In Modern Foreign Languages the curriculum makes a profound, positive impact on the outcomes of our students, including vulnerable groups. The data from ongoing observation of in-class activities such as role plays, listening and reading comprehension and written exercises help the MFL teachers monitor the students’ understanding, knowledge and skills and inform planning that is suitable for supporting and challenging the students at every stage of their progress. Summative assessment in listening, reading, writing and speaking also takes place throughout the year in order to track students’ performance against their end-of-year expectations, with interventions being implemented as necessary.
We encourage dual linguists at GCSE and A Level. Many of our A Level cohort continue with languages at university. We aim to offer residential trips to Spain and France to encourage our GCSE and A Level students to fully immerse themselves in the culture and society.
The curriculum intent across our core and exam PE offer is to provide students with the opportunity to develop their performance, knowledge and character in a wide range of activities, enabling them to progress to play full versions of the sport in a recreational or competitive context. Furthermore, it empowers the students to foster a passion for physical activity, thus supporting lifelong participation in sport and exercise, with a positive impact on the students’ physical, mental and social well-being.
We implement our aims through the delivery of high-quality PE lessons. This is supported by the allocation of students into pathways for learning. This ensures an ambitious curriculum for all students. Progress is made within each unit and across each key stage, with students challenged to develop physical literacy, cognitive ability and personal character. Students develop greater levels of independence through the discrete delivery of a leadership curriculum. Students will develop their analytical skills to support the transition on to KS4/KS5 exam courses.
Our exam PE offer continues to promote and foster the love of sport. We aim to ‘teach to the top’ and scaffold and support to enable all students to meet learning objectives. Exam classes are taught together as part of our core offer to support the application of theory knowledge in a practical setting. Work must be accessible and engaging for all students to allow them to make sustained progress.
In Physical Education the curriculum will make a profound, positive impact on the outcomes of our students’ physical, mental and social well-being. We will know that this is true as we are delivering a high standard of education, quality assured through qualitative and quantitate measures such as:
Our mission statement is to deliver all-round excellence and for our students to receive a well-rounded personal development curriculum alongside the academic curriculum. The Personal, Social, Health and Economic and the Relationship and Sex Education curriculum is spiral and builds on skills and knowledge that is age appropriate from Year 7 to Year 13. We look at a range of topics with an aim to support students in making informed choices about their own health and well-being, and give them the confidence and strength to keep themselves safe. Furthermore, the aim is to consider the reality of a modern and dynamic economy and how they can prepare themselves for the range of future pathways available to them.
The programme follows three strands:
Health and Well-being
Living in the Wider World
Relationships
The RSE programme is integrated within the above strands. This is delivered as part of the tutor time programme and a one-hour PSHE lesson per fortnight with the form tutor, supported by the Pastoral Teams at all Key Stages. Biological aspects of RSE are taught within the science curriculum at Key Stage 3, and other aspects are included in religious education at Key Stage 3.
We aim to help our students understand the complex society in which they live, and equip them with the life skills and empathy to be a happy and successful member of the community. Our students are supported in making informed choices at each transition during their educational journey and to prepare themselves personally for the challenges of each stage.
Our intention is to promote engagement with and awareness of the institutions, processes and ideas that shape life in our own democracy, and that of the hugely influential United States. These are times of turbulent change in our society and for democracy to function effectively it is vital that schools educate students to enable them to navigate their way through such times as informed citizens. Those who study politics should be able to evaluate the merits of different ideological approaches as to which direction society should be heading, how this translates into political aggregation and policy formulation, and how institutions and systems mediate competing demands and channel political inputs from parties and pressure groups into policy outcomes and implementation. Students should be made aware of the influence of culture and historical context on politics and to compare the strengths and weaknesses of different political systems and approaches. Beyond preparing students for further study in subjects such as politics, history and international relations, the course should create more active, informed citizens with an ability to play their part in shaping our democracy as responsible and reasoning actors.
We implement our aims through the delivery of rigorous and high-quality education, which promotes a love of learning about the world. Work must be accessible and engaging for all students to allow them to make sustained progress. Schemes of work are bespoke to our context. We will ensure high levels of challenge are consistently embedded in light of our selective cohort. We aim to ‘teach to the top’ and scaffold and support to enable all students to meet learning objectives. Our curriculum will be our progression model. Students will develop their enquiry skills. Opportunities, support and scaffolds with regards to enquiry will be timely and deliberate over time with fully independent research being the ultimate goal.
The Politics curriculum will make a profound, positive impact on the outcomes of our students, including vulnerable groups. We will know that this is true as we are delivering a high standard of education, quality assured through qualitative and quantitate measures such as:
We aim to provide an inclusive educational experience for our students, supporting the least able and stretching the most able at every stage of their development in the subject. We seek to enthuse and inspire the students in our care. Students should have their literacy and numeracy supported and extended as an integral part of our daily activities. Lessons should take place in an atmosphere of mutual respect and full engagement for all. Further detail around the intent behind each science discipline is detailed in schemes of work.
KS3 Science is delivered over the course of 2–2½ years, dependent on the hours allotted in Years 7 and 8, which has fluctuated over the last few years. When the department is allotted more time in Year 7 or 8 this is utilised to deliver GCSE content earlier into Year 9. Our KS3 curriculum is based around the Oxford KS3 Activate scheme utilising the materials for Years 1 and 2; we have decided not to follow Year 3 of this scheme as we feel that the level of content is not suitable for our students. Years 1 and 2 ensure full coverage of national curriculum content, and have been further enhanced with the addition of further lessons covering additional content, or covering concepts in more detail. Bespoke additional topics have been created in-house to serve as bridging topics for the GCSE, ensuring that students are fully prepared for the GCSE.
We begin delivering GCSE content in the second half of Year 9, at which point classes will still be taught by a single teacher. The aim is to cover the first GCSE topic from each Science discipline before the end of Year 9. The rationale behind this is to ensure that while maintaining a robust and diverse KS3 curriculum, we also ensure that sufficient curriculum time is given to teaching separate Science GCSEs. This brings the overall hours to deliver each Science GCSE to approximately 142 hours compared with 158 for an option subject at GCSE.
GCSE students follow the AQA separate Science GCSES (8461, 8462 and 8463), and are taught by a single specialist teacher in each discipline.
A Level students have the option to take all three Science disciplines. Biology follows the OCR specification (H420) while Chemistry and Physics follow the AQA specifications (7405 and 7408). In Physics all students take the Engineering option for the A Level. This is in response to, and to better prepare students for, the university courses for which many of them apply.
In Science the curriculum will make a profound, positive impact on the outcomes of our students, including vulnerable groups. We will know that this is true as we are delivering a high standard of education, quality assured through qualitative and quantitate measures such as:
We aim to equip students with an understanding of human behaviour by considering the impact of the mind, and the environment in which a person lives, on individuals’ and group behaviour in society. The Sociology and Psychology Department is concerned with the teaching of the social sciences and offers students the chance to study these two thought-provoking and challenging A Level subjects.
The curriculum enables our students to understand and ask questions about human behaviour and society, be aware of how actions impact society, and to promote responsible citizenship. The knowledge, understanding and skills are developed both in the lessons and beyond the classroom.
Sociology – Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies. Studying sociology helps students to develop a critical approach to understanding issues around crime, inequality, families, education, power and identity. It focuses on our own behaviour as social beings, how people present themselves to others in different social settings, alongside living in a globalised society.
Psychology – Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behaviour and psychologists focus on understanding and explaining all kinds of human behaviour. Studying psychology allows students to consider the brain and its functions and how it operates to create memories and attachments. Students can consider a range of issues such as why most people conform, how our early experiences shape us as a person and why some people suffer depression or other mental illness.
We implement our aims by creating a teaching and learning environment that promotes intellectual curiosity about individuals and society and fosters independent learning skills.
Through high-quality teaching, appropriately differentiated work with emphasis on challenge, we foster a love of learning about people and society. Schemes of work are regularly updated to allow for the inclusion of contemporary material. The assessment objectives of the A Level courses are delivered in a timely and appropriate manner linked to the subject content, hence our curriculum allows for scaffolded progression.
In both Sociology and Psychology the curriculum will make a positive impact on the outcomes of all our students. This is quality assured through: