Curriculum Information

The School operates a two week timetable which has 5 x 60 minute-periods in each day. There are three 30 minute tutor periods (Personal Development Time) per week as well as two Collective Worships , one as a Year group and one whole school. (for more information, see the Chaplaincy section of the School website).

In the Sixth Form (for more information, see the Sixth Form Curriculum section of the School website), each student has a combination of subject lessons, study periods and enrichment opportunities (including the Extended Project Qualification (‘EPQ’)). Sixth Form students benefit from specialist tutorials; Religious Education;  Careers/ UCAS preparation and a range of other super curricular activities.

Key Stage 3 (Years 7, 8 and 9)

Compulsory National Curriculum subjects are:

• Art and Design
• Citizenship (including PSHE)
• Computing
• Design and Technology
• English
• Mathematics
• Geography
• History
• Modern Foreign Languages (French and Spanish)
• Music
• Physical Education
• Science

In addition to these “core” subjects, students follow courses in:

• Drama
• Religious Education

In Years 7 and 8 all subjects are taught in mixed ability classes apart from Maths in Year 7 and 8. Science follows this model in Year 9. Generic Careers education is delivered by tutors through personal development time and more subject specific careers information is delivered through the core curriculum. An additional 10 hours of Maths and English is available through our referral system to support students identified as underachieving, predominantly in Key Stage 3.

The Equality Act 2010 and Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Regulations 2014 place certain duties on schools to ensure that students with SEND are able to take advantage of the same opportunities that other students have.

For how Christ's School complies with these duties see:

• Equality Assessment & Objectives Review
• Accessibility Plan
• SEND Policy and SEND Information Report

Key Stage 4 (Years 10 and 11)

All students will follow GCSE courses in the following subjects:

• English *
• Maths *
• Religious Education
• Science Trilogy* (Core)

Students are taught in sets in Maths, English and Science. In addition, students will choose four more GCSE subjects; the majority of students will be encouraged to choose English Baccalaureate (EBacc) subjects (denoted by *). EBacc subjects are regarded as ‘facilitating’ subjects, allowing students to access a range of academic A level and University courses.

• Computer Science*
• French*
• Geography*
• History *
• Science
• Spanish*

Students can also select their four options from the following GCSE courses:

• Accelerate (additional support in Maths and English)
• Art
• Business Studies
• Citizenship
• Drama
• Economics
• Food technology
• Music
• Physical Education
• Resistant Materials
• Statistics
• Textiles

All students will also take part in weekly Physical Education (non-examination course) as well as a programme of personal, social and health education (including sex and relationships education) in their tutor led personal development time. Careers education is also delivered by tutors through personal development time. In addition, Computer Science curriculum drop-down days are organised in Key Stage 4 for all students to develop their ‘Computational Thinking and Problem Solving’ skills and links
are continually being developed across the curriculum to identify opportunities for computational thinking.

Personalisation in Key Stage 4

In KS4 a small number of students follow a ‘flexible learning path’. They take a reduced number of GCSE courses and follow a personalised programme  that might include some or all of the following: study support; work experience; college course; Christ’s ‘Accelerate’ programme.

 

Distribution of periods for Key Stages 3 and 4

Key Stage 3 (hour lessons per fortnight)				Key Stage 4 (hour lessons per fortnight)
Subject	Year 7	Year 8	Year 9	Subject	Year 10	Year 11
English	6	6	7	English	8	8
Mathematics	7	7	7	Mathematics	7	7
Science	5	5	5	Science	9	9
Art	2	2	2	Options Subjects (each student chooses four options subjects)	5	5
Food	1	1	1
Textiles	1	1	1
Resistant Materials	1	1	1
Graphics	1	1	1
Drama	2	2	2
Geography	3	3	3
History	3	3	3
Computer Science	2	2	2
MFL (Modern Foreign Languages)	5	5	4
Music	2	2	2
Citizenship	2	2	2
Physical Education	4	4	4	Physical Education	2	2
Religious Education	3	3	3	Religious Education	4	4
Total	50	50	50	Total	50	50

Key Stage 5 (Years 12 and 13)

A comprehensive range of different A levels are offered, including the Extended Project Qualification and the opportunity to re-sit English and Maths as required.

In Year 12 the majority of students choose 3 A level subjects. In Year 13 the majority will continue with 3. Years 12 and 13 also engage with an enrichment programme and all take part in organised work experience.

Distribution of periods for Key Stage 5

Distribution of periods at Key Stage 5 per fortnight	Year 12	Year 13
Option 1	9	9
Option 2	9	9
Option 3	9	9
Option 4	9	9
Supervised private study	9	9
Enrichment	4	4
Super-curricular and Religious Education	1	1
Total	50	50

The following subjects are available at A Level:

• Art & Design

• Biology

• Business Studies (BTEC)

• Chemistry

• Computer Science

• Drama

• Economics

• English Literature

• French

• Further Maths

• Geography

• History

• Mathematics

• Media Studies

• Music

• Philosophy and Ethics

• Physical Education

• Physics

• Politics

• Product Design 

• Psychology

• Sociology

• Spanish