The Academy is embarking on a new curriculum across all subjects during the academic year 2019/2020. We will update this curriculum page by September 2020.

For additional information for each subject please contact the Head of School – Middle: Miss. Coombs.

All Year 8 students study English, Maths, Science, RE, PE, Geography, History, a Modern Foreign Language, Computing, Music and Creative Media.

All Year 9 students study English Literature, English Language, Maths, Combined Science, RE and PE. In addition to these subjects, students have option choices.

Art

Year 8

Poppy Project / Natural forms

  • Observational drawing

  • Colour blending

  • 3D sculpture

Pop Art project

  • Artist research

  • Text, lettering

  • Painting

  • Tonal shading

Ugly mug project

  • Gargoyle drawing

  • Sculpture research

  • 3D clay pottery mug

Year 9

Quad title poster

  • Lettering

  • Designs

  • Working to a brief

  • Colour

  • Batik wax

  • Painting

Mini GCSE style skills project

  • Drawing

  • Painting

  • Print making

  • 3D craft

Computing

Year 8

  • Unit 4 ‐ Games Programming in Scratch

  • Unit 5 ‐ HTML and Website Development

  • Unit 6 ‐ Understanding Computers

Year 9

GCSE Computer Science (Edexcel 2016)

  • Unit 1 ‐ Principles of Computer Science

  • Unit 2 ‐ Application of Computational Thinking

ICT

Year 9

CiDA (Edexcel)

  • DA201 ‐ Developing Web Products (Exam)

  • DA202 ‐ Creative Multimedia

Geography

Year 8

  • Half term 1 – Population and Urbanisation

  • Half term 2 – Tectonics

  • Half term 3 – China

  • Half term 4 – Glaciation

  • Half term 5 – Rainforests

  • Half term 6 – Geology and Soils

Year 9

  • Half term 1 – AQA Rivers

  • Half term 2 – AQA Natural Hazards/Tectonic Hazards

  • Half term 3 – AQA UK Physical Landscapes/Coasts

  • Half term 4 – AQA Ecosystems/Tropical Rainforests

  • Half term 5 – AQA Hot Deserts

  • Half term 6 – AQA Weather Hazards

Health & Social Care

Year 9

Introduction to BTEC Tech Award

  • Human Lifespan Development

  • Physical, Intellectual, Emotional and Social Development across the life stages

  • What influences you and your health and wellbeing?

  • Who looks after us when we need support?

  • What jobs are there in Health and Social Care?

  • What is the life of a nurse/doctor/social worker/nutritionist/psychologist etc. like?

History

Year 8

Theme: Conflict

  • Half term 1 – British Empire & The Slave Trade *Interpretation

  • Half term 2 – World War One *Significance

  • Half term 3 – World War Two *Cause & Consequence

  • Half term 4 – Holocaust *Change & Continuity

  • Half term 5 – Terrorism *Similarities & differences

  • Half term 6 – *Independent enquiry

Year 9

Theme: Conflict

  • Half term 1 – Crime & Punishment

  • Half term 2 – Crime & Punishment

  • Half term 3 – Elizabeth 1

  • Half term 4 – Elizabeth 1

  • Half term 5 – Nazi Germany

  • Half term 6 – Revision

Maths (Foundation)

Year 8

  • Half term 1 – Number, Area and Perimeter

  • Half term 2 – Expressions and Equations, Real‐life Graphs

  • Half term 3 – Decimals and Ratio, Lines and Angles

  • Half term 4 – Calculating with Fractions

  • Half term 5 – Straight Line Graphs, Percentages, Decimals and Fractions

  • Half term 6 – Statistics, Graphs and Charts

Year 9

  • Half Term 1 – Integers and Decimals, Indices, Factors, Multiples and Primes

  • Half Term 2 – Algebra Basics, Expanding and Factorising, Expressions and Substitution

  • Half Term 3 – Charts and Graphs, Pie Charts, Scatter Graphs

  • Half Term 4 – Fractions, Decimals and Percentages, Equations

  • Half Term 5 – Inequalities, Sequences, Properties of Shapes

  • Half Term 6 – Angles, Sampling, Averages

Maths (Higher)

Year 8

  • Half term 1 – Factors and Powers, Working with Powers

  • Half term 2 – 2D Shapes and 3D Solids, Real-life Graphs

  • Half term 3 – Transformations, Fractions, Decimals and Percentages

  • Half term 4 – Constructions, Loci

  • Half term 5 – Probability, Scale Drawings and Measures

  • Half term 6 – Graphs

Year 9

  • Half Term 1 – Indices, Factors, Multiples and Primes, Standard From, Surds

  • Half Term 2 – Algebra Basics, Equations, Rearranging, Sequences

  • Half Term 3 – Averages, Representing and Interpreting Data, Area and Perimeter, Circles

  • Half Term 4 – Fractions, Percentages, Scatter Graphs

  • Half Term 5 – Ratio and Proportion, Angles, Pythagoras

  • Half Term 6 – Trigonometry, Graphs

English

Year 8

  • Half term 1: Moonfleet ‐ Language Paper 1 Fiction focus

  • Half term 2: War Poetry

  • Half term 3: Animal Welfare ‐ Language Paper 2 Non‐fiction focus

  • Half term 4: Class Reader

  • Half term 5: Shakespeare (Either The Tempest or Othello)

  • Half term 6: Writing to Describe

Year 9

  • Autumn 1: Modern Prose (Either: An Inspector Calls, Animal Farm, Anita and Me or Lord of the Flies)

  • Autumn 2: Society‐ Language paper 2 Non‐ fiction ficus

  • Spring 1 and Spring 2: Shakespeare (Either: Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice or Romeo and Juliet)

  • Summer 1: Different Culture‐ Language Paper 1 Fiction focus

  • Summer 2: Time and Age Poetry

Modern Foreign Languages

Year 8

Year 8 French follows ‘Allez 2’ and builds on the language and grammatical concepts covered in Year 7. The topics covered include:

  • Entertainment and advertising

  • Technology

  • Issues for teenagers

  • Healthy Living

  • Holidays

  • Home and local area

  • Jobs and ambitions

Year 8 Spanish follows ‘Zoom 2’ and builds on the language and grammatical concepts covered in Year 7. The topics covered include:

  • Life in Spanish speaking countries

  • Fashion

  • Leisure

  • Transport and travel

  • Healthy Living

  • Future plans

  • The environment

Year 9

Students begin to study for their GCSE qualification in Year 9. We currently follow the new AQA Specification which is made up of three themes at both foundation and higher level:

  • Identity and Culture

  • Local, national, international and global areas of interest

  • Current and future study and employment

The key areas covered in Year 9 are:

  • Me, my family and friends

  • Home, town, neighbourhood and region

  • Free time activities

  • Life at school and college

Drama

Year 8

Drama is offered to all year 8 in a rotation system with all students having at least 6 weeks of Drama. In this time they will learn and explore basic drama techniques and skills and look at genres and styles. They will learn how to perform in front of others and evaluate their own and others’ performance’s. Drama in year 8 helps them to grow in confidence.

Year 9

In year 9 students can pick Drama as one of their options and will study a BTEC level 2 Tech Award in Drama. The qualification is for those looking to further their career in Drama or study Drama in a higher education course. The course encourages them to grow in confidence and develop as an actor. The BTEC Tech award consists of 3 units:

  • Exploring the Performing Arts

  • Developing Skills and Techniques in the Performing Arts

  • Performing to a Brief

Dance

Year 8

Dance in Year 8 is offered through Core PE and students will have a 6/7 week block of this activity. During this they will learn the basic skills needed as a dancer and key choreographic and performance skills. Afterschool and Lunch clubs are also offered for both year groups.

Year 9

In Year 9 students can pick dance as one of their options studying Btec Level 2 Tech Award Dance. The qualification is for learners who are interested and have a passion for dance with a view to a further career in this or progressing to a higher education course. You study Dance through both theory and practical contexts and are assessed on 3 units:

  • Exploring the Performing Arts

  • Developing Skills and Techniques in the Performing Arts

  • Performing to a Brief

RE

Year 8

Family: Why should we care about others? Looking at what family means and how we should treat the elderly as a society and community.

Who is God? Addressing the philosophical questions of whether God exists? Who is he? Using scholars to form an argument on the existence of God e.g. William Paley’s watch theory.

World Faith: Islam and Sikhism. Exploring practices and beliefs within those religions.

Evil and Suffering: Students will start to explore the Christian teaching on Evil and Suffering using the Holocaust as a study to apply their knowledge and start to develop their knowledge on Judaism for Year 9.

Year 9

Study of a World Faith: Judaism – exploring beliefs and practices of Jews today.

Music

Year 8

  • Reggae

  • Music Tech – Disco

  • Mozart & Beethoven

  • Music Tech ‐ Remixing

Year 9

GCSE content AoS 1‐5 key features

  • Music theory

  • Solo performance

  • Ensemble performance

  • Introduction to composition

  • Listening skills