Key Stage 3  

In years 7, 8 and 9, students study the full breadth of a traditional Key Stage 3 school curriculum, developing skills and knowledge to successfully transition from the end of primary education through to their GCSE options.

Core Subjects

English, Maths and Science are allocated 3 periods each per week.  English is taught in mixed ability, Science has some broad setting.  Maths is taught in sets arranged by ability.  The sets in Science remain relatively static throughout each year, setting in Maths is regularly reviewed – based upon assessment performance – at the end of each term.

Humanities & Languages

Geography, History and Religious Studies are allocated 5 periods per week.  All humanities subjects are taught in mixed ability groups – any changes of sets are to ensure that a positive teaching dynamic is maintained in every class.  Learning a modern foreign language is an essential life skill, and whilst students are not forced to take a language at GCSE it is strongly encouraged.  Currently during KS3 all students have the option to learn French or Spanish from in Year 7 onwards (in mixed ability classes - 2 periods per week).

Other Academic Subjects

Our first core value is to ‘provide a broad and balanced curriculum’ and for that reason all students learn across a wide variety of subjects, and continue these subjects right through until the end of Y9.  Students therefore also study Dance, Drama, Music, Art, D&T, Textiles, Food and Computer Science.

The Wider Curriculum

Physical activity, and an understanding of wider issues other than purely academic study is very important.  Students have 2 periods of PE each week, and they also study Citizenship, which includes Personal Health and Social Education (PHSE) and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE).

Curriculum Intent Documents

Here you will find our ‘intent’ documents.  These set out what content is covered from Year 7 through to Year 13 (where applicable) and also shows how this content is ordered, taking into account the starting point (prior knowledge from primary school) and also how the content links to the ‘next steps’ students will take, whether that is the post-16 or the post-18 transitions.

Subject Specific Information

Students and Parents at the school can follow the links below to find out more about the content in each subject on Firefly – our school’s online learning environment: