Our Year 7 and 8 curricula are built upon a foundation of core knowledge and skills, providing our students with deep learning opportunities through a broad and balanced programme.
We believe it is crucial that our students grow up to be independent learners and so encourage them to explore their thinking, and understand how they learn, within a curriculum which is relevant, engaging, creative and academically challenging.
Students follow an accelerated national curriculum until the end of Year 8, allowing us to introduce more personalised opportunities from Year 9 onwards. We have created detailed curriculum overviews for each year group, which you can access via the links below.
Setting by ability
Year 7 students are initially taught in mixed ability groups for all subjects, while they settle into their new school. They complete baseline assessments in September and again in October, after which they are set into ability groups for English, Mathematics, Science and PE, with setting for French and Spanish taking place later in the year. Other subjects continue to be taught in mixed-ability groups.
The setting process is reinforced by a programme of target setting, monitoring and analysis through our individual learning plans, ensuring that students make sustained and confident progress. Sets are reviewed each term to ensure that each student is in the right set for them.
Our subject specialisms
We specialise in English and Mathematics, as the core skills of literacy and numeracy underpin a student’s achievement across the curriculum. Over 25% of the timetable in Year 7 and Year 8 is therefore devoted to the teaching of these two subjects, and the corresponding skills are reinforced through Thematic Learning and built into all areas of the curriculum.
“Pupils are keen to learn, listen intently, and demonstrate a thirst for knowledge. Their behaviour as they move around the building and in lessons is exemplary.” – Ofsted, 2019