ENGLISH
Year 10s will begin their coursework for OCR Entry Level English. The first term will be spent looking at non-fiction work. Written work focuses on letter-writing, opinion pieces and reports. Reading comprehensions are based on reports and biographies and students will be looking at how to extract relevant information. Students will be given the opportunity to practise formal discussions and to make short presentations.
MATHS
Although the students have exposure to official assessment material, it is Year 10 where more of a focus is given to Functional Skills qualifications. Lessons are centred around a specific skill and our Learning for Living ethos is filtered into this. Our topics at the start of Year 10 are money and basic operations with number. This gives the students and staff good indicators as to what qualification pathway will be taken. A blended learning approach is taken with continued use of OT applications, online independent learning and practical activities to help secure the knowledge needed.
In the second part of Autumn, students learn about time. Depending on the qualification pathway, students will learn about analogue clocks and digital time, seasons of the year, converting between seconds, minutes and hours in a highly differentiated way. 12 and 24-hour clocks and conversions also feature as do multi-step word problems to reinforce the importance of understanding language throughout the topic. Baseline and end of topic assessments feature throughout the academic year.
SCIENCE
Pupils in Years 10 and 11 work towards gaining an Entry Level qualification in science. This term pupils will be completing work from units that explore aspects of human biology. This includes work about circulation, breathing, digestion and the nervous system.
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
Environmental Studies incorporates work from History, Geography and practical outdoor learning. This outdoor learning provides the students with opportunities to learn and enhance their horticultural and animal care skills.
In History this half term we will look at how the political system works in the UK. Following on from the last term, the students will understand what local democracy is and how it works.
RELIGION AND ETHICS (R AND E)
The Religion and Ethics balanced curriculum is designed to help pupils begin to explore and engage with the six main religions from a spiritual and ethical perspective to stimulate their interest and understanding. The subject naturally is geared towards discussion, debate and a variety of opinions when exploring a range of spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues. Pupils are encouraged to appreciate and respect the British values of tolerance and freedom of speech when exploring their own beliefs and that of others.
Pupils will focus on Judaism. They will explore Jewish artefacts and look at the inside of a synagogue. They will learn about the Jewish holy book- the Torah and learn about the rites of passage ceremonies, marriage in Judaism, different traditions of the Jewish faith. They will learn about the significance of the Passover, Moses and the Seder meal.
DANCE
Elements of dance – This term, pupils will be focussing on the four key elements of dance, Action, Space, Dynamics and Relationships. Pupils will need to bring their PE kit to lesson as they attend lessons exploring these key words, studying and taking inspiration from professional work and choreographing their own routines.
PE
Pupils will be exposed to an increasing range of physical activities that will require greater independence and organisation, as they take responsibility for specialist kit and equipment. Pupils will also be encouraged to thin creatively when experimenting with fitness training methods and varying equipment. Swim fitness will also feature frequently.
DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S AWARD
The school run the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award over a two-year period in Year 10 and 11. Year 10 is split into two sections – Physical and Skill. The girls will choose their own activities which they will participate in for three months each. By the end of the school year they will have completed half the award.
PSHE
PSHE at all key stages aims to promote positive well-being and mental health enabling pupils to take responsibility for their learning and future life choices.
Pupils willhave opportunities to understand and reflect on their experiences and understand how they are developing personally, emotionally and socially, encompassing many of the spiritual, moral, social, cultural and health issues in their lives and that of others in wider society. This will enable them to be have a deeper understanding of themselves, others and the world they live in while building meaningful relationships. It will also enable pupils to develop leadership of themselves and others and develop personal and transferable skills related to the Learning for Living skills such as confidence and resilience.
There will be opportunities for pupils to find out what the school is like, how it functions as well as its rules. They will then think about friendships and relationships and begin to consider their future challenges and choices.
In Year 10 pupils will explore some of the ideas around sexuality, identity, inclusion and diversity. There is a strong focus on mental health and learning strategies to help safeguard our mental wellbeing.
Autumn 1: Pupils will explore Self-Awareness and look at a range of topics which will include Personal Strengths, Friendships – making connections, Skills for learning, Prejudice and discrimination, Dealing with Change and Managing Pressure. Pupils will also explore diversity as part of Black History Month.
Autumn 2: Pupils will explore the various changes and challenges that young people face in the wider world as they gain independence. Through the concept of self-care, support and safety students will gain knowledge, information that will equip them for the experiences and challenges of living in a digital world to make informed decisions, learning to manage their minds, bodies, relationships, online lives and the influence of their peers and social media platforms. They will have lessons which will focus on the following: Pupils will explore the concept of: Taking care of ourselves, Keeping safe, Feeling frightened and worried, Trust, Online Safety and Public and Private.
WORK RELATED LEARNING
The theme for the term is ‘How others see me’. Students will find out things about themselves and look at their likes and dislikes.
TUESDAY ENRICHMENT
Pupils from Y10,11 and post 16 will work in mixed groups for a full morning (Lessons 1-4). Pupils are able to choose from a range of activities that they will complete over the course of a full term. All activities are designed to develop key employability skills and are aligned to our Learning for Living goals.
Autumn: LEARN (September to December). Focus on developing skills related to Christmas events such as the Christmas Bazaar and the Christmas show. There will also be a wellbeing theme running through each enrichment session to support the girls in building positive mental health through physical activity, music or art therapy – style activities.
THURSDAY BLOCKS
In Years 10, 11 and Post 16 students are timetabled together on Thursday mornings. During this time, they work on a range of half termly units of work or activities for which they can express a preference. Some of these activities are accredited and some are unaccredited. For the accredited units the specifications used are BTEC Pre-vocational Study (Entry 1 and Entry 2) and BTEC Entry to Vocational Study (Entry 3). These specifications focus on the development of interpersonal, organisational and learning skills. The contexts used to develop these skills and therefore deliver the units include cooking, art, dance, sport and media studies. Non accredited units include collaborative work with other schools, colleges and community organisations.
For the first half of the autumn term 2022 the units of study offered are:
– Serving food and drink (Home Ec. Entry 3 – Providing a customer service)
– Animal Care (Berkshire College of Agriculture)
– Street Dance (collaboration with Stony Dean school)
– Ready, Steady, Action (Media studies – Entry 2 – Participating in a visit)
– Print Perfection (Art/craft – Entry 2 – Being Creative)
– Care in the Community (Entry 3 – Skills for Learning)
– Building the Ultimate Lifestyle (sport)
– Exploring the Outdoors (PE/outdoor activities – Entry 1 – Navigating from one place to another)
– Looking After Animals (collaboration with Stony Dean school)
– Chiltern Rangers – Green Thursdays (environmental conservation)
For the second half of the autumn term 2022 the units of study offered are:
– Winter Warmers (cooking – collaboration with Stony Dean school)
– Alfriston Rangers (collaboration with Chiltern Rangers and local primary schools)
– Behind the scenes (Dance/drama – Entry 3 – Going on a visit)
– Radio News (Media studies)
– Crazy Collage (Entry 1 – Taking part in a creative activity)
– Local Heroes (Collaborative work with Community Youth Ventures)
– Hosting a sporting event (Collaboration with local primary schools – Entry 3 – Supporting other individuals)
– Looking After Animals (collaboration with Stony Dean school)