ENGLISH
Year 11s will study for their Edexcel Function Skills in English qualification. This has three components: a reading paper, a writing paper and a recorded Spoken Word component. In the first term year 11 will be given many opportunities to develop their skills in fact-finding, presenting information and forming an opinion. This will include all three skills of reading, writing and speaking. Towards the end of the term they will be recorded speaking according to the level they are working at.
MATHS
Our topics at the start of Year 11 are money and basic operations are repeated. This gives the students and staff a final decision 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 forces, the Solar System and aspects of Earth science.
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 the theme this term will be Rights, Justice and Law. This year the students will build on their knowledge from last year to understand how the justice system works and how this may impact them in their own lives after Alfriston.
In Geography we will look closely at the strengths and weaknesses of the legal system. Bringing the focus back to One Can and Dens, organisations that work closely to rehabilitate and educate.
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 look at Birth Rites of the Muslim, Sikh, and Jews religions and learn about the different ceremonies. They will explore the importance of Identity and Belonging to a faith through exploring artefacts and celebrating festivals. Pupils will reflect on Hope and Freedom as part of the different faiths.
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 further developing their social interactions through a variety of Invasion Games and Inclusive Activities, which will require teamwork when devising team strategies and tactical formations of play in an attempt to overcome an opponent. Swim fitness and self-rescue techniques will also form part of the swimming curriculum.
DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S AWARD
The school runs the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme over a two-year period in Year 10 and 11. During Year 11 the students will be training for their expeditions and completing the volunteering section. Volunteering must be completed in their own time so most of the students will use clubs they support as Sports Leaders or Prefect duties during lunch or break times.
The lessons will be spent training for the expeditions that take place in the Summer Term. This will be a practical year and will include cooking on a Trangia, walking proficiency, using a tent and navigational skills along with other necessary skills.
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 will have 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.
Pupils will consolidate all their previous learning with a stronger focus on intimate relationships and how the media can influence ideas of what healthy relationships look like. Sex education covers topics on contraception, STIs, pregnancy, fertility, abortions and miscarriages.
Autumn 1: Pupils will build on knowledge, understanding, skills, attributes and values from previous learning explore in more depth the subject of self-awareness. Pupils will explore 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 pupils 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 / worried, Trust, Online Safety and Public and Private.
WORK RELATED LEARNING
Year 11 now get the opportunity to apply their understanding of the work place and work place expectations in practical settings. With the opportunity to rotate termly they have the opportunity to access Social Enterprise, work experience at a local food bank or work experience at a local community café. Where it is possible to widen or vary these opportunities we do so for example also including internships with the Site Caretaker and the School Office Team.
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)