ENGLISH
Once the students have developed the relevant skills: including alphabetical order, plurals and use of conjunctions, and are comfortable with the exam-style papers of the Functional Skills tests, they will sit the relevant level papers. Entry levels 1-3 are taken within the classroom with familiar staff. The process is slightly more formal for levels above Entry Level 3.
MATHS
The Spring term sees the students develop their reasoning and problem-solving skills further but this time under the topics of time and measurement. Depending on the student’s ability this could range from understanding how to tell the time to the hour to understanding the 5-minute intervals on an analogue clock. As ‘Organisation’ is one of our Learning for Living targets, this lends itself well to this topic and real-life scenarios will be discussed to help the students with their futures.
For measurement we will be learning about weight, length and capacity in line with a Functional Skills specification. This will involve real-life practical applications including measuring furniture and room sizes, weighing food and appropriate amounts for one person compared to different sized families.
Weekly online, independent learning with Mangahigh continues.
Students in Year 11 will also have their first opportunity to attempt a Functional Skills qualification assessment. A second attempt will be offered in the Summer term if the students do not pass.
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 the reactions of acids and alkalis, rates of reaction and metals and their properties.
Home learning activities that include a summary of the ideas covered in each of the themes that are part of the OCR Entry Level Science course are emailed to pupils each week. The activities include links to relevant video clips and online quizzes.
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.
This term the students will look at how citizens can make change thinking about the role of pressure groups, protest groups and social movements.
In Geography we will focus on the meaningful part the UK plays within the international community.
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 have the opportunity to find out about some of the beliefs and rituals in the Hindu tradition. They will investigate the sights, sounds and smells of the religion as well as finding out about some of the gods and goddesses important to Hindus. Pupils will research the five daily duties for Hindus and some of the festivals of this way of life.
DANCE
Dance from around the world – This term, pupils will explore different dance styles from around the world such as Gumboot dancing and Bollywood. Building on the key words learnt last term: Action, Space, Dynamics and Relationship, to create and choreography their own routines to perform.
PE
Pupils will be continuing to improve their stroke efficiency and self-rescue techniques in the water. A large focus will also centre around challenge and managing risks appropriately through the use of trampolining and personalised fitness development.
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.
Spring 1: Pupils will explore relationships and examine the importance of emotions, Identifying and expressing feelings, Self-esteem and unkind comments, Managing strong feelings, Romantic feelings and sexual attraction.
Spring 2: Pupils will explore Relationship and Sex Education in more depth by exploring changing and growing. They will examine Puberty, Friendship, Healthy and Unhealthy relationship behaviour and Consent, Intimate relationships and different types.
WORK RELATED LEARNING
Approximately half of the year group will attend work experience each Wednesday morning and keep a Work Experience Log Book. Each week they will feedback on work experience to discuss and solve any problems which may have occurred. They will continue to practice completing application forms and writing letters of application. They will begin to complete their CVs. Pupils may also continue to meet the Connexions Personal Adviser for Careers Guidance attached to the school.
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.
Spring: LEAD (January to Easter). Focus on ‘learning to lead’ with qualifications and projects linked to using / developing our leadership skills to support and work with people in our local community. AQA unit awards and sports leadership awards will be available to complete during this term.
THURSDAY BLOCK
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.