ENGLISH 

Year 9 will be studying William Shakespeare and The Globe Theatre. They will investigate the impact Shakespeare has had on the world and present their work in a variety of ways, including written and spoken presentations. Later in the term there will be a focus on a Shakespeare play, where the main themes are explored, the characters described and settings considered.  

MATHS 

In the first half of the Summer term, Year 9 students learn about fractions. This will include identifying common fractions such as ½, ¼, and the language surrounding this topic. Learning the language used in topics is crucial for our students to really grasp what they are learning so we again focus on word problems and have a rich keyword environment.  

The second half of the term sees the students learning about data and statistics. Depending on the ability of the individual student, work is differentiated as there can be a lot to cover with these topics. Therefore, students may learn how to read and draw bar charts accurately, whereas others may start to learn the language and mathematical functions such as mean, median, mode and range. We are lucky enough to have double lessons once a week, which gives us a great opportunity to go out in the community and put what we have learnt in the classroom, into practice. End of year assessments will also take place.

SCIENCE 

Changes in Life – In this theme pupils will extend their understanding of what living things need in order to survive. They will take a closer look at the needs of both plants and animals and will begin to think about how our need for energy is tied in with the greenhouse effect, climate change and global warming. 

Earth science – Pupils will find out about how the Earth is constantly changing through a range of processes. They will also find out how different rocks (sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic) are formed. 

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 be lead through research surrounding the power and problem of plastics. This will be in preparation for a live debate. 

Following on from last term, the students will extend their learning through independently implementing a plastics audit before thinking about how to raise awareness in their local communities.  

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 explore the ‘journey of life’ and think about the important occasions in life and find out how different religions celebrate these. They will talk about themselves, their hopes and ambitions as well as trying to see how relationships can be important throughout our lives. There will be lots of discussion around right and wrong and part of our work will be covering issues raised in the Citizenship – considering how we deal with conflict. Pupils will use thinking skills strategies to help with their learning. 

ART 

In the Summer term our project is called ‘Fantastic and Strange’. Pupils will be learning about the Surrealist art movement and the work of artists such as Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte and Joan Miro. Pupils will continue to develop their drawing skill and create some fantastic and strange drawings of objects. Pupils will go onto create a surreal sculpture using modeling clay.  

DESIGN CRAFTS

This term students will be working across the Design Crafts department to create a collaborative body of work for an exhibition that will be accessible by the wider community. Working to a set theme and brief each year group will work on an aspect of the theme creating a range of 2D and 3D works. Students will have the opportunity to engage with a wide range of materials, equipment and bespoke skills workshops to reflect their ability levels. Each group will create their own designs but will work together across the year groups to co-create the wider exhibition. This work will be exhibited to the wider community and students will participate in curating, installing, presenting and stewarding their exhibition to the community.

MUSIC 

The music curriculum at Alfriston has been carefully designed to be therapeutic, and to promote confidence and a growth mindset for all our girls. We aim to be absolutely inclusive and to meet our girls whatever their level or need. Our Learning for Living skills of Engagement, Independence, Risk Taking, Resilience and Social Interaction are promoted in every lesson, and in some of our topics, Organisation will be an important focus.

Students will take a short course in Song Writing. This will encourage self expression and bring together the skills and LfL values we have learned over the three years’ Music Course.

The Alfriston Singing Course continues again this term as we work towards the summer show, improving singing technique, active listening and more complex harmony work. Solo work and musical leadership will be available for those who wish.

DANCE 

Dance through the movies – This term, pupils will learn a variety of different dance styles such as street and contemporary. Taking inspiration from the movies, pupils will recreate what they see on screen and choreography their own routines. 

PE 

We will be reflecting and developing Athletics skills already learnt, with an opportunity to further improve a favourite event to gain a ‘good’ personal best performance, leading to participation within Alfriston School Sports Day. Striking and Fielding games alongside racket sports will be used to develop tactical plays and independent thinking when in a challenging and changing environment. 

SOCIAL SKILLS 

Lessons will be delivered on a rotation of theory, discussion/circle time, and practical activities to allow for learning and practice. 

During the third term pupils will be exploring relationship skills such as what makes a good friend and peer pressure. Pupils will also develop their decision-making skills, including their ability to think of multiple solutions to a problem and the consequences which might follow. Finally, pupils will challenge their ability to make goals and persist in achieving them. 

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.

Summer 1: Pupils will examine Healthy Lifestyles which incorporates mental and physical well-being. They will look at Healthy Eating, Taking Care of physical health, Mental Wellbeing, Body Image, Medicinal drugs and vaccinations, Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco.

Summer 2: Pupils will explore the world we live in and focus on diversity and inclusion. Pupils will discuss and examine differences between people and understanding cultural differences. Pupils will also explore rules and laws, taking care of the environment, belonging to a community and studying different occupations.

HOME ECONOMICS 

In Home Economics the pupils will focus on basic cooking and food preparation skills. Pupils will learn how to work safely in the kitchen as well as developing, an understanding of what Home Economics is and learn the important hygiene and healthy eating rules. They will learn about basic nutrition and the importance of a balanced diet. Pupils will cook a wide range of dishes from a variety of simple recipes. Pupils will gain independence in the kitchen and begin to discuss the skills they are learning. 

Year 9 Pupils focus on foods from ‘around the world’. They look at what people choose and combine different foods to make meals and snacks. Pupils will gain an understanding that a range of factors determine what is eaten throughout the world. Diets vary between individuals for reasons such as availability, preference, resources, time, culture and religion. 

FOREST SCHOOL

The pupils working in Forest School will be outside in the woodland area having a hands-on opportunity to learn about the natural environment through directed tasks and exploration. They will be guided to use their own initiative to solve problems and cooperate with others. The students will be given a large amount of freedom in their learning.  

In Year 9 pupils will continue to work on traditional Forest School tasks in addition to working alongside the Chiltern Rangers.  They will become much more familiar with the use of tools and will also begin to learn about woodland management. Team work and cooperation continues to be a key element as they design their own programmes.