Curriculum - Thistley Hough Academy

Curriculum 2018-19

Preparation for GCSE Curriculum (P4G)

The purpose of P4G is to ensure that students achieve academic success at the end of Year 11.  P4G is about embedding challenge to ensure that all students are stretched in each year at Thistley Hough Academy.

The implementation of P4G means that:

• All programmes of study in each year group will form part of a journey. There will be a seamless educational journey between Primary School and GCSE examinations at the end of Year 11.  In addition, this will support students to transition in to the Post-16 phase.
• Thistley Hough Academy will work closely with our feeder primary schools to ensure that we are equipped with the information needed to further accelerate student progress.
• Work at Thistley Hough Academy will carry on from that undertaken in primary school and will build upon skills and knowledge already acquired.

How will P4G work?

Teachers have developed Schemes of Learning (SoL) that connect work undertaken in primary school to the standards expected in GCSE examinations.    This will mean that:

• The skills examined in GCSE examinations will be embedded in each year group.
• All content delivered will seamlessly link to the National Curriculum (EY-Y11) and GCSE examinations.
• The style of teaching and learning will further develop as teachers are expected to deliver content which is more challenging to students lower down the school.
• Teachers will be subject specialists. They will be in possession of a high level of subject expertise (subject knowledge and pedagogical skill).  They will be supported to consistently achieve this standard.
• Students will be assessed on a framework that spans primary and secondary sectors. This will enable parents/carers to track progression across all year groups.

The Faculty Areas

Thistley Hough is organised into eight faculty areas as follows:

Core Areas:

1. English
2. Maths
3. Science

Foundation Areas:

4. Design – Art, Design Technology, ICT, Performing Arts
5. Humanities – Geography, History, RE
6. Sport & Health – PE, BTEC Sport and Leisure & Tourism
7. Preparation for Life – PSHE, Citizenship, Careers, Sex & Relationships Education
8. Languages – Modern Foreign Languages, English as an additional language, Language acquisition.

At Thistley Hough we operate a two week timetable with 48 lessons per fortnight.  All periods within the timetable are 1 hour long.  There is an additional period at the end of the day (Session 6) to extend and support learning in a range of curricular areas. A Session 6 timetable will be published at the start of every term.

There is a 15 minute Form/Assembly period at the start of the day and a 20 minute form period in the afternoon which is delivered by Form Tutors.  Form groups are organised in single year groups within 4 Houses.  During this time, students will have one assembly each week . In the remaining tutorial sessions students will take part in a widening horizons projects, PSHE topics and careers education. Students will also be given a range of leadership opportunities, including the planning and delivery of assemblies, organising charitable events and representing the form at year group or whole school student councils.

Y7-9 Curriculum

Year 7

Year 8

Year 9

At the end of year 8 students make a small option choice regarding their History, Geography of MFL courses. This allows students to focus on these important, content heavy subjects and have additional time dedicated to them without narrowing their overall curriculum. Students also make a choice in Creative Performing Arts. Students can choose to continue with the development of their musical instrument following on from the work done in year 7 and 8 in Harmony, follow a dance or drama pathway or begin to work on the technological side of music.

PSHE, Citizenship and Careers Education will be taught through specialised focus days.  The school nurse, NHS professionals, Connexions and other outside agencies will support the delivery of these days.

Pupils will choose their additional Key Stage 4 Option subjects in Year 9.  They will participate in a programme of high quality careers education before choosing their option subjects and will be encouraged to follow courses appropriate to their academic ability and future aspirations.

Y10-11 Curriculum

At Key Stage 4 the curriculum is broad and balanced, reflecting the importance of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc).

All pupils study GCSE Maths and English. They will also follow a programme of study for Science, with different options being offered to different cohorts of students. For those in the higher groups, there will be an opportunity to study the separate science GCSEs. All other students will study Dual Science.

In Year 10, Students on the EBacc pathway will have the opportunity to study for four additional courses at Key Stage 4, completing one of these at the end of Year 10 and the other three at the end of Year 11.

Year 10

Year 11

List of Qualifications Offered

The following qualifications are currently offered at Thistley Hough Academy:

• GCSE Maths
• GCSE English Language
• GCSE English Literature
• GCSE Science (Core, Additional, Separate Sciences)
• GCSE French
• GCSE History
• GCSE Geography
• GCSE RE
• GCSE IT
• GCSE Film Studies
• GCSE Art
• GCSE Food Technology
• GCSE Product Design
• BTEC Child Development
• BTEC Performing Arts
• BTEC Sport
• BCS Level 2 Certificate in IT application skills ECDL

This is not an exhaustive list and we endeavour to personalise options to individual pupils where practically possible, particularly in Languages. We offer a range of languages for small groups, in the past we have offered GCSE’s in Arabic, Turkish, Urdu, Dutch and Chinese.

For further information regarding the curriculum please contact: Mr Ian Brailsford