Academic Curriculum

In general, timetables for the Summer Term will run as normal, with a few minor changes to ensure pupils are not overloaded with screen-time during the week. Saturday’s lessons will be moved into Wednesday and Thursday afternoons to ensure the weekend is completely free for family time. For pupils in Years 9-11, teachers, where appropriate, will have the option of designating one period per fortnight for every subject as an “off-line” lesson, where work will be conducted independently by the pupil, away from a computer.  This should reduce the overall number of lessons per week in front of a screen by about 20%.

Years 9-10

Lessons will continue as normal, except for the introduction of our “off-line lessons” in some subjects. Prep will continue to be set as per the prep timetable to enable independent study, as well as consolidating learned material.

After half term, pupils in Year 9 will continue in the optional subjects they have chosen for GCSE subjects, and will gain free time in the subjects that they are not continuing.  All pupils will continue in Maths, English and the three Sciences as normal.

Year 11

For Year 11 pupils, lessons will continue as normal until half term.  During this period, some teachers will nominate one period a fortnight as an “off-line” lesson, where work will be conducted independently by the pupil, away from a computer.  Prep will continue to be set as per the prep timetable.

Before half term, teachers will be setting assessment tasks which will be used to build evidence of the grades that we will be supplying to the exam boards as our judgements of their final likely grade in each subject.  This assessment will vary from subject to subject, but will be used alongside the pupil’s baseline GCSE grades, their mock grades and any coursework completed for that subject.  More information on this process will be communicated once we have had confirmation from Exam Boards.

After half term, we will be running two to three week “Into the Sixth Form” courses.  Pupils will have classes for the three or four subjects they have chosen for the Sixth Form, and this will be a valuable opportunity to “try before you buy” and test out your subject choices for September, as well as being a great chance to develop your learning in those subjects.

We will also be running a series of introductory EPQ sessions to introduce this qualification, and to get pupils started on the process of researching initial ideas for September.  The EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) is an independent piece of research the majority of pupils in Year 12 will complete when they drop down to three subjects in October half term.  It is the equivalent of half an A Level, and is allows a pupil to research an area of personal or academic interest and is highly valued by universities.

Year 12

We will ensure continued teaching and learning for all our Year 12 pupils, as they build towards their A Level and BTEC assessment in Year 13.  The timetable will continue as normal for Year 12 pupils.

Throughout the Summer Term, tutors will be working closely with their tutor group to ensure all pupils get ahead with their UCAS applications, as they start to prepare for university entry.

Those pupils who are signed up for the EPQ will complete their essay and project by April 26.

Year 13

For Year 13 pupils, normal lessons will continue until half term.  Our primary focus for our Year 13 pupils is to maximize the amount of evidence that we have to be able to form judgements of examination success.  As well as finishing course material, we will continue to revise and review A Level subject knowledge, as well as conducting a range of assessments so that we have proof of evidence of learning.  These teacher assessments will be combined with baseline grades, their mock grades and any coursework completed for that subject. More information on this process will be communicated once we have had confirmation from Exam Boards.

We will continue to offer our full support via tutors, including through the results period and for university applications.

After half term we will be running a series of optional pre-University courses and we will be in contact nearer the time with details of these.