Key Stage 3 

The Key Stage 3 programme of study is made up of two parts. The first part is our Creative and Performing Arts curriculum, which provides the opportunity for all children to experience a variety of creative disciplines throughout years 7 & 8. In year 9 they will specialise, choosing one discipline to continue through to year 11.  

Alongside this, the Core curriculum covers all other subjects taught at Key Stage 3. Subjects are taught through a combination of Project and discrete skill/knowledge lessons which are planned by teachers collaborating across their specialisms.  

Our projects underpin all of our learning and provide the focus for our studies each term. At the end of each term we demonstrate our learning through project outcomes. 

Projects Overview 

Using Project Based Learning (PBL), we bring single separate subjects together to solve challenging tasks that have real life, experienced outcomes. Our projects combine the National Curriculum, current affairs, local events taught through PBL. Subject specialists and form tutors work together to ensure that standards are covered in each subject.  

We also want skills and knowledge to be progressively built upon each year. Each project has an overarching question that provides the focus for the learning. In the Summer term, year 9 complete the AQA Foundation Project Qualification. 

Subject Journeys

Each subject has its own substantive and disciplinary knowledge journey. In order to achieve a true understanding of a subject, learning has been intelligently sequenced and chunked in a way so as to ensure that pupils know and remember more.  

Within each scheme of work, key knowledge is taught and re-visited on a regular basis through interleaved ‘Do Now’ quizzes, end of the week Mastery quizzes and the repetition of key skills. All schemes of work allow for key schema to be added to, whereby teachers carefully select new knowledge to teach based on the changing needs of the students each time they re-visit an area of a key concept or knowledge. 

Opportunities are built in to make links to the world of work to enhance the careers, advice and guidance that students are exposed to. Each topic has a 'careers spotlight', where students will explore a profession linked to that particular unit of work.