Year 8 Curriculum Information
| Art | Design & Technology | Drama |
| English | Food | French |
| Geography | History | I.C.T |
| Maths | Music | P.E |
| R.E | Science | Learning Support |
| Personal, Social and Health Education | ||
At Lavington School we believe that all students should have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. We believe equally that not everybody thrives on an identical diet.
Consequently, at Key Stage Three (years 7, 8 and 9), we offer our students the same subject framework. The detail of what is taught, at what levels and the approach used differs according to the ability and achievement levels of the individual students.
Whatever the subject, the work presented to and demanded of our students is planned so that all can be challenged and supported as required.
What can parents do to help?
The most important thing you can do as a parent is simply to take an interest in your child’s work. With this thought in mind this booklet has been produced to give you, as parents, a broad outline of the programmes of study your child will follow in the current school year.
Additionally, in each subject profile you will find a section headed ‘parental contribution’. The purpose of this is to provide positive suggestions of the ways in which you can become more actively involved in your child’s learning.
Sex and Relationship Education is an important part of the Skills for Life programme and the Science curriculum. Parents should inform their child’s tutor if they do not wish them to take part in the Skills for Life element of the programme.
If you have any queries concerning the information provided here, do not hesitate to contact the appropriate Head of Department.
The importance of homework
Homework is an important part of schoolwork. This is an area of your child’s learning you can help with. Apart from trying to provide the correct environment; somewhere warm, a flat surface in a well-lit area and away from distractions, you could:
1. Ask what homework has to be done.
2. Check and sign the Homework Diary weekly.
3. Offer encouragement at all times.
4. Contact the school as soon as problems arise.
This Key Stage Three Curriculum Booklet is an initiative aimed at improving the quality of education at Lavington School by emphasising the link between school and home. Comments are invited.
Head of Subject: Mrs. Craddock
Outline of Course:
Content:
Drawing, painting, collage, ceramics, printmaking. Looking at works of art
Activities:
Development of practical artistic skills
Understanding the work of relevant artists
Skills:
Continuation of drawing and painting skills
Skills with collage and simple printmaking
Homework Activities:
Students will be working on two main projects throughout the year. The first will be entitled ‘Fantasy Forest’ and students will look at the work of Henri Rousseau. They will be expected to produce a short research project on this artist for homework reviewing his painting style and content within the context of post-impressionist French painting. There will also be some homework tasks based on observation drawing from natural forms such as leaves, trees, flowers, animals etc.
The second project will be based on students’ own environment and we will be looking at Van Gogh’s ‘Bedroom at Arles’ and ‘The Yellow House’. Students will produce a short research project for homework reviewing Van Gogh’s painting style and evaluating his work from a personal viewpoint. Students’ homework tasks will also involve producing a set of drawings from home, with the aim of doing paintings of their own bedrooms and their own homes in Van Gogh’s style. We will be considering perspective within this project. Within this project, we will go on to consider the urban landscape, reviewing work by Lowry.
Assessment:
In accordance with school policy
Parental Contribution:
Provide opportunities for art work at home. Encourage visits to galleries, and watching relevant television programmes. Provide A4 sketch book for homework activities.
Useful resources and equipment:
Prittstick glue. Good sketching pencils in range B - 3B. Metal pencil sharpener, good rubber. Coloured pencils and felts
Other relevant information:
There will be a small charge to cover the cost of materials for any 3D project that the student wishes to take home
Head of Department: Mrs. Thompson
Outline of Course:
Content:
Romeo and Juliet
Animal Rights and Wrongs
Pantomime
Peer group pressure
‘The Elephant man and Phantom of the Opera’
Holidays
Activities:
All practical work which gives students the opportunity to make, perform and respond
Skills:
- To use voice and movement to create and sustain a character
- To read a script and perform short extracts from memory
- To work with a small range of drama techniques and conventions
- To contribute positively to group work
- To organise a clear and coherent performance for an audience
- To evaluate work, using basic drama vocabulary
- To have understanding of the way drama techniques are used to present ideas
Empathy with the experiences of others.
Homework Activities:
No more than two homework tasks will be set in a half-term. These are likely to include evaluations, research, in-role writing, storyboards or posters.
Assessment:
Students’ knowledge, skills and understanding of drama is assessed by curriculum levels
Parental contribution:
Parents can support students in homework activities eg help in researching the background to a topic.
Essential equipment:
Trainers or a soft shoe should be worn for all Drama lessons
Students who show ability/interest in this subject are encouraged to participate in extra-curricular activities eg school productions and/or join the Lavington Youth Theatre group which meets every Wednesday after school.
DESIGN TECHNOLOGY
Head of Department: Mrs. Hutchings
Outline of course:
Content:
Designing and making
Understanding materials, structures, products and applications
All work is carried out with regard for quality and health and safety
Activities:
Projects:
Electronics project
Design Challenge
Functional artefact in mild steel
Skills:
Graphical skills to aid the development of design. Marking out. Fabrication and joining of various materials. Applying scientific principles
Evaluating products against specific criteria
Working collaboratively
Homework Activities: Students have a week to complete homework assignment. These will be in the form of research existing products in terms of function, aesthetics and economic factors.
Develop design skills.
Record and evaluate practical experiences.
Students will have a week to complete homework assignments when they are set. These will take the form of researching existing products in terms of function, suitability for the target market, aesthetics and economic factors. In addition students will be expected to develop their design skills by using a variety of drawing techniques and recording and evaluating practical activities in the form of Storyboards, flow charts and questionnaires.
Assessment:
Homework marked according to school marking policy
Class assessment of product models
Electronics project and mild steel artefact, assessed against National Curriculum levels
Parental Contribution:
Supporting art, design and technology exhibitions
Useful resources and equipment:
Good colouring pencils, Black fine liner, Good compass, Pritt stick
Other relevant information:
There will be a charge for ‘3D’ work
ENGLISH
Head of Department: Mrs. Wells
Outline of course:
Content:
The Year 8 curriculum is organised into six units covering the requirements of the English National Curriculum and drawing on the advised learning objectives included within the National Literacy Framework.
All Year 8 students, depending on which teaching group they are in, will study the following six units at some point during the year: a Shakespeare play, e.g. ‘The Tempest’, media, a modern novel, poetry, the origins, use and development of the English language and a pre 1914 gothic text.
Activities: (Including fieldwork, practical work etc)
We aim to offer a wide variety of teaching and learning activities in order to engage all learners. Just a few examples of activities your child may learn through are: close reading of texts, cloze exercises, role play, group discussion, oral presentations, hot seating etc.
Skills:
Each core unit will offer a wide variety of activities to develop and improve students’ speaking and listening, reading and writing skills, understanding and knowledge.
Homework activities:
Each unit of work lasts approximately six weeks and, typically, students will be set one thirty minute homework task per week.
Typical tasks will include researching a topic, learning spellings and/or the meaning of words, independent reading, teacher-directed reading, focused writing tasks, proofreading, completion of class work and learning evaluations.
Your help is very much appreciated and here are a few ideas about how you can support your child with English homework:
- Talk to your child about how to approach the task set
- Discuss their reading with them
- Proofread work with your child (please advise us of the help you have given)
- Test spellings etc
- Encourage your child to meet deadlines
Assessment:
During a unit of work, assessment is in line with school policy. One formal assessment will be conducted per unit of work to a total of two speaking and listening, two reading and two writing assessments. National Curriculum levels will be awarded for each formally assessed task.
An end of year examination will take place in June and end of year assessment is by National Curriculum levels of attainment.
Parental contribution:
Parents are encouraged to monitor students’ homework and offer guidance wherever possible. Please do not hesitate to make contact with your son’s/daughter’s teacher, in the event of problems or queries.
Useful resources and equipment:
A good dictionary or spellchecker at home. Access to a computer, if possible. A tape recorder can also be useful.
Other relevant information:
Setting in year nine will be determined by pupil performance throughout Year 8, plus end of year internal exam results. Please note that the English department sets in conjunction with Modern Foreign languages and Humanities.
Head of Subject: Miss Jeanes
Outline of course:
Content:
Work to a brief and create a product that is suitable for the brief. To be aware of effective time management. To develop the ability to interpret nutritional data from food labels and understand the contribution that fat makes to a healthy diet.
Activities:
Gather and use information by use of questionnaires
Preparation and production of various dishes
Disassembly and evaluation of commercially produced products
Skills:
Yeast cookery
Creaming method
Whisking method
Melting method
Homework activities:
Research and evaluation activities relating to design and make tasks, work sheets, poster designing, evaluation of practicals
Assessment:
Marking to school policy
NC levels
Parental contribution:
Provision of food for practicals
Encouraging an interest in food and healthy eating
Useful resources and equipment:
Recipe books, colouring pencils
Computer is useful for presentation, but not essential
Head of Department: Mrs. Coates
Outline of Course:
Content:
Students continue the course begun in Year 7 and progress to “Expo 2”
Activities:
The activities from Year 7 are continued but students will write and speak longer passages and be required to understand more complex language. There will be a range of activities for example games, role-plays and surveys.
Skills:
Listening, speaking, reading and writing are the skill areas and students should be manipulating the language with more facility than in Year 7.
Homework activities:
The skill areas are practised with homework, and learning forms an important part of the programme.
On average there will be one written piece and some vocabulary or grammar to learn each week.
Assessment:
Vocabulary, grammar points and communication skills are tested regularly.
Parental Contribution:
Providing students with as much visual and audio stimulus as possible, for example French magazines, French radio/TV/ Websites and, if possible, a trip to France.
Useful resources and equipment:
A medium sized bi-lingual dictionary is an important tool in language learning.
Head of Department: Miss Alford
Outline of course: There are three topics, one planned for each of our school terms.
Content:
Autumn term – Rivers and Water – This unit looks at how the environment can be a resource and therefore beneficial to people and also a hazard, which has negative effects on people’s lives.
Spring Term -= The Impact of People Upon the Natural Environment – This unit deals with the impact of people upon the natural environment and considers the issues through examples taken from the UK and the EU.
Summer Term – +The Tropical Rainforest – this unit explores the beauty, fragility, importance and future of this amazing biome
Activities:
- Field work.
- Learn by reference to case studies about the many physical, chemical and biotic processes active within our environment.
Produce field sketches, displays and extended written summaries of findings in the form of structured reports.- Engage in a factory simulation exercise to experience a secondary industrial system, its pressures and challenges.
Skills:
- Enquiry process, involving group work.
- Map work skills, including latitude and longitude, and topological maps.
- Extracting information from a variety of secondary sources.
- Role play.
Homework activities:
- The pupil will undertake activities at home that will complement and extend the work done in class.
- Learn key geographical vocabulary.
- Creative writing
- Model making
- Investigation
Assessment:
- Questioning students during class activities to check knowledge, understanding and skills.
- Students will be assessed continually in their learning.
- Homework tasks.
- Six key tasks.
Parental contribution:
- Parental support is encouraged at all times and would typically include:
- Checking their child’s exercise book.
- Watching geographical programmes with their child.
- Encourage their child to read newspaper articles relevant to the area of study.
- Helping their child prepare for tests.
Useful resources and equipment:
- Key text books include Key Geography and the Geog.series.
- Maps, atlas and photographs.
- ICT and audio-visual equipment.
- Digital Camera.
- Your child is expected to provide a pencil case containing coloured pencils (not felt tips), a ruler, pencils, eraser, blue or black biros or an ink pen and a basic calculator.
Other relevant information:
Good Geographers do not necessarily have encyclopaedic knowledge and recall but know how to find out the answers to queries. They are well organised and keen to make sense of and to recognise patterns, sequences and consequences of natural processes and human activity.
Head of Department: Mrs. Coates
Outline of Course:
Content:
Students use the course “Echo” (part 2) in Year 8.
Activities:
The activities from Year 7 are continued but students will write and speak longer passages and be required to understand more complex language.
Skills:
Listening, speaking, reading and writing are the skill areas and students should be manipulating the language with more facility than in Year 7.
Homework activities:
The skill areas are practised via homework, and learning forms an important part of the programme.
On average one piece of writing and some vocabulary or grammar to learn will be set each week.
Assessment:
Vocabulary, grammar points and communication skills are tested regularly.
Parental Contribution:
Providing students with as much visual and audio stimulus as possible, for example German magazines, German radio/TV and, if possible, a trip to Germany.
Useful resources and equipment:
A medium sized bi-lingual dictionary is an important tool in language learning.
Head of Subject: Mr. R. South
Outline of Course:
Content:
- Students will investigate six key questions over the course of the year.
- Why was Henry VIII such a famous and controversial monarch?
- How did Religion change under the Tudors?
- How great a ruler was Queen Elizabeth?
- Why was there a civil war in England?
- What was life like as a slave?
- How did life improve after Slavery?
Activities:
Fieldwork - Students visit the Commandery at Worcester in order to study different aspects of the English Civil War.
Pike Drill, Musket Drill, Cannon Drill, Domestic Life etc are covered through activity sessions
Skills:
Students continue to build on skills learnt in Year 7. Causation, Consequence, Change, Motivation, the Role of the Individual are also explored.
Homework Activities:
Homework will be set when appropriate to support learning. Tasks will include research, preparing speeches, answering questions etc.
Assessment:
At the end of each key question students will be assessed using national curriculum levels. Assessment tasks include source response questions, producing a narrative story as well as essay style assessments.
Parental contribution:
Parents can support us by encouraging a regular routine in the evening for homework. Sometimes parents help us on visits. Students are encouraged to catch up quickly when they have been absent.
Useful resources and equipment:
Pens, pencils, rulers, coloured pencils etc. are required. A small pocket dictionary is useful. Otherwise, no specific equipment is necessary.
Head of Subject: Mr. T. Shaw
Throughout year 8 students will follow the Governments’ Key Stage 3 ICT strategy. This will involve project based activities which will allow the students to demonstrate different personal skills - planning, independent and group working as well as being able to critically reflect on both the project outcomes and their own learning. “Fitness for purpose” and “appropriate for audience” are important themes and form a large part of the assessment process.
Students are positively encouraged to explore different hardware and software packages to a level appropriate to their ability. The intention is to have fun but also to provide resources and an environment that is both stimulating and engaging.
Outline of Course:
- Multimedia presentation
- Modelling
- Data Handling
- Website Design
- Sequencing
Homework Activities:
Set as appropriate but will usually be planning or preparation work
Assessment:
Self, peer as well formative assessment as the students progress throughout the course. There will also an element of on-line testing.
Parental Contribution
Support with planning and preparation of project work as well as ICT skills.
Useful Resources and Equipment
Three well equipped ICT rooms with on-line access to the school computer network from home.
Other Useful Information
There are computer rooms available at lunch times. There will also be an ICT room open after school for students use.
MATHEMATICS
Head of Department: Mr Ford
Outline of Course:
Content:
All students follow the ‘Key Maths’ course. The course is specifically designed to be appropriate for a wide range of abilities at all levels and provides full coverage of the revised National Curriculum and the latest Framework for Teaching Mathematics and Numeracy Strategy. Students either work from the 81, 82, or 83 book in which the same basic content of material is covered but where differentiation is achieved by varying the difficulty of exercises An Extra Resource book provides materials that stretch the more able students and a Special Resource book provides materials to support the less able. Each book is split into sections that cover the Attainment Targets for Maths, namely Number and Algebra, Shape, Space and Measure and Handling Data. Using and Applying Mathematics is covered throughout the book and in specific separate Units of Work. The teacher presents and adapts the content of the books to meet the needs of the students in each set with a balance of learning and teaching styles. The students are supported as independent learners and they use maths to complete tasks and investigations.
Activities:
Much work is of the ‘pen and paper’ variety but emphasis is given to discussion and students becoming competent and confident in articulating their thoughts in a logical and precise manner. Attainment Target 1 (Using and Applying Maths) will be covered in a structured way through working on open-ended tasks and investigations both at home and at school. Timed mental arithmetic tests will be given regularly.
Skills:
Good listening skills are essential for good progress. Students will be expected to work both collaboratively and independently. Students are encouraged to develop clear logical thinking and communicate their thoughts succinctly in speech and symbolically in writing. They should feel increasingly confident about thinking creatively and producing imaginative answers in practical tasks and investigations. They should increase their facility with number work by developing a range of methods and techniques so that the most appropriate is selected for a given task. They should become skilled in using a calculator for calculations beyond their competence in mental arithmetic, but not as a substitute for it. IT skills in the use of data bases and spreadsheets are an integral part of the course.
Homework Activities:
Homeworks will include continuation of classwork, tasks arising out of current classroom work or tasks as preparation for future work, revision exercises, investigations and research. Homeworks are usually set twice a week and students should work for about 30 minutes on each occasion. Significant variation from this should be communicated to the teacher in the first instance.
Assessment:
At the beginning of Year 8, students are placed into one of 6 sets using their performance during Year 7 as the main indicator and their potential ability as indicated by the CATs tests. At regular intervals the sets are reviewed and any appropriate movements made.
At the end of each Unit of Work (chapter) there is a short test to assess their understanding of that section. The students will receive feedback on their performance and an indication of National Curriculum Level. Their performance is tracked by these levels throughout the year and compared with their target levels (which they are given in September) and used to highlight under- or over-achieving. There is a formal end of year exam to assess their work and to provide further evidence for movement between sets.
Parental Contribution:
General encouragement and support should be given as a matter of course. Involvement of parents in helping with homeworks, when difficulties arise, is often beneficial. In particular students may need help and guidance in accessing information (e.g. from reference books) or revising or learning new mathematics (e.g. from study guides). If your child becomes anxious or worried about maths or you have any concern please do not hesitate to contact the teacher straight away.
Useful Resources and Equipment:
Published revision guides are a useful source of information and good value for money. Copies of:
KS3 Revision Guides (Coordinators Group Publications), and KS3 Workbooks (Coordinators Group Publications) are available from the school
A scientific calculator is an essential piece of equipment for every lesson. It is very important that all
students bring a ruler, a pair of compasses and a 180o protractor to all their maths lessons.
Head of Subject: Mrs Love
Outline of Course: Practically based course with the emphasis on composing, listening and performing (in half-termly modules)
Content:
Term 1:
Form: a study of different forms and structures of music, mainly based on a performance of a Rondo piece
Variations: An introduction to the use of Music technology and Cubase software.
Term 2:
Film Music: a project creating music to fit with film scenes. Development of composition and instrumental skills.
Film Music2 : Development of performance skills through performance of James Bond.
Term 3:
Indian Music: a study of music and instruments from India through practical tasks.
Songwriting: an exploration into the importance of words, melody and chord structure.
Activities:
1. Class activities using and developing vocal and instrumental work including keyboard skills
2. Performances both as a class and individual, vocal and instrumental
3. Group and paired activities developing performance and composing through given stimuli
4. Improvisational work
5. Listening activities which provide stimuli for composing and development of musical understanding
Skills:
Term 1:
- To listen and develop an understanding of a musical form in different styles.
- To select and combine resources and develop musical ideas.
Term 2:
- To communicate musical ideas within a group composition.
- To use sounds and musical conventions to achieve an intended effect.
Term 3:
- To understand musical traditions from different parts of the world.
- To develop listening skills by identifying instruments and country.
- To perform in a group showing an awareness of audience. To develop and understand chord structures.
Homework activities:
Homework will only be set for appropriate activities eg write up of material listened to in class. Appraisal of composition work. Students are expected to develop their performance skills if they have an instrument at home.
Assessment:
The majority of assessment is done on an informal basis through their practical activities and homework assignments.
At the end of year there will be an assessment task focusing on skills developed throughout the year.
Parental contribution:
Parental encouragement is important in the development of the students instrumental skills.
The encouragement to listen to a wide variety of musical styles will develop students’ musical understanding.
All instrumentalists should be encouraged to participate within a band/group or orchestra, within school.
Head of Department: Mrs Adams
Outline of Course:
Content:
Athletic activities; Outdoor Games, Indoor Games and; Gymnastic activities.
During Key Stage 3, students participate in a wide variety of sporting activities. They have the opportunity to experience new and exciting sports/activities during lesson and extra-curricular time.
In Years 7 & 8 students have a double lesson of PE which is single sex; they also have a single lesson of PE which is mixed sex. This is to give students the confidence to participate in physical activity in the community.
Activities:
Modules:
Athletics, Cross-country, Football (boys/girls), Hockey (boys/girls) Rugby (boys) Netball (girls) Rounders, Tennis, Ultimate Frisby, Gymnastics, Circuit Training, Basketball, Badminton
Skills:
To promote all-round physical development and fitness.
To develop competence and confidence in physical skills.
To develop cognitive skills.
To develop aesthetic and artistic understanding.
To develop the individual to meet their physical potential, as far as possible.
To teach appreciation of own and others’ strengths and weaknesses, and to guide as to appropriate responses.
To foster the appreciation of the importance of fair play and rule abiding, honest competition and good sporting behaviour as team members, individual participants, and spectators.
To teach students to learn to cope with success and failure.
To develop relevant skills, knowledge and understanding for activities beyond school.
To develop knowledge and understanding of fitness and health.
To have opportunities to measure performance and to encounter and interact with ICT opportunities.
Homework Activities:
None
Assessment:
Students’ progress is monitored using various methods during every activity throughout the year on their performance against the National Curriculum and their effort.
In all learning opportunities students will be working towards the KS3 National Curriculum attainment targets for Physical Education.
Expectations
Students are expected to wear the appropriate school PE kit. They are expected to participate wholeheartedly in every lesson and to grasp every opportunity available to them. Students are encouraged to enhance their experience by partaking in extra-curricular opportunities from clubs, fixtures, inter-form competition and community sport.
If students are excused from PE lessons they must ensure they have a note in their homework diary signed by parent/guardian. However, they must still be in PE kit to be able to play a coaching role in the lesson. (It also keeps their school uniform dry and clean).
Parental Contribution:
To provide their child with the appropriate PE kit and support both their child and the PE department to ensure they have a positive sporting experience at Lavington School.
To use the homework diary to communicate with staff on any concerns or matters regarding PE.
Useful resources and equipment:
Please see the published list of PE and Games kit.
Head of Department: Mrs. Hinder
Outline of Course:
Content:
- Asking Difficult Questions – are Miracles evidence of God?
- Asking Difficult Questions – what do Hindus believe about life after death?
- Applying and Interpreting Teachings: Searching for happiness in Buddhism
Activities:
Classwork in exercise books
Display work on paper
Class discussion and information sharing
Research connected with topic being studied
Skills:
Investigation
Interpretation
Analysis and evaluation
Application and communication (written and oral)
Synthesis
Homework Activities:
Students will be set a homework task roughly fortnightly. These tasks will involve students in research; craftwork or drawing; extended writing and/or reflection on work in lessons. Extended ‘key tasks’ will be set on three occasions during the year and these may occupy a number of homeworks.
Assessment:
Students are informed when a task is an assessment task or when they will be formally assessed at the end of a module.
Students are assessed on Attainment Target 1: Learning about religion and on Attainment Target 2: Learning from religions. Levels 1 – 8 (8 being the highest)
Parental Contribution:
Support and encouragement to do homework tasks
Help with research tasks.
Help in developing an open mind towards people of different cultures and religions.
Useful resources and equipment:
Usual equipment for any lesson (including coloured pencils). Sometimes a Bible might be useful. Access to national newspapers.
Subject leader: Mr Minns
Outline of Course:
Content:
The course is divided up into 12 modules, each of which covers a particular area of Science. The titles of the Modules are: Food and Digestion, Respiration, Microbes and Disease, Ecological Relationships, Atoms and Elements, Compounds and Mixtures, Rocks and Weathering, The Rock Cycle, Heating and Cooling, Magnets and Electromagnets, Light and Sound and Hearing.
Activities:
Note taking, carrying out and watching experiments (with the emphasis heavily on the side of the students carrying out their own experiments wherever possible). Being taught Science theory. Use of relevant videotapes. Investigations.
Skills:
Drawing diagrams; making and recording observations and measurements; using equipment accurately and safely; drawing conclusions from their results and observations; carrying out simple mathematical calculations; drawing charts and graphs carefully end accurately
Homework Activities:
Writing up experiments
Answering questions
Researching topics
Reading the textbook in preparation for lessons
Revising the work for tests etc
Assessment:
By end of module tests (these are short answer tests of about 40 ‑ 45 minutes duration).
Practical assessment, to look at their ability to make predictions, plan experiments, carry them out, record date and draw conclusions.
Level assessed Tasks
End of year exam.
Homework tasks
Parental Contribution:
Provide support and encouragement particularly in the area of Homework tasks
Provide resources over and above that which the school can afford (*see below) to supply by way of textbooks etc. e.g. Science encyclopaedias for Christmas/birthday etc.
Useful resources and equipment:
Good pen, pencil, ruler, rubber, coloured pencils, pencil sharpener (and a pencil case to keep them in). A calculator is a fairly cheap but very useful extra (but only if the pupil con do the Maths without it, first!)
Books as above.
Other relevant information:
(*A textbook is provided)
Pastoral Leader: Mr A Jones
In Year 8 all students follow a programme of Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Citizenship. The programme comprises the following elements:
- Relationships and sex education, including gender issues and the influence of the media, sexual health, and influences and pressures
- Drugs, alcohol and smoking
- Citizenship issues including cultural diversity and human rights
- Careers and work-related learning, which is taught through a simulation activity called The Real Game.
The programme is taught by form tutors with the support of outside agencies such as the school nurse and the police. It also prepares students to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution, and achieve economic well-being.
The progress of students is closely monitored by the Pastoral leader, the Deputy Pastoral Leader and tutors. Students who are under-achieving will receive mentoring support from the Middle School Pastoral Team. The student planner is an important tool for monitoring progress and in cementing the link between home and school.
Year 8 students can make a positive contribution to the pastoral programme and general life of the school through the tutor group representative system. Each tutor group nominates two members to act as a Form Representative and a Deputy. Their role is to ask their fellow students if they have any ideas and / or concerns which they would like to be raised at the form representatives meeting. These meetings are run by the Deputy Pastoral Leader. Two of the form representatives are also nominated to sit on the Student Council. Year 8 students can also volunteer to serve as members of the Assembly Committee, which is run by the Pastoral Leader to provide students with an opportunity to plan and lead assemblies. Another key role open to students is to be ‘Buddies’ to the new Year 7 students.