What we are learning The Key Stage 3 curriculum - The Cotswold School
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What we are learning The Key Stage 3 curriculum
What we are learning in
Year 7
The curriculum in Years 7, 8 and 9 – Key Stage 3 – is rich and stimulating.
Throughout these three years, we want our students to discover a love for learning and knowledge
that will help them select their GCSE courses and continue to progress successfully in Key Stage 4.
What we are learning is designed to give you an overview of the topics, knowledge and skills being
covered each of the six school terms, in each subject.*
Our KS3 curriculum is connected by four main strands. Each department delivers its own content
and the curriculum is mapped to ensure key concepts and ideas are developed and explored from
a range of angles over the three years.
We look at:
• Our own identity
• Our place in society
• Our world around us
• Our skills and future lives
We hope you enjoy what you are learning in school and that the information here helps you share
and develop your ideas and knowledge with your families at home.
If you would like to know more, or have any questions, please contact your subject teacher.
Assistant Headteacher, Teaching and Learning
The Cotswold School What we are Learning 2Art
This term we are moving on to the theme of ‘Identity’. Pupils will look at artists who explore identity through portraiture before creating self-
portraits and reflecting on their own identity and what makes them unique. We will explore and develop ideas through drawing, collage and mixed
media.
Design and Technology
We continue with the Year 7 rotation system, which enables you to specialise in a number of material areas, such as:
Materials Technology – Pewter Key Fob
Textiles Technology – Day of the Dead Masks
Food & Nutrition – Basic Skills and Healthy Eating Principles
Systems & Control – Mechanical Toy
Product Design – Pop-up Book
You will continue to develop and apply skills in Analysis and Research; Design and Communication; Manufacture; and Testing and Evaluation.
English
Our current unit centres on social protest and reform. We have been asking the all the big questions: What is power? How have people pushed
back against injustice? How far should governments go to prevent citizens from causing harm to themselves? Our studies focus around fiction
texts (Hunger Games or Animal Farm) and poetry from other cultures.
To develop oracy skills, students are debating how they would rule the school and develop their own vision of education and learning.
French
‘Holidays’ is the topic we are studying in this final term of the academic year. This includes where you are going and what activities you plan to do,
including how to buy drinks and snacks in a café. We will improve our grammar of using ‘nous’; aller and faire verbs; and the near future with ‘aller’
+ infinitive and ‘Je voudrais’ + infinitive. We will also encounter some higher numbers than we have used before.
Geography
Decision-making and fieldwork skills are our next areas of focus. This will involve learning how to evaluate a range of sources as well as
considering and empathising with a range of different groups’ viewpoints. The Year 7 exam will put these skills into practice as it will be a decision-
making exercise focused on our earlier unit in the year, quarrying. We will begin to learn some fieldwork techniques, such as how to draw field
sketches, and develop our map skills.
The Cotswold School What we are Learning 3German This half term we will continue the topic of ‘town’ – describing our town, as well as being able to say what we can do and will do – embarking on the future tense. We will continue to reflect on language-learning strategies, which can help us become more effective, independent linguists, especially as we prepare for the forthcoming exam. History We will continue to study the Tudors during Term 6, with a focus on the concept of ‘historical significance’. We will be building up an answer to the topic question “How terrible were the Tudors?” by thinking about how far we agree with Horrible Histories’ choice of book title. This will involve considering whether Mary I deserves her title of ‘Bloody Mary’, how Elizabeth I solved the problems she faced, why the Tudors were significant and which Tudor monarch mattered most. ICT and Computer Science In our weekly double lesson, we will look at the impact of technology on society and investigate the use of databases. We’ll explore the growth of the Internet of things and robotic solutions as well as the impact of new technology on industry, agriculture, health and our daily lives. We will develop our online research skills, considering relevant legislation such as Copyright and GDPR. There will be the opportunity to develop our own skills for the presentation of ideas and database searching. Mathematics This term we are working on data and probability. Starting with data, we will investigate the different averages of both discrete and continuous data. Then we move on to probability, starting with the probability scale. We will look at experimental probability and theoretical probability and cover independent and dependent events using different techniques. Performing Arts Along with our Drama unit this term we continue to explore the story and music for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We have been using the pieces from the film to think about hand positions and more challenging hand movement on the keyboard. For pupils who already have some keyboard skills, we’ll be working out and using chord symbols. We compose and notate our own compositions inspired by the characters and learn how to write these out using a music scoring program. We’ll confirm our knowledge of pitch notation and re-visit some of the rhythm skills we learned earlier in the year. Philosophy, Beliefs and Ethics In Term 6 we explore “How are Sikh teachings on equality/service put into practice today?” Through this question we cover topics such as equality, selfless service and human rights. This will be followed with a module on expressions of spirituality through the arts. Physical Education Continuing with our four-week blocks of work, this final term sees our PE lessons move into the usual summer sports, including Athletics, Rounders (girls) and Tennis (boys). We will also be covering the topic areas of muscles and movement with all Year 7s, ahead of our end-of-year PE quiz on Satchel:One. The Cotswold School What we are Learning 4
Science ‘Exploring Bourton’ teaches us about our natural environment, and how every living thing is interlinked! We will consider the importance of minimising our impact on the planet and looking after all of the plants and animals that we share it with (biodiversity). This topic introduces fundamental ideas such as food webs, adaptation and ecosystems. Pupils will study some ideas about microbiology, developing their understanding of different types of microorganisms. We will learn about topics in the news at the moment, including preventing viral disease by vaccination and treating bacterial diseases using antibiotics. Pupils will study foundations of chemistry and physics in ‘Kitchen Chemistry’, including the particle model, changes of state and signs of a reaction. They will learn about human reproduction, cells and some basic genetics in ‘All about me’. Principles of physics, including forces and space, will be introduced in ‘Rocket Science’. Different classes will study topics in Science in different orders. Spanish ‘Towns’ is the topic we study at this point in the year, learning places, descriptions and directions. We will also learn how to talk about arranging to go out and discussing the weather. This will help us to revise present tense verbs and boot verbs, adjective agreements and word order. We will also use the near future tense and comparatives. The Cotswold School What we are Learning 5
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