The sections below detail the curriculum for Year 11 students at QEHS.

For details of Subject Support Sessions, please see our Subject Support Sessions page, which includes the timetable of lunchtime and after-school sessions. 

Please use the following guide to help you decide the appropriate point of contact for any curriculum-related issues:

Year 11 Assessment/Mock Exam Resources

Click the button below for the resources provided by departments for the upcoming Year 11 Mock Exam Week.

Y11 Assessment Resources
Nature of EnquiryContactPhone/Email
General questions about your child's work, progress, or homeworkSubject teachersBy note via your child or by contacting the main switchboard on 01434 610300
A concern about your child's progress or experience in a particular subjectCurriculum/Subject Leaders (see the Meet Our Staff page under the School Life menu)Contact the main switchboard on 01434 610300
General enquiries related to the curriculum, options, higher education applications or complex academic issues involving more than one subjectThe Sixth Form TeamTelephone the Sixth Form Office on 01434 610312 or email sixthform@qehs.net
Other matters not listed aboveReceptionPlease phone 01434 610300 and we will direct your enquiry to the appropriate person

GCSE Biology (exam board: AQA)

Autumn Term

Students will begin Topic 5 ‘Homeostasis and Response’. In this topic, they will learn about the nervous system including the brain, eye and reflex responses. They will also learn about how we control body temperature, glucose and water concentrations and the role of hormones in the body. They will go on to learn about the role of hormones in the reproductive system and how we can use hormones to control fertility. Students will also be learning about plant hormones.

Assessment – Paper 1 mock exam during mock week.

Required practical 8 – investigate the effect of light or gravity on the growth of seedlings.

Students will begin Topic 6: ‘Inheritance, Variation and Evolution’. Students will learn about sexual and asexual reproduction including the process of meiosis in producing gametes. Students will also learn about DNA and how genes are inherited to determine sex and other characteristics.

Spring Term

Students will complete Topic 6 by learning about variation and evolution. They will learn how humans have impacted on evolution through the processes of genetic engineering, selective breeding and cloning.

Assessment – Paper 2 mock exam during mock week.

Summer Term

Revision and preparation for GCSE exams.

Autumn Term

Theme 2 – Building a Business (*Paper code: 1BS0/02)

Theme 2 comprises five topic areas:

  • Topic 2.1 Growing the business – students are introduced to methods of growth and how and why business aims and objectives change as businesses evolve. The impact of globalisation and the ethical and environmental questions facing businesses are explored.
  • Topic 2.2 Making marketing decisions – students will explore how each element of the marketing mix is managed and used to inform and make business decisions in a competitive marketplace.
  • Topic 2.3 Making operational decisions – this topic focuses on meeting customer needs through the design, supply, quality and sales decisions a business makes.
  • Topic 2.4 Making financial decisions – students will explore the tools a business has to support financial decision making, including ratio analysis and the use and limitation of a range of financial information.
  • Topic 2.5 Making human resource decisions – growing a business means that decisions relating to organisational structure, recruitment, training and motivation need to be made to influence business activity. These aspects are considered in this final topic.

Assessment overview for Theme 2 (Exam Summer 2020)

The paper is divided into three sections:

  • Section A: 35 marks
  • Section B: 30 marks
  • Section C: 25 marks

The paper will consist of calculations, multiple-choice, short-answer and extended-writing questions. Questions in Sections B and C will be based on business contexts given in the paper.

Autumn Term

Topic 7 – Carbon Chemistry

  • Crude Oil Fractional Distillation
  • Properties of Fractions
  • Cracking
  • Alkanes and Alkenes
  • Reaction of Alkenes (Triple Chemistry only)
  • Alcohols, Carboxylic Acids, Esters (Triple Chemistry only)
  • Addition, Condensation Polymers and DNA (Triple Chemistry only)

Spring Term

Topic 8 – Earth’s Materials

  • Evolution of the Atmosphere
  • Climate Change
  • Renewable Resources
  • Water Treatment
  • Life Cycle Analysis
  • Material Properties (Triple Chemistry only)
  • Nitrogen Fertilizers (Triple Chemistry only)

Summer Term

Revision and review

Autumn Term

Unit 3: Performance in a Duo/Group (20%)

Unit: 2 Set Dance (20%)

Spring Term

Unit 1: Critical Appreciation of Dance (20%)

Preparation for the one-hour written examination which is based on two professional dance works studied on the course.

Students will understand the physical, aesthetic and artistic contexts of the professional dance works. They will be required to compare and contrast works, styles and cultural influences and reflect on their own performance and choreographic work.

Summer Term

Students will conduct final preparations and rehearsals for their performances for the moderator. Final revision sessions will take place for the written exam (Unit 1).

GCSE Design and Technology – exam board Edexcel

Summer Term (roll up to Year 11)

Half Term 1 (June to July)

Component 2: Non-examined assessment (Investigate)

The students start the non-examined assessment unit (previously referred to as coursework). The contexts for this unit are issued by the exam board (Edexcel) and change each year. Each student will select a design context. The students analyse their chosen design context to identify the potential user groups and assess their needs. The students will research relevant existing products, materials and other information to help inform their design work. Finally, the students will write a design problem, design brief and a design specification.

Non-examined assessment deadline this H/T: All sections up to and including the design specification.

Autumn Term

Half Term 2 (September to October)

Component 2: Non-examined assessment (Design)

The students use their findings from their research to produce a range of design ideas that meet the specification and the user’s needs. Students will use a range of drawing techniques to present their ideas. The students may conduct further relevant research. Finally, students will start to develop a chosen design idea or elements of their design ideas into a final design proposal.

Non-examined assessment deadline this H/T: Design ideas and design idea review.

Half Term 3 (November to December)

Component 2: Non-examined assessment (Design)

The students continue to develop their chosen design into final prototype. Students are encouraged to take an iterative approach to designing by modelling and testing to continually improve their design through a process of identifying and eliminating problems and weaknesses in their work. The designing section of the project concludes by planning the manufacture and materials requirements for the project.

During this half term, students will sit their mock examination.

Non-examined assessment deadline this H/T: Designing section completed and materials requirements finalised.

Spring Term

Half Term 4 (January to February)

Component 2: Non-examined assessment (Make)

Students dedicate this term to the manufacture and realisation of the final prototype. Students will need to independently select and use suitable tools and equipment and workshop techniques. Practical work needs to be manufactured with skill and accuracy.

Half Term 5 (February to April)

Component 2: Non-examined assessment (Evaluate)

Students conclude the manufacture of their prototype. The final section of the non-examined assessment is concerned with the testing and evaluation of the final prototype. The last task for the non-examined assessment is the compiling and printing of the final design folders ready for sending to the external moderator.

Final preparations for the final examination. Revision sessions and exam question practice.

Non-examined assessment deadline this H/T: Final deadline for all sections of the non-examined assessment.

Summer Term

Half Term 6 (April to May)

Component 1

Final preparations for the final examination. Revision sessions and exam question practice.

Autumn Term

Component 2: Performance Exam (20%)

Rehearsals in groups will continue during lesson time. The teacher will structure this process with regular show-back of rehearsed work, character exploration tasks, improvised acting tasks, etc.

Component 3: Written Exam (40%)

Students will continue to explore and study the set text, DNA by Dennis Kelly. This will involve study of the text, practical exploration, practice questions, quizzes, etc. Students will be expected to complete tasks during lesson time and for homework. Extra revision sessions will take place from half term onwards.

Component 1: Devising (40%)

Students will receive the marked first draft of the portfolio and have the opportunity to improve this work. The final submission will happen before Christmas. This work will then be sent to the exam board for external moderation. The results of this component will be given to students by the exam board in August along with the exam results (Components 2 and 3).

Spring Term

Component 2: Performance Exam (20%)

Students will continue rehearsals and preparations for their performance exam which must take place before the end of March. The visiting examiner will contact us to negotiate a date which will be mutually suitable. We will let you know when this date is at the earliest possible opportunity. Extra rehearsals outside of lesson time (lunchtimes and after school) will continue.

Component 3: Written Exam (40%)

We will arrange a theatre visit to enable students to prepare for this element of the written exam (worth a quarter of the marks). Class time will be allocated to the evaluation of the production, practice questions and exam technique.

Students will complete a full mock exam which will assess their ability to evaluate live theatre, and their understanding of the set text, DNA by Dennis Kelly. Preparation work will continue in class and during revision sessions. This will include practice questions, practical and written exploration, short quizzes and tests.

Summer Term

Component 3: Written Exam (40%)

Students will complete the final preparations for their Component 3 written exam. This will involve revision sessions outside of school

Autumn Term

Students will build on their reading and writing skills by studying a range of 20th- and 21st-century texts to enable them to identify: how the writers use language and structure to engage the reader; evaluate how authors create a specific mood through their use of setting, ideas, events and themes; make links across 20th- and 21st-century texts.

Students will also develop their speaking and listening skills in preparation for a presentation on a topic of their choice. They will learn how to: articulate experience and express what is thought, felt and imagined; present facts, ideas and opinions in a sustained, cohesive order; communicate clearly, fluently and purposefully as an individual and in dialogue with other speakers; use register appropriate to audience and context; listen to and respond appropriately to the contributions of others.

Spring Term

Students will practise writing a range of transactional responses, including letters, speeches and articles. They will learn how to adapt their tone and vocabulary to suit specific audiences. There will also be a focus on using varied sentence types and functions for effect.

Summer Term

Finally, students will prepare for their forthcoming examinations (two in total) by revisiting Paper 1 and practising their imaginative writing skills, using an array of visual stimulus and short stories by a range of diverse authors. Students will develop imaginative writing skills to engage the reader and the skills to analyse and evaluate 19th-century fiction extracts.

Autumn Term

Students will then study Animal Farm by George Orwell or An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley. Students will be able to show an understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written. They will also learn how to use a range of contextual vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.

Spring Term

Students will then start a revision programme on the set texts as well as studying modern poetry for an unseen comparison of two poems in the final literature examination.

Summer Term

The revision programme for the set texts above will continue during this term. A more comprehensive plan will be available for students before Easter.

Autumn Term

Students will build on their portfolio of work, focusing on the development of a final piece for project two.

Spring Term

Students will embark on their (approx 9-week) preparation period for their Unit 2 project of work which is externally set by AQA. This is finalised by a 10-hour exam during which they will produce a final outcome. The exam will make up 40% of their overall grade. Students will hand in their preparatory work at the start of the 10 hour period (they will be allowed to refer to this work during the exam period).

Summer Term

Finally, students will revisit their portfolio work to complete and refine for deadline (Friday 24 April 2020).

Autumn Term

  • Global issues
  • The environment
  • Poverty/homelessness
  • Travel and tourism

Spring Term

  • My studies
  • Life at school/college
  • Education post-16
  • Jobs, career choices and ambitions

Summer Term

Revision and preparation for the examination

Autumn Term

Students will study the following topics.

Hazardous earth – Tectonics:  Students will complete this unit which they started in the summer term of Year 10.  They will learn about the following:

  • The earth’s layered structure, and how the physical properties of each layer are key to plate tectonics,
  • The different plate boundaries, each with characteristic volcanic and earthquake hazards
  • Tectonic hazards affect people, and are managed, differently at contrasting locations. Students will study the 2010 Haiti earthquake and then compare it to the Japanese Tohuku earthquake in 2011.

Students will then undertake a period of revision for their Component 2 – UK geographical issues mock which takes place in November. This will be followed up by exam feedback. 

Consuming Energy Resources: a study of renewable and non-renewable energy, its supply and demand, access and energy security issues, its sustainable use and management.

Hazardous Earth – Global atmospheric system: Students will learn how the world’s climate system functions and why it changes and how can this be hazardous for people. They will learn that the atmosphere operates as a global system which transfers heat around the Earth and this will link to their previous learning in Year 9 about climate change. 

Spring and Summer Term

Forests under threat: a detailed study of tropical rainforests and the taiga, looking at processes and interactions and issues related to their biodiversity and to their sustainable use and management

People and the biosphere: students will review this topic which was taught in Year 9.  The topic investigates why the biosphere is so important to human well-being and how humans use and modify it to obtain resources.

For the remainder of the year, students will undertake an extensive period of revision for the three components of their GCSE exam. 

Autumn Term

  • Marriage and partnership
  • Global issues, the environment
  • Charity/voluntary work
  • Technology in everyday life
  • Mock exam: writing paper
  • Mock exam: speaking

Spring Term

  • Poverty and homelessness
  • Mock exam: reading and listening

Summer Term

  • Revision for all skills

Autumn Term

Students will continue to develop and improve their work for the ‘Rebrand’ project, focusing on the development of a final graphic outcomes to conclude their coursework.

Spring Term

Students will embark on their 9-week (approx.) preparation period for their exam project (Unit 2), which is externally set by AQA. The exam project concludes with a 10-hour exam during which they will produce a final outcome. The exam will make up 40% of their overall grade. Students will hand in their preparatory work at the start of the 10-hour period (they will be allowed to refer to this work during the exam period).

Summer Term

Finally, students will revisit their portfolio work to complete and refine for deadline (Friday 24 April 2020).

OCR Cambridge National in Health and Social Care (exam board: OCR)

In Year 10 students completed two units of work:

  • Unit R021: Essential values of care for use with individuals in care setting – Assessed via external exam, set by exam board (25% – 60 marks)
  • Unit R022: Communicating and working with individuals in health, social care and early years settings – Assessed via centre-assessed coursework (25% – 60 marks)

Two remaining units are completed in Year 11 (50%). The units of study are:

  • Unit R025: Understanding life stages – Assessed via centre-assessed coursework (25% – 60 marks)
  • Unit R031: Using basic first aid procedures – Assessed via centre-assessed coursework (25% – 60 marks)

Students will continue to develop a range of study skills in order to produce coursework for internal assessment. Students are assessed throughout the course via different methods of assessment including:

  • Presentations
  • Reports
  • Factsheets
  • Practical Analysis
  • Posters
  • Leaflets
  • Role play scenarios

Autumn Term

R025: Understanding life stages

Students investigate the main changes that occur during each stage of life and how they may affect the care requirements of individuals. They apply the knowledge they have gained to develop appropriate support plans for individuals at different stages of life.

Spring Term

R031: Using basic first aid procedures

Students find out about basic first aid procedures that might be required in a health or social care setting*, including how to carry out basic first aid on adults. They learn how to assess the scene of an accident for further risks and what information they need to communicate when contacting the emergency services.

* Note: This unit is NOT a certified First Aid course and students will not be qualified in First Aid on completion.

Summer Term

Students will complete Unit R031: First Aid and ensure all work is prepared for external moderation.

Students’ marks from four units of work (two units from Year 10 and two units from Year 11) are combined to give an overall grade for the health and social care course.

External Moderation – June

Autumn/Spring Term

Paper 2: Shaping the Nation

Section A: Britain: Power and the People c1170 to the Present Day

This thematic study will enable you to gain an understanding of the development of the relationship between the citizen and the state in Britain over a long period of time. It considers the causes, scale, nature and consequences of protest to that relationship. By charting the journey from feudalism and serfdom to democracy and equality, it reveals how, in different periods, the state responds to challenges to its authority and their impact. It allows students to construct an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of the citizen. Students will have the opportunity to see how ideas, events or developments in the wider world affected the course of Britain’s political development and will promote the idea that ideas of authority, challenge and rights did not develop in isolation, but these developments should be seen in terms of how they affected Britain and British people.

Part One: Challenging Authority and Feudalism

  • Constraints on kingship: the barons’ dissatisfaction with King John’s rule and its resolution; Magna Carta, its terms and its short and long term impact.
  • The origins of parliament: issues between King Henry III and his barons; the role of Simon de Montfort; the Provisions of Oxford and the Parliament of 1265 and their short and long term impact.
  • Medieval revolt and royal authority: the social, economic and political causes of the Peasants’ Revolt; actions by rebels and government; impact of the Peasants’ Revolt.

Part Two: Challenging Royal Authority

  • Popular uprisings against the Crown: the social, economic, religious and political causes of the Pilgrimage of Grace; the implications for royal authority; Henry VIII and his government’s reaction and the impact of the uprising.
  • Divine Right and parliamentary authority: the causes of the English Revolution; the New Model Army and the development of political radicalism during the Civil War era; the short and long term impact of the English Revolution, including significance of trial and execution of Charles I, and Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth.
  • Royal authority and the right to representation: the causes of the American Revolution including the relationship between the government and people; impact and significance of the American Revolution.

Part Three: Reform and Reformers

  • The extension of the franchise: radical protest; the Great Reform Act, causes and impact, including further reform; Chartism, causes, actions and impact.
  • Protest and change: campaigning groups and their methods and impact, including the Anti-Slavery movement; the Anti-Corn Law League; factory reformers; social reformers.
  • Workers movements: the development of trade unionism and its impact, including Grand National Consolidation Trades Union (GNCTU), Tolpuddle Martyrs, New Model Unions and new unionism, including the match girls’ and dockers’ strikes.

Part Four: Equality and Rights

  • Women’s rights: the campaign for women’s suffrage, reasons, methods and responses; role of individuals, including the Pankhursts; the reasons for the extension of the franchise and its impact; progress towards equality in the second half of the 20th century.
  • Minority rights: the development of multi-racial society since the Second World War; discrimination, protest and reform; the Brixton Riots, their impact, including the Scarman Report.

Summer Term

Section B: Restoration England 1660–1685

This option allows you to study in depth the restoration of the monarchy. The study will focus on the major aspects of Charles II’s reign considered from economic, religious, political, social and cultural standpoints of this period and arising contemporary and historical controversies. This unit will give you an excellent insight into the crown and court life, what life was like for the general public and finally examine warfare from the period.

Part One: Crown, Parliament, Plots and Court Life

  • Crown and Parliament: the legacy of the English Civil War and Commonwealth; the restoration of the monarchy; the succession issue; relations and issues with Parliament, finance and religion; the Cabal and ‘Party Politics’; rule without Parliament from 1681.
  • The Catholic question: plots, including Titus Oates and the Popish Plot anf the Rye House Plot; the Exclusion Bill, 1979; James, Duke of York.
  • Charles II’s court: Charles II’s character; court life, fashions and the role of the court.

Part Two: Life in Restoration England

  • Crisis: Great Plague of 1665; causes and contemporary views; measures to combat; records; results; Fire of London of 1666; causes and contemporary views; results and reconstruction.
  • Restoration culture: Restoration comedy, theatres and playwrights; the role and status of women; coffee houses; Charles II’s patronage of the arts and sciences, including the Royal Society; Samuel Pepys; architecture and design, including Christopher Wren.

Part Three: Land, Trade and War

  • Land: the powers of the East India Company; Bombay; Hudson Bay; Tangier; Captain Henry Morgan and Jamaica.
  • Trade: mercantilism; the Navigation Acts and their impact; slave trade.
  • War: English sea power; naval warfare, including tactics and technology; conflict with the Dutch, including the Second and Third Dutch Wars; relations with Spain and France.

Part Four: The Historic Environment of Restoration England

Revision

  • Revision of the topics studied and overviews completed in class. Students will also undertake examination questions in class as part of their practice prior to their summer examinations.

Cambridge Nationals Creative iMedia (exam board: OCR)

Autumn Term

R081 – Pre-Production Skills

This unit of this course will enable students to understand pre-production skills used in the creative and digital media sector. It will develop their understanding of the client brief, time frames, deadlines and preparation techniques that form part of the planning and creation process.

This unit is assessed by an external exam in January, with a resit opportunity in June.

Internal Assessment: mock December

Spring Term

R085 – Creating a multipage website

On completion of this unit, students will be able to explore and understand the different properties, purposes and features of multipage websites, plan and create a multipage website and review the final website against a specific brief.

Internal Assessments: a range of coursework submission deadlines across the term

External Assessment: R081– January (results end of March)

Summer Term

R085 – Creating a multipage website

Completion of this unit, including final improvements.

R081 – Pre-Production Skills

Recap and revision for any students needing to resit the external assessment.

Internal assessment: final submission for R085 (May)

External assessment: resit for R081 (June)

Autumn Term

Pupils are nearly at the stage where they are finishing the GCSE course. Therefore all of their assessments will be full AQA linear papers. Pupils will be doing a paper every four weeks.

The foundation classes will cover:
Working with 3D shapes, Loci, Pythagoras theorem, trigonometry, collecting data, representing data, scatter graphs, time series graphs and averages.

The higher classes will cover:
Vectors, data collection, scatter graphs, histograms, time series graphs, averages and probability

Spring Term

Pupils will be continuing with linear papers and most will be either finished or nearly finishing the GCSE course.

The foundation classes will cover:
Working with probability, then revision.

The higher classes will cover:
Cumulative frequency, reviewing probability and then revision.

Summer Term

This term we will be preparing for the exam with past papers and revision in class.

The foundation and higher classes will cover revision topics.

Autumn Term

We tackle the last two set works: Release and Samba Em Preludio, with constant reminders of the previous set works. Students should now be secure in applying terminology to unfamiliar pieces as well, as this is part of the final exam (indeed several of the Year 10 tests will have set the path for this). Students should also be able to use unfamiliar pieces to compare use of musical elements such as harmony, melody, rhythm to pieces they have studied.

Importantly, the exam board will have released the Composition 2 brief and students will look at their previous exercises to see if one can be tailored to the brief. If not, then a brand new piece will be started from a choice of four briefs.

We record the solo pieces in November, and start to polish the ensemble pieces. Most students will be playing duets as the best way to achieve the right balance of difficulty for each part.

Students must have chosen and begun this much earlier, and pianists will normally be accompanying an experienced student on one of two suggested pieces. They are welcome to choose their own pieces, but this can be much harder than they imagine.

Spring Term

Revision is in constant progress by now, with multiple starter activities to refresh the older set works. There is a full mock listening exam.

Students must have recorded their ensemble performances by the end of term. The end of term is the deadline also for handing in both completed compositions.

Summer Term

Finally, students revise all eight set pieces, concentrating on exam techniques. Much progress can be made with the right revision guide and support materials. Frequent listening to the set works is vital, and a healthy attitude to this is behind every success.

The listening exam is around the final week before half term.

Autumn Term

Half Term 1 (September – October)

Unit 1 and Unit 2 are tidied up and any missing sections completed.

Unit 3 is the focus for this year. It requires students to create a new piece of performance work in groups to a brief that the exam board releases in January.

We introduce the unit and explain the marking procedure (externally marked and divided into practical and written tasks)

Students are trained in the concept of creating/devising original work from a stimulus. This is broken down into many practical lessons on how to avoid certain pitfalls, how to keep notes for the exam, and how to make sure they have active roles in the process as well as the final product.

Half Term 2 (November – December)

Students continue to work on very short creative tasks and longer tasks which culminate in a mock task in the spring. We also talk through the three online tasks that form the written tasks for this external unit.

Spring Term

Half Term 3 (January – February)

Students are given a mock task for completion (from a realistic exam type stimulus) and feedback is given on the success of this task. Students will also start to prepare notes for the written tasks. These notes are allowed to be taken into these tests, according to a strict set of rules.

Half Term 4 (March – April)

Students work on the real brief from the exam board, putting into practice the training for note-taking and making sure that they contribute to ideas and rehearsals as this gives them evidence for their written papers. They should also create a varied list of skilled practitioners in a wide range of roles, so that they can directly comment on their own work compared to professional examples in their written papers.

Summer Term

Half Term 5 (April – May)

The formal external exams are sat and students have a dress rehearsal followed by a formal and externally assessed performance of their creative work. Attendance throughout the course is vital for group work, but never more so than in the preparation for this creative performance.

Half Term 6 (May – July)

This course is completed by the deadline of 15th May, leaving some time for revising other subjects.

Autumn Term

As part of the Core PE Programme students will complete units of work, building on the skills and knowledge developed as part of the Year 10 programme.

Girls and Boys

  • Netball/Basketball
  • Hockey
  • Rugby
  • Table Tennis

In these activities students will continue to develop their knowledge and understanding of the rules of the activity, as well as working to extend and develop their level of skill and tactical game play. Students will continue to develop their leadership skills from Year 10, taking a variety of roles within the lesson. Students will complete an internal assessment at the end of each unit of work.

Spring Term

As part of the Core PE Programme students will complete units of work, building on the skills and knowledge developed as part of the Year 10 programme.

Girls and Boys

  • Football
  • Trampolining
  • Fitness
  • Volleyball

In these activities students will continue to develop their knowledge and understanding of the rules of the activity, as well as working to extend and develop their level of skill and tactical game play. Students will continue to develop their leadership skills from Year 10, and may deliver a full session. Students will complete an internal assessment at the end of each unit of work.

Summer Term

Students will complete their PE programme by refining their skills in summer activities.

Girls and Boys

  • Cricket/Rounders/Long Ball
  • Athletics
  • Frisbee
  • Tennis

In these activities students will continue to develop their knowledge and understanding of the rules of the activity, as well as working to extend and develop their level of skill and tactical game play. Students will continue to develop their leadership skills from Year 10, and may deliver a full session. Students will complete an internal assessment at the end of each unit of work.

GCSE Physical Education (exam board: OCR)

A student’s GCSE PE overall grade is made up from three components:

Students will complete three theory and two practical PE lessons per fortnight. In practical lessons students will cover a range of sporting activities and be assessed against specific criteria. This will provide evidence towards Component 03: Performance in physical education (NEA). Students will use their performance grade of three activities taken from the two approved lists* (one from the ‘individual’ list/one from the ‘team’ list/one other from either list)

In Year 11 students study Component 02: Socio-cultural issues and sports psychology. This includes three key topic overviews:

2.1 Socio-cultural influences

2.2.a. Engagement patterns of different social groups in physical activities and sports

2.1.b. Commercialisation of physical activity and sport

2.1.c. Ethical and socio-cultural issues in physical activity and sport

2.2 Sports psychology

2.3 Health, fitness and well-being

During the course, students will study the controlled assessment – Analysing Performance Task worth 10% of their final grade.

During the summer term of Year 11, students will prepare for the final external exams and practical moderation in the summer term.

External Examination – May/June

External Practical Sports Moderation – April

Autumn Term

Students will learn about forces, including vectors, Newton’s Laws of Motion, speed, velocity and acceleration.

Spring Term

Students will complete their study of forces. They will then move on to the topic of magnets and electromagnets.

Summer Term

Finally, students will learn about space physics, including the solar system, the life-cycle of stars and the big bang theory, before revising and completing past papers in preparation for their final exams.

PSHE: Programme of Study

The Government’s review of Personal, Social, Health and Economic education concluded in March 2013, stating that the subject would remain non-statutory and that no new programmes of study would be published. The Department for Education (DfE) has, however, stated in section 2.5 of the national curriculum framework that ‘All schools should make provision for personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE), drawing on good practice’.

In the absence of a new programme of study from the DfE, the PSHE Association, in consultation with a wide variety of agencies and PSHE practitioners, has produced this programme of study based on the needs of today’s pupils and schools. The programme of study identifies the key concepts and skills that underpin PSHE education and helps schools to fulfil their statutory responsibility to support pupils’ spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development and prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life.

Subject Content

The three overlapping and linked ‘Core Themes’ are: (Health and Wellbeing, Relationships, Living in the Wider World).

It is important to recognise that many decisions about both health and lifestyle are made in a social context or are influenced by the attitudes, values and beliefs of significant others.

While factual knowledge is of course very important, schools have limited curriculum time and we therefore recommend that co-ordinators use local data and their knowledge of their own pupils’ needs, to prioritise the topics that are most relevant to their pupils.

Copyright PSHE Association 2013

Core Theme 1: Health & Wellbeing

Students have the opportunity to learn:

  • to evaluate the extent to which their self-confidence and self-esteem are affected by the judgments of others
  • to make effective use of constructive feedback and differentiating between helpful feedback and unhelpful criticism
  • the characteristics of emotional and mental health and the causes, symptoms and treatments of some mental and emotional health disorders (including stress, anxiety and depression)
  • strategies for managing mental health including stress, anxiety, depression, self harm and suicide, and sources of help and support
  • where and how to obtain health information, advice and support (including sexual health services)
  • to take increased responsibility for monitoring their own health (including testicular and breast self-examination)
  • how lifestyle choices affect a foetus
  • about STIs, including HIV/AIDS, how to protect themselves and others from infection and how to respond if they feel they or others are at risk
  • to recognize and manage feelings about, and influences on, their body image including the media’s portrayal of idealized and artificial body shapes
  • about health risks and issues related to this, including cosmetic procedures
  • how to recognise and follow health and safety procedures
  • how to find sources of emergency help and how to give basic and emergency first aid in appropriate contexts
  • about personal safety and protection, reducing risk and minimising harm in different settings (including social settings, the street, on roads and during travel)
  • the short and long-term consequences of substance use and misuse for the health and mental and emotional wellbeing of individuals, families and communities, including the health risks related to second-hand smoke
  • understand the terms ‘habit’, ‘dependence’ and ‘addiction’ in relation to substance use and to whom to talk if they have concerns
  • the wider risks and consequences of legal and illegal substance use including on their personal safety, career, relationships and future lifestyle

Core Theme 2: Relationships

Students have the opportunity to learn:

  • strategies to manage strong emotions and feelings
  • the characteristics and benefits of positive, strong, supportive, equal relationships
  • parenting skills and qualities and their central importance to family life (including the implications of young parenthood)
  • to recognise when a relationship is unhealthy or abusive (including the unacceptability of both emotional and physical abuse or violence including rape) and strategies to manage this or get help
  • managing changes in personal relationships including the ending of relationships
  • to develop an awareness of exploitation, bullying and harassment in relationships (including the unique challenges posed by online bullying and the unacceptability of physical, emotional, sexual abuse in all types of teenage relationships, including in group settings such as gangs) and how to respond
  • about the concept of consent in relevant, age-appropriate contexts building on Key Stage 3
  • about impact of domestic abuse (including sources of help and support)
  • the impact of separation, divorce and bereavement on families and the need to adapt to changing circumstances
  • about statutory and voluntary organisations that support relationships experiencing difficulties or in crisis, such as relationship breakdown, separation, divorce, or bereavement
  • how to access such organisations and other sources of information, advice and support
  • about diversity in sexual attraction and developing sexuality, including sources of support and reassurance and how to access them
  • how to negotiate the agreement, or withholding of consent, to engage in different degrees of sexual activity
  • how to ascertain and respect others’ right to agree or withhold consent to engage in different degrees of sexual activity
  • to recognise the impact of drugs and alcohol on choices and sexual behaviour
  • to manage unwanted attention in a variety of contexts (including harassment and stalking)
  • to understand and respect others’ faith and cultural expectations concerning relationships and sexual activity
  • to assess readiness for sex
  • about accessing and the correct use of contraception, negotiating condom use, reinforcing and building on learning in Key Stage 3
  • to understand the consequences of unintended pregnancy and of teenage parenthood (in the context of learning about parenting skills and qualities and their importance to family life)
  • the reasons why parents choose to adopt or to place children for adoption
  • about abortion, including the current legal position and the range of beliefs, opinions and myths about it
  • the pathways available in the event of unintended pregnancy, the possible physical and emotional reactions and responses people may have to each option and who to talk to for accurate, impartial advice and support
  • that fertility decreases with age
  • to understand the role of sex in the media and its impact on sexuality (including pornography and related sexual ethics such as consent, negotiation, boundaries, respect, gender norms, sexual ‘norms’, trust, communication, pleasure, orgasms, rights, empowerment, sexism, feminism)
  • the role peers can play in supporting one another (including helping vulnerable friends to access reliable, accurate and appropriate support)

Core Theme 3: Living in the Wider World

Students have the opportunity to learn:

  • to evaluate their own personal strengths and areas for development and to use this to inform goal setting
  • about the unacceptability of all forms of discrimination, and the need to challenge it in the wider community including the workplace
  • to think critically about extremism and intolerance in whatever forms they take
  • to recognise the shared responsibility to protect the community from violent extremism and how to respond to anything that causes anxiety or concern
  • about harassment and how to manage this (including the workplace)
  • how their strengths, interests, skills and qualities are changing and how these relate to future employability
  • about the information, advice and guidance available to them and how to access it
  • to further develop study and employability skills (including time management, self-organisation and presentation, project planning, team-working, networking and managing online presence)
  • about the range of opportunities available to them for career progression, including in education, training and employment
  • about changing patterns of employment (local, national, European and global)
  • to take full advantage of any opportunities for work experience that are available
  • about rights and responsibilities at work (including their roles as workers, and the roles and responsibilities of employers and unions)
  • about attitudes and values in relation to work and enterprise (including terms such as ‘customer service’ and ‘protecting corporate or brand image’)
  • about confidentiality in the workplace, when it should be kept and when it might need to be broken
  • to develop their career identity, including how to maximise their chances when applying for education or employment opportunities
  • to recognise and manage the influences on their financial decisions, (including managing risk, planning for expenditure, understanding debt and gambling in all its forms)
  • to be a critical consumer of goods and services (including financial services) and recognise the wider impact of their purchasing choices
  • their consumer rights and how to seek redress

Autumn Term

Week 1–7: Muslim Beliefs

Week 8–15: Crime and Punishment [Christianity and Islam]

Spring Term

Week 1–7: War and Peace [Christianity and Islam]

Week 8–11: Muslim Practices part 2

Summer Term

Week 1–4: Revision

Week 5: GCSE Examinations

Autumn Term

  • Context 1 review/completion
  • Foundation mock exam: reading and listening
  • Home and Environment (home and local area)

Spring Term

  • Work and Education – school, college and future plans
  • Work and Education – current and future jobs

Summer Term

  • Revision for Reading and Listening exams

OCR Cambridge National in Sport Science (exam board: OCR)

In Year 10 students completed two units of work:

Unit R041: Reducing the Risk of Sports Injuries – assessed via external exam (25% – 60 marks)

Unit R042: Applying Principles of Training – assessed via coursework (25% – 60 marks)

Two remaining units are completed in Year 11 (50%). The units of study are:

  • Unit R046: Technology in Sport– assessed via coursework (25% – 60 marks)
  • Unit R045: Sports Nutrition– assessed via coursework (25% – 60 marks)

Autumn Term

Students will start the OCR Sport Course by starting Unit R046: Technology in Sport. Students will continue to develop a range of study skills from the Year 10 Sport course in order to produce coursework for internal assessment.

Students will continue to be assessed throughout the course via different methods of assessment including:

  • Presentations
  • Reports
  • Factsheets
  • Practical Analysis
  • Posters
  • Leaflets
  • Role play scenarios

Unit R046: Technology in Sport includes the following learning outcomes:

  • How technology is used in sport
  • Understand the positive effects of sports technology
  • Understand the negative effects of sports technology
  • Be able to evaluate the impact of technology in sport

Spring Term

Students will complete Unit R046: Technology in Sport at the start of the Spring Term and then start the final unit of work, Unit R045: Sports Nutrition.

Unit R045: Sports Nutrition has the following learning outcomes:

  • Know about the nutrients needed for a healthy, balanced diet
  • Understand the importance of nutrition in sport
  • Know about the effects of a poor diet on sports performance and participation
  • Be able to develop a diet plan for performers

Summer Term

Students will complete Unit R045: Sports Nutrition and ensure all work is prepared for external moderation.

Students’ marks from four units of work (two units from Year 10 and two units from Year 11) are combined to give an overall grade for the Sport course.

External Moderation – June

Autumn Term

Students will build on their portfolio of work, focusing on the development of a final piece for project two (‘Sea Life’).

Spring Term

All students will be issued with their GCSE paper, handed out on the first teaching day of January. The paper consists of approximately 7 titles. Students will chose one of these as their starting point and complete a whole project based on this. Students will sit a ten-hour exam spread over a two-week period, in which they will independently complete a final outcome for their chosen exam. The exam will make up 40% of their overall grade. Students will hand in their preparatory work at the start of the 10-hour period (they will be allowed to refer to this work during the exam period).

Summer Term

Finally, students will finish off and present their coursework in a portfolio selecting the strongest and most thorough work for external assessment (deadline Friday 24 April 2020).