GCSE Curriculum.

We are moving forward towards becoming a local secondary school for local students. Our School Values will remain at the heart of Holywell whilst we deliver a high quality traditional curriculum with secondary subject specialists where every student is unique, known, safe and supported to be the best they can be.

Our Key Stage 3 curriculum will be in line with the national curriculum and our Key Stage 4 (Year 10 and 11) curriculum will include:

• Core subjects (–(English Language and Literature, Maths, Science)
• Core curriculum requirements: PE, PSHE/RSE, RE
• Optional subjects (GCSEs and Technicals) with the EBacc options available – a curriculum which is flexible to allow for student choice and specialisation

Over the last 3 years we have worked diligently towards developing our GCSE curriculum, all new staff in the last 4 years have deep GCSE knowledge and experience. We have selected our GCSE subjects and exam boards and have carefully planned our curriculum for all subjects for Year 10 and Year 11. As we have used a ‘top down’ (planning backwards from the Year 11 assessment expectations) our next step is to plan our Year 9 curriculum. All planning and preparation will be completed a year in advance to ensure staff focus on the students in Year 11 and time is used efficiently to ensure students achieve their best.

For each GCSE we have selected our exam board after visiting other schools and reviewing their curriculum. We have carefully considered job opportunities in the local job market needs. This approach ensures students are aware of potential career paths relevant to their local area and can make informed choices about their GCSEs, potentially leading to better post-16 pathways.

Our curriculum plans for Year 10 and Year 11 (Key Stage 4) can be accessed by clicking on the documents below.

GCSE Art Curriculum	GCSE Business Studies Curriculum	GCSE Combined and Triple Science Curriculum	GCSE Computing Curriculum
GCSE Design Technology Curriculum	GCSE English Literature & Language Curriculum	GCSE Geography Curriculum	GCSE History Curriculum
GCSE Hospitality & Catering Curriculum	GCSE Maths Curriculum	GCSE Modern Languages Curriculum	GCSE Music Curriculum
GCSE Performing Arts Curriculum	GCSE Physical Education Curriculum	GCSE Religious Studies Curriculum	GCSE Sports Studies Technical Curriculum

As shown in the Subject Curriculum Overviews, each unit of learning in every subject is broken down into specific learning aims. This gives us a clear understanding of what students need to know, as well as how to effectively teach the required knowledge, understanding, and skills. We reviewed how long we should spend on each topic in the course which is dependent on the marks that unit is worth within the whole GCSE. We have also carefully planned the timing of units across subjects. For example, in Science the students learn about Climate Change and Global Warming, in Geography we teach the same topic and have decided to teach it towards the end of Year 11 which supports the students with revision for Science and is time efficient for Geography.

We are very clear in our understanding of the assessments for all GCSE subjects, you can see the details of the assessments in the Subject Curriculum Overviews and in the prospectus which is coming in September. This year we have tracked our Year 7 students all the way through to Year 11 and the Target grades which they will have for each subject. We will discuss this with you in more detail in our Open Evening in September.