KS4 Options Booklet 2020 - Blatchington Mill

Page 9For those considering studying at universityThose considering the possibility of studying at university need to be aware of the entry requirements forthe courses they may wish to study. These can be looked at using the UCAS information website, inconjunction with individual university websites. Clearly, a student hoping to study for a degree in Art needsto take Art at A Level and to do this, they need to select it as one of their GCSE options in Key Stage 4.Many students may have the ambition to study at university, but may have little idea at present as toexactly what. Anybody in this position needs to select subjects now which offer breadth and balance intheir curriculum. Some useful advice on A Level choices (many of which will be dependent upon havingstudied the subject at Key Stage 4) is available from The Russell Group on a website called “InformedChoices” https://www.informedchoices.ac.uk/. The Russell Group is an association of the top 20universities in the country and their advice is aimed at students hoping to study for a degree at one of theuniversities in the group. The website is a helpful tool for both students who have a clear idea of thecourses they might like to take and for those who aim to attend a good university but are unsure of theirparticular focus of study.The Russell Group previously described some subjects at A Level as Facilitating Subjects. This information isuseful for those unsure of what they might like to study at university or even in Years 12 and 13. Facilitatingsubjects at A Level include: Mathematics and Further Mathematics English (Literature) Physics Biology Chemistry Geography History Languages (Classical and Modern)This does not diminish the value and importance of other courses.Students with an interest in a particular subject should still take it alongside others which provide breadthand balance to their curriculum. Students not wishing to attend university can decide for themselves howimportant “Informed Choices” is to them.Some colleges are reluctant and others will not allow students onto an A Level course without them havingstudied the subject at GCSE previously. Please note, however, that the individual Science subjects listed canall be taken at A Level by students who have studied Combined Science in Years 10 and 11.“Informed Choices” includes typical entry requirements for degree courses. It does this in terms ofcompulsory and recommended A Level qualifications. Students interested in applying for courses atuniversity should take time now to look the entry requirements of different degree courses to satisfythemselves of the appropriateness of their Key Stage 4 choices.Where, however, a student is unsure about or has many ideas of possible careers, they should select abroad range of courses to ‘keep their options open’. Combining a mix of subjects should not close anydoors to later study and will provide a varied Key Stage 4 curriculum. And of course taking a subject theyreally enjoy, even if they don’t see it as being a potential career route is always a good idea.BMS / AC / Curriculum / Options 2016-17 / Options Booklet - Full Printed Version.Updated last 14/01/2020.

Page 10For those considering apprenticeshipsThere are now a wide range of apprenticeship opportunities for students too. These range from level 2 todegree level equivalents and enable students to start in the workplace from any time after the age of 16,learning the job as they go along, and getting paid for it. Many apprenticeships are competitive to secure soit is worth students investigating the requirements of different types of apprenticeship if this is a route theymay be interested in.The official government website for apprenticeships is here: pprenticeshipsChanging courses laterStudents must be aware that it is difficult and often impossible to change choices once the courses havestarted in September. If a particular course is full and a student requests moving onto it, this will not bepossible.Dropping subjectsAll students are expected to complete every course they start. Students will not be allowed to dropcourses. It is essential therefore when selecting courses that students read the subject overview carefully,talk to teachers and opt for subjects which will support their career aspirations as well as interest them.We will make every effort to ensure students get the courses they select. There are times, however, whenanother choice is offered in place of the selected first choice, which is why we are asking all students toselect two reserve choices. Students and their parents/carers will always be consulted in thesecircumstances.BMS / AC / Curriculum / Options 2016-17 / Options Booklet - Full Printed Version.Updated last 14/01/2020.

Page 11Making your choices - Advice for studentsThings to do Take your time.If you rush you could end up making choices you’ll regret. Listen to advice.There are many people who are able to talk the decision over with you, including your parents orcarers, subject teachers, form tutors, senior leaders and the careers advisor. Think about the following.What you might want to do in the future as a career.What skills and qualities you’ll need to have for your career when you’re older.What you might want to do at sixth form collegeWhat you won’t be able to do in the future if you don't choose certain subjects now.What your preferred way of learning is; are you better with practical courses or very academic ones?What you like studying now, what you enjoy and what you’re good at.Things not to do Don't get worried.If something is unclear, ask for help and advice. Don't choose subjects because your friends do.You will probably not end up in the same class.Your friends may be much better / worse at the subject than you are.You may not stay friends!Important dates to remember: Wednesday 5 February 2020 – Online Options form to be completedAfter Easter 2020 – Subject choices confirmed for studentsSeptember 2020 – Students start Key Stage 4 coursesBMS / AC / Curriculum / Options 2016-17 / Options Booklet - Full Printed Version.Updated last 14/01/2020.

Page 12How to log in and complete the online options formStudent instructions to log in to Options online1. Log in to the SIMs app (as you usually do to access homework). If you’re not sure how to do this fulldetails are on our website under ‘Quick Links for Parents’.2. Click on ‘SIMS OPTIONS’3. Make your choices as shown below:Click the name of thesubject you wish to choose– it’ll turn blue to showyou’ve picked it.Click this button if you want to takethe Higher Project QualificationBMS / AC / Curriculum / Options 2016-17 / Options Booklet - Full Printed Version.Updated last 14/01/2020.

Page 13Once you’ve made your choices fromthe main box they’ll be shown inorder of preference.Please make sure yours are in theorder that you would most like to takeeach subject.Please make sure you’ve completedyour reserve choices too.If you’ve been given the opportunity to takeTriple Science and Statistics and would like toplease click the button as shown in the boxbelow. If you don’t want to please let MrHaque know and we’ll change yourform.Parent instructions to log in to Options online1. Sign in to SIMS Parent (If you do not have a SIMS Parent account, emailparentcomms@blatchingtonmill.org.uk and we will email an invitation code to you)2. Click on OPTIONS3. Your child’s choices will be displayed (they will need to make their choices first before you canapprove them)4. Tick the Parent/Carer Approval box (bottom left of the screen)5. Please add any information you feel relevant in the comments areaBMS / AC / Curriculum / Options 2016-17 / Options Booklet - Full Printed Version.Updated last 14/01/2020.

Page 14Core SubjectsEnglish Language GCSE and English Literature GCSEEnglish - Year 10In the two years of KS4 students cover the set texts and skills that they will be required to know for theirGCSE English Language exam and GCSE English Literature exam. The structure of the course is designed sothat course content and skills are covered in Year 10, then revised, extended and practised throughout Y11.With all schemes of work we instruct students on the use of tier 2 and 3 vocabulary.We begin the GCSE course with creative writing. This mirrors personal writing at the start of KS3, andenables teachers to quickly assess the writing skills of the students; the first assessment builds on usingpictures to stimulate creative responses, while also pointing forward to the exam paper in the summer ofyear 11. It helps to build good relationships between students and staff alike, and uses passages from greatwriters such as Charles Dickens and Mary Shelley as inspiration. The accent is on crafting work; usingliterary devices to create effects, structuring and widening vocabulary.Next we read An Inspector Calls, which is always a popular text for our students. It is our modern text, andis well placed at this point in the course as the language is more accessible than later texts, so buildsstudent confidence. Its popularity stems in part from the important themes it broaches and its continuedrelevance. We examine gender and social inequality, as well as exploring the class system, capitalism,socialism, and patriarchy. The students are also taught to analyse how these ideas are presented throughthe author’s literary techniques and stagecraft. We also look at the differences in social and politicalattitudes between when the play was set and when it was first performed. Areas of the text such as theInspector’s final speech also point forward to reading and writing to persuade, delivered later in Language.We then move on to prepare the Relationships cluster of poetry, from the AQA Anthology. This unit ischosen as it enables students to empathise and connect with a variety of relationships and experiences,therefore giving students an insight into emotions as well as providing a literary experience. The poems aretaught thematically in two phases; the first are family based and the second on love. This order allowsstudents to see thematic links between the poems; significant as analysis of themes are valued in examanswers. The students build on their knowledge of poetic forms and techniques taught in KS3, and link theideas and feelings presented with a close reading of the text. A what/why/how focus encourages andreinforces these connections. We also emphasise comparison between poems and how they present theirthemes - a key exam skill.In the lead up to Christmas, students spend a short three week unit looking at how to approach the readingsection of English Language Paper 1. They focus on an extract from a literary text, and practise the skills ofclose reading analysis, exploring the effects of structure and evaluating a statement made about the text,using evidence. Students have practised these skills as writers in the opening creative writing unit so canlook at these texts from an insider’s perspective. This also follows on well from the study of the poemswhich also involves the close reading of individual words, and supports the memorisation of examtechnique when this exam is revisited in the mock at Christmas of year 11. The students are examined onthe 20 mark question of this paper in early January which requires them to recall the necessary knowledge.After Christmas we read Macbeth with the students as it has an intense focus on a few characters, it is acultural touchstone for further education, and it explores the themes of ambition, greed, violence, gender,faith and free will. It builds on cultural knowledge of patriarchy in Shakespeare covered in the Year 9 text,Romeo and Juliet. Students also have the opportunity to study one of the strongest and most interesting offemale literary characters in the language. Students explore the structure and language of the text, andBMS / AC / Curriculum / Options 2016-17 / Options Booklet - Full Printed Version.Updated last 14/01/2020.

Page 15analyse the effects of language and imagery by zooming in on key extracts after having read the playrelatively quickly in class. Due to the relative complexity of the language of the text, we spend more timeon it, completing our coverage by mid-March. Delivering Macbeth here allows students to extend theiranalysis of stagecraft having read An Inspector Calls. At this point we return to the Relationships cluster ofpoetry to complete delivery of the remaining poems, and analyse unseen ‘poetry’. By dividing up thedelivery of the poems, this strengthens the students’ memorisation of poetic techniques and their effects.To further promote memorisation, we interleave one of our five lessons per week to revisit skills andknowledge already delivered. In the first half term of the spring term, students work on creative andpersuasive writing skills once a week, while in the second half we interleave lessons in preparation forquestion 4 of both language papers.The summer term commences with AQA Language Paper 2 which explores Writers’ viewpoints andperspectives. Students develop their reading skills of inference, comparison (developing skills from thepoetry Scheme) and analysis of how writers create effects. Students will study 2 texts: one modern and onefrom the nineteenth century. We read two articles with the students: one describing a camp in Calais, theolder text describing one in Russia. This choice allows students to examine and empathise with the refugeeexperience. Students will revisit this paper in Year 11, refreshing their skills and knowledge.Year 10 ends with the study of our nineteenth century novel, A Christmas Carol. We chose this text as it canbe read in its entirety in class in a relatively short period of time, and combines linguistic challenge with astory students enjoy and tend to be familiar with. It links strongly in a thematic sense with An InspectorCalls as it addresses the important and contemporary theme of social justice, and with Macbeth, as bothtexts use the depiction of the supernatural as a device to transform a characters’ behaviour and outlook.We build a strong knowledge of plot, character and theme while reading, before focusing on close analysisof language and structure, while increasing the extent and challenge of analytical writing. We are looking tochange the order of the delivery of the three main texts to accommodate A Christmas Carol at a moreappropriate time of year.In the summer term we will interleave lessons on An Inspector Calls in the first half term, and in the secondhalf term we will interleave one lesson per week on Macbeth.English - Year 11By the start of year 11, students have covered all of the content of the four papers required for the examsin the summer. As they revise the knowledge and skills learned in year 10, the level of challenge increases,focusing on the higher order analytical skills needed for their GCSEs.One of the four exam papers is revised in successive half terms up until Easter which give students a clarityof purpose.The first nine weeks of the autumn term begin with a focus on the revision of the basics of Macbeth and AChristmas Carol for GCSE English Literature Paper 1. Students then study how to analyse exam questions bydeveloping a thesis, then deciding which parts of the text they will use to support their conceptualisedresponse. The what/how/why model for literary analysis is especially useful and is used to support studentsto link appropriate textual evidence to the ‘big ideas’ they will meet in GCSE exam questions. In betweenstudying these texts, students prepare their persuasive speech for the GCSE Speaking Endorsement. Thespeech is on a topic of their own choosing and allows them to explore and present subjects they arepassionate about. It is written in full first to allow practice for the Paper 2 writing task, before beingrecorded for the AQA sample.BMS / AC / Curriculum / Options 2016-17 / Options Booklet - Full Printed Version.Updated last 14/01/2020.

Page 16In the first half term we revisit skills and knowledge required for poetry once a week, and in the second welook at A Christmas Carol to support memorisation. From November we also run a GCSE revision club;useful for a range of students, but especially helpful for those who are well motivated but may lackconfidence.In the run up to Christmas students revise and prepare for Language Paper 1 and Literature Paper 1 mockexam, practising skills in reading and writing, and focusing on their exam technique. The weekly interleavedlessons here are on poetry in the first half term, and on the nineteenth century novel in the second.After Christmas, we concentrate on revising English Literature Paper 2, where the students cover AnInspector Calls, the Poetry cluster on Relationships and unseen poetry. As with Macbeth and A ChristmasCarol, we revise the basic building blocks of knowledge first before moving on to the higher order skills ofdeveloping a thesis, planning and creating a conceptualised response, while linking ‘big ideas’ with a closereading of key moments in the texts. The what/how/why approach is especially useful when answering onunseen poetry.In the second half of the spring term students finesse their reading and writing skills and knowledge forLanguage Paper 2. This builds on their work on the refugee paper in year 10 and allows further practice ofpersuasive writing taught in the autumn term. Both terms before Easter include a mock exam, meaningthat students have had the opportunity to experience each paper in full in year 11 and receive full feedbackfrom staff.In the summer term teaching staff revise for the GCSE exams for a final time with their students. Coverageis wide and staff target specific areas for deliberate practice based on student performance in the exams inYear 11.Our curriculum at Key Stage 4 is also flexible in that we offer AQA Step Up to English Silver or Gold awardsto students who might struggle to attain a GCSE in English. We also deliver the AQA Certificate course forstudents with severe learning difficulties in conjunction with the Learning Support Department.Early in the autumn term we run groups for students who are educationally disadvantaged, that is, selectedstudents in the lower 10% in the ra

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