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Curriculum Newsletter

Reminders/Key dates:

Easter holiday 6 April - 17 April

Summer term 20 April - 17 July Parents’ Evening 28 and 30 January

Dance Trip 30 January

Class Photos 11 February

School Production 4 March - 7 March

MATHS

Pupils sat their mock exams in December and have received back their marked exam papers. Pupils have had the opportunity to review their work in class with their peers and their teachers. Generally, pupils make at least a grade improvement in the summer if they continue to apply themselves in lessons, attend revision sessions and spend time completing homework to a good standard. As part of the assessment process, we have collated the marks of pupils per question in the exams, and so we are able to identify the areas that pupils have struggled with and so this term our lessons are going to be tailored towards these areas of the mathematics syllabus.

We would like to use this opportunity to inform pupils, as well as parents / guardians that we are committed to do all we can to teach, guide and mentor our pupils to succeed. We are therefore expecting pupils to apply themselves diligently, in order to succeed.

ENGLISH

What are we doing this term? Pupils will continue to revise and develop exam skills using a spaced practice model, where they study a different element of the exam each lesson of the cycle. We will complete work to unpick the mock exams, looking in detail at pupils’ strengths and areas for improvements this term, along-side preparing them for a Paper 2 practice later in the final fortnight of half term. This will consist of the Non-Fiction paper for English Language and the ‘Animal Farm’/poetry paper for Literature. After half term, we will give pupils feedback on both papers and continue to hone and revise exam skills.

What can you do to support your child? Talk to them about ways of managing their stress - for many pupils, this will be one of the most stressful periods of their lives so far. The best way for them to manage this stress is by revising, little and often, starting from now. Encourage them to work through revision guides that they may have, and ensure that you check ‘Show My Homework’ regularly to support your child when deadlines are looming. Ask them about the exams they have sat - can they tell you where they went wrong? Do they know what they need to do differently next time?

Wider reading: At this stage, pupils should focus on re-reading their Literature texts (‘A Christmas Carol’, ‘Animal Farm’, ‘The Merchant of Venice’ and the ‘Power and Conflict’ poetry) and working through all of the revision material/analysis task sheets that they have been given in their English lessons.

SCIENCE

This is a very important time of year for Year 11 pupils in science. Pupils have now received their results from the mock

YEAR 11

examinations. Triple award pupils receive three grades, one for each of the three sciences. Double award pupils have had their scores for the three sciences combined – as happens in the final exams – with a set of two grades generated from this combined score.

Obviously all pupils will be keen to push themselves to achieve even higher grades for the final examinations and our work in the next few weeks will focus on developing understanding and improving examination technique. I would encourage all pupils in Year 11 to spend time revising for science but revising ‘smartly’ – remembering that active learning techniques such as doing past paper questions and making mind-maps are the best way to retain knowledge and develop confidence.

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Curriculum Newsletter

GEOGRAPHY

We are following the GCSE Geography (9-1) Edexcel A specification.

We continue our GCSE studies with: Component 2, Human Environment – Topic 5, Global Development, with a focus on India as an emerging economy. Pupils will learn about India’s location and context followed by a study of development within India, how this varies and why. Pupils will also learn about changes in economic sectors – together with the impacts of these – and how different types of aid are used and influence development of India. This is followed by study of population structure and how this is changing. The topic ends with learning about the effects of geopolitical relationships on India’s development together with how technology and India’s global links are enabling rapid development.

Following this, we will start Topic 6 – Resource Management. This will include a general study of natural resources, their distribution – globally and in the UK – together with global patterns of resource consumption. Pupils will study water as a resource in more detail; its availability globally and how and why use of water varies between developed, emerging and developing countries. The topic ends with a comparison of water use in the UK and China, learning, in particular, about sustainable water management.

Towards the end of term, we will start our study of ‘UK Challenges’ – which forms half of Paper 3. This work is focused entirely on the UK and demands that pupils use a wide range of prior learning - combining and applying this to consider challenges linked with resource consumption, transport development, economic inequality and migration together with management of national parks, coastal areas and climate change.

Together with working hard each and every lesson, pupils can support their progress and learning by: - revising regularly – both current work and that of last year - completing homework carefully and promptly

HISTORY

Our Year 11 GCSE pupils are completing their final topic – Warfare through Time and London during the Second World War. The key features in these topics is how British society has responded to, and been changed by the conflicts it has been involved in and how technological changes affect the development of the armed forces. Our London topic focuses on life in London and how London was changed by the Second World War.

ART

Pupils are now working on their externally set art exam. Pupils will finish their course with a 10 hour art exam from 25

th – 26

th March. Evidence of their research and

the development of ideas should be seen in their sketch-books. It would be beneficial for your child to visit local art galleries to collect relevant information about artists who may inform their work. MK Art Gallery and The Higgins in Bedford are well worth a visit. Do take time to look through your child’s sketchbook and discuss their ideas.

PE

In Key Stage 4 pupils, are given the opportunity to choose a focus for their lessons. Year 11 are able to choose between lessons with a focus on either competition or leadership. The boys who choose the competitive pathway will work on performance skills on a range of sports including volleyball and Frisbee but starting the new year with rugby. Similarly, the girls’ competitive pathway focuses on volleyball and Frisbee after work on table tennis. The leadership group will again have the opportunity to work with younger members of the school community as part of the curriculum. After completing units of work on leading OAA and dodgeball, they will lead sessions in gymnastics and football before moving onto basketball

and lacrosse.

MUSIC

Pupils have 5 lessons of music per fortnight and are linking listening, analysis, performance and composition. They are completing both their composition pieces for the OCR GCSE music Integrated and Practical components; these should be done by half-term and are due to be moderated in April. Pupils will also need to be working on their instrumental solo and ensemble pieces; these need to worked on in their spare time - at home, lunch times and after school. These will be recorded shortly after half-term.

After half term, pupils will be preparing for their final written exam and will need to attend revisions sessions as required.

Further learning/Ways to support this learning:

- Listen to examples of world music and attend concerts and gigs.

- Attend after school music revision sessions, tech workshops and lunchtime clubs when they are offered.

- Develop regular practice routines, complete all homework tasks and thoroughly prepare for listening tests.

- Continue to work on solo performances on their chosen instrument at home and book music practice rooms at school for lunchtime rehearsals.

Year 11

- using BBC Bitesize – GCSE Geography – Edexcel for regular revision - using Seneca – quiz platform - attending weekly revision sessions – Wednesdays 3.30pm - 4.30pm.

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DRAMA

Pupils are currently working on rehearsing their two extracts from a play in preparation for the Component 3 exam which will take place in March. This will be performed in front of an audience and live marked by a visiting AQA examiner. More information will be sent home via letter soon. Please encourage your child to book a rehearsal space at lunchtime or after school in the lead up to any assessed performances.

In addition to this, pupils will continue to work towards revising key concepts for the written exam, which is divided into three sections. Section A: The Theatre; Section B: Blood Brothers; Section C: Live Theatre Review, Come From Away.

To further embed knowledge, please encourage your child to watch theatre online at home via the internet (in particular Blood Brothers and Come From Away), or visit the theatre as a family - The Place Theatre in Bedford offers affordable prices for fantastic high-quality performances on our doorstep!

Hospitality and Catering

Well done to all pupils for completing their coursework last term. The practical exams were a real success and we look forward to the results.

This term, we will be completing the final two exam units. These are, AO2 ‘The operation of a kitchen’ and AO3 ‘Personal safety & responsibility’. Pupils should be revising all four exam units, in preparation for May. Revision cards are still available to purchase from finance at the cost of £2.50. The very first revision book for this course has also been newly released and can be purchased from Amazon. The book is by Hodder Education, my revision notes, WJEC Level ½ Vocational Award, Hospitality and Catering.

We will continue to cook throughout this term, ingredients lists will be available as usual via ‘Show My Homework’.

PSHCE

Personal, Social, Health, Citizenship and Economic.

Year 11 are currently looking at personal finance in PSHCE lessons.

Applications for college and sixth form places should be sent off as soon as possible. It is good to see interviews taking place and places being secured for our Year 11s’ Post 16 journey. Do look on our careers section on the school website:

http://castlenewnham.school/post-16-partners/ for information on careers and Post 16 options.

MFL

What are we doing this term? French Pupils will begin by discussing performance in the mock exam papers that took place last term, with a particular focus on writing strategies. They will then discuss aspects of working life and describe future aspirations. After half term, pupils will discuss environmental issues facing the planet and talk about ethical shopping. This term we will continue to prepare for the speaking test using the speaking and writing booklets; there are five booklets in total, and each one covers one of the five themes covered by the GCSE examination. The book-lets contain key structures and vocabulary for each topic, role play examples, picture-based discussion examples, suggested writing tasks and general conversation questions and answers. These booklets should form the basis of revision for the speaking and writing papers which constitute 25% each (that is, 50% in total) of the final GCSE grade.

In October we took 27 Year 10 and Year 11 pupils to Château Beaumont in northern France for four days of French language, French culture, sight-seeing and adventure activities. Some highlights from the trip included the quiz evening teamed up with French children and a boat trip on the River Seine in Paris!

Thank you to all those who joined us and helped make our trip a huge success.

German Pupils will begin by talking about aspects of working life and describe future aspirations. They will discuss job descriptions and applications, and then move on to describing their dream employment and the qualities they would need to do this role, including how learning an additional language might assist them. After half term, pupils will discuss environmental issues facing the planet and talk about how to be environmentally friendly, both at school and in the wider world. Towards the end of term, pupils will discuss the positive and negative impact of global sporting and music events.

Mr Demel and Miss Lorenz (our two exchange teachers from Bamberg, Bedford’s twin town in Germany) are

DT

Pupils will be working on their contextual challenge to complete their GCSE coursework.

Year 11

Local apprenticeship vacancies can be found below and apprenticeships relevant to our pupils should become available from May / June onwards:

https://www.bedford.gov.uk/jobs-and-careers/jobs-hub/apprenticeships/

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working alongside Miss Vandewyer in German lessons and providing lunchtime and after school support for those pupils who are keen to deepen their knowledge of German-speaking culture and the German language. They are also helping to prepare pupils for the speaking examination.

What can you do to support your child? Helping your child does not mean having to know French or German. Encouraging them to make links with English and other languages that they know will help them to guess what words mean. In order to achieve a good pass and the higher grades at GCSE level, that is, grades 5-9, it is essential that pupils have an understanding of verb usage, and of the past, present and future tenses. The most effective way to learn verbs and items of vocabulary is by practising, little and often. Some pupils prefer to use a vocabulary booklet, whilst others prefer to use free language learning websites such as Duolinguo and Memrise. Most pupils already have a Memrise account but we will be reminding pupils how to log on and access courses directly linked to GCSE preparation at home. For French, the five speaking and writing booklets should form the starting point of revision for the speaking and writing tests. These elements of the GCSE examination provide opportunities for self-expression and personalisation of the language, and thorough preparation for these exams will enable pupils to demonstrate the extent of their knowledge and guarantee them valuable marks.

Message from the

Vice Principal

I hope you have enjoyed the final curriculum newsletter for Year 11.

We look forward to seeing you all at the parents’ evenings coming up and hope you have already made appointments to talk with your child’s subject teachers.

We will be giving out the reports on this evening and these will contain the grades they achieved during the mock exams.

As ever the message in school is all about effort and engagement. There are just over 50 lessons left in English, maths and science and less in other subjects so attending school every day and making the most of the revision sessions has never been more important.

Year 11