Autumn

Curriculum Newsletter

Reminders/Key dates:

Autumn term 7 September - 18 December

Training day 23 October

Half term 26 October - 30 October

Spring term 2021 5 January - 26 March

Half term 2021 15 February - 19 February

What are we doing this term?

Over the course of the previous year, Year 11 pupils have been introduced to all of the texts that they will need to face in the exams. We are beginning the year by finishing the poetry that pupils were in the middle of when lockdown began. We are aiming for this to be completed within the first three weeks of the term. We have made the decision to drop the modern text component of the exam (Blood Brothers) which will give us more time to focus on the texts that pupils know well. Following the poetry, the focus is going to be on the retention of knowledge and supporting the pupils’ ability to recall information and tackle their exams confidently. With that in mind, we are moving to a spaced practice model of teaching this year, which means that the pupils will revisit all of the sections of the four exams during the course of a fortnightly cycle. An example cycle would look as follows: Lesson 1/8: A Christmas Carol

YEAR 11

Welcome to our termly curriculum newsletter.

This year is about managing workload and forming good working habits, both in school and at home, if these are not in place already. Last year’s GCSE grades were awarded by school on mock results and evidence of work completed by the pupil. Every lesson counts and creating home learning timetables to review learning and complete tasks set by their teachers. All your teachers will be showing you ways to revise effectively and it is important to find one that suits your child best.

Please find our assessment calendar, dates for parents evening (virtual) and reports on the school website.

Mock exams will take place the first two weeks in January to give pupils time to cover more content in lessons.

Lesson 2/8: The Merchant of Venice Lesson 3/8: Language paper 1 reading Lesson 4/8: Language paper 1 writing Lesson 5/8: Power and Conflict poetry Lesson 6/8: Unseen Poetry Lesson 7/8 Language paper 2 reading Lesson 8/8: Language paper 2 writing

This will mean that the pupils will be able to revisit all aspects of the exams before the November mock exam period. In November, pupils will sit both paper 1s (Literature and Language), and then in the new year they will have a chance to sit both paper 2s.

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 the Google Classroom regularly to support your child when deadlines are looming.

Wider reading and research:

Follow this link to a selection of radio performances of ‘A Christmas Carol’. This BBC resource also has links to sets of study notes that pupils can use to develop knowledge of the text. https://www.bbc.co.uk/ programmes/b03g64q4 This link will allow pupils to access a wide range of Dickens’ non-fiction writing, which will support them with their paper 2 Non-fiction unit. ‘Shylock is my Name’ by Howard Jacobson is a modern interpretation of ‘The Merchant of Venice’, but focusing on Shylock as a sympathetic character. This could be an interesting read for anyone who is considering English as part of their further studies.

ENGLISH

Autumn

MATHS

Pupils have started this academic year with their eyes fully set on the goal of achieving their best potential. Despite the long break in the school year, we have seen a lot of our pupils showing a positive attitude in lessons and completing homework to a good standard.

We would like to use this opportunity to direct pupils to ‘mathswatchvle’- for homework, ‘Seneca learning’, ‘Oak National Academy’ and ‘DrFrost’; some of the platforms which can be used in conjunction with their revision guides.

Pupils are advised to spend at least two hours independent time learning mathematics every week. We would also like to urge pupils to attend any revision/intervention sessions that will be arranged.

All pupils are advised to take the start of their lessons seriously as their starter booklets contain one and two mark AO1 exam questions.

The last 10 minutes of lessons will also be allocated to practising exam questions, and so it is very important that pupils are focused in lessons and taking advantage of the excellent teaching and the exam question practice.

Finally, we would like to see all year 11 pupils going into their maths lessons with their own scientific calculators. Pupils will require their own scientific calculator for two out of their three mathematics exams.

PE

Year 11s have a competitive approach for two of their options, which this term are delivered through sports such as ultimate frisbee, athletics, basketball, netball and cross country. The third option is leadership, but without the added pressure of additional paperwork. Within this option, our year 11 leaders have the

GEOGRAPHY

This term we are continuing our studies of ‘Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Management’ which was started during lockdown. This includes an in-depth study of Madagascar as a case study of management of tropical rainforests, and the New Forest, a case study of a deciduous woodland biome. Pupils are encouraged to complete any activities set during lockdown if they did not manage to do so at the time. They will also have opportunities to repeatedly revisit key concepts and learning from lockdown studies.

Our following topic is a study of ‘Changing Cities’ with an in-depth study of Birmingham, a major UK city, and Mexico, a city in a developing country. We will be learning about each city’s location and links with other places, structure of land use and function followed by learning about how each city has developed in the past, is changing now and may do in the future together with how this change is – or could be – managed sustainably.

Following this, we will start Topic 5 - Global Development. This will include learning about global differences in level of development and the causes and impacts of this. We will also consider aid and the effectiveness of different development strategies. The bulk of this topic is based on India as an example of an emerging country: how its economy and population are changing and the impact of geopolitical relationships on this.

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 using BBC Bitesize – GCSE Geography – Edexcel for regular revision

using Seneca – quiz platform

attending weekly revision sessions – as soon as these can be offered after school.

SCIENCE

In Year 11 pupils continue their GCSE courses in science. They have now all covered just over half of the content they need to know for their GCSE exams. The number of lessons and pace increases in year 11, with an added focus on exam technique and recall of content from previous years.

This term, all pupils will start by studying homeostasis in Biology, rates of chemical reactions in Chemistry and electricity in Physics.

Further information about these courses, along with supporting documentation can be found online via the AQA website.

To help pupils throughout their GCSE science course, there is a variety of excellent resources on YouTube including free science lessons, Fuse School and Cognito.

Year 11

HISTORY

Ways to help your child`s learning:

Learn around the subject – this could include reading fiction or non-fiction books about the topic. It can also involve watching documentaries, films or programmes such as Horrible Histories. Pupils have a recommended list in their topic booklet and on the Google Classroom.

opportunity to plan lessons for and lead our primary pupils in various sports, including netball and lacrosse. Although there isn’t an official qualification at the end of this choice, unlike year 10, year 11 pupils still gain various important skills from this option.

PE (cont….)

Autumn

DRAMA

Pupils have begun completing their Devising Drama component of the final GCSE (Component 2). Pupils will also be exploring a range of stimuli to create devised drama and creating an extended performance. Pupils will then write up a supporting logbook explaining their creative decisions as individuals. In order to maximise the potential within this component, pupils will be able to book the studio theatre space at lunchtimes or after school to enhance rehearsal opportunities, meet Mr Skeel at set tutorial times (these will be emailed to pupils via their GMail account); and keep a record of notes during and after every rehearsal - this will help you when writing up the logbook.

MUSIC

Linking listening, analysis, performance and composition.

The pupils will be studying composition and working on both their solo compositions and composition to a given brief from the OCR exam board in preparation for recording by the end of the term. They will also be studying Rhythms of the World area of study and

ART

Reflections

Pupils begin Year 11 with a two week drawing workshop. They will be experimenting with different drawing materials and working to a variety of scales. They will then move onto develop their GCSE course-work by looking at the theme of ‘Reflections’. We will be studying the artists Kate Brinkworth, MC Escher and Samantha French. As a starting point, pupils should be taking lots of photographs to show that they are developing their own ideas. Photographs can be printed cheaply in supermarkets or online and we would encourage you to check that pupils know where they can print their images.

Year 11

HISTORY (cont….) analysing music from Africa, India, South America, Eastern Mediterranean as well as Middle Eastern music. Pupils will study the theory of music throughout the year to support their understanding of musical scales, clefs, notation, note and pitch values as well as time signatures.

After half-term, pupils will study ‘Music in Film’; there are three aspects to this area of study: ● Film Music ● Video Game Music ● Western Classical music that has been used in

films.

Pupils study a variety of each aspect in order to develop an understanding of the way that composers write or use music to help convey a scene or moving image with a storyline and characters. They develop an understanding of the musical elements that composers use to do this and will be able to identify and write about such features.

Further learning / Ways to support this learning:

Listen to examples of music linked to the current area of study to further develop understanding of the progression and development of popular music. Watch concerts and gigs online. Attend instrumental lessons, develop regular practice routines, complete all homework tasks and thoroughly prepare for listening tests.

DANCE

In GCSE dance, pupils will finalise both components 1 and 2 of the course. For performance, they will begin to learn and perform their final performance pieces that are set to be solos or duets. Pupils will also receive their choreography exam paper, in which they will create solo choreographies from the set stimuli as given by AQA. For all of Component 1, pupils are encouraged to book and rehearse in their own time, but can also book an intervention slot on a Monday afternoon during form time. Pupils will also begin to apply their theoretical knowledge and analysis skills to Section C. This will include looking at the professional works as included in the Dance Anthology.

Talk to your child about their work in school – challenge their ideas. History is often about different viewpoints of the same event. By talking about the work, it can help create new ideas and deepen the understanding of what happened.

Check the quiz homework is being completed accurately. Each quiz can be taken three times. After each attempt, if the pupil has not achieved 100%, this is an opportunity to check their work before trying the quiz again. This will help to improve the overall results.

Learn key words in the glossary in the topic booklet. Greater understanding of the key words will bring about a deeper understanding of the subject.

Encourage your child to create revision materials as they learn the topic, rather than wait until the end –more preparation = less stress later!

Encourage your child to look at the Google Classroom and the resources available to them – this includes all the materials used in lesson. This can help with revision and preparation of revision material.

Support your child in a ‘little but often’ form of revision. 30 minutes three times a week is more effective than an hour and a half, once a week.

Remind your child that there is a weekly revision session after school on a Tuesday: 3:30pm - 4:30pm. In this we will be looking at different exam questions – there is a timetable of sessions on the Google Classroom that pupils can check.

Autumn

HOSPITALITY and CATERING

This term, we will be completing the final piece of coursework which amounts to 60% of the pupils final mark. The work for this is completed in school, during lessons, as a controlled assessment. However, pupils are able to research and make notes in their spare time which can be used during the assessment. I encourage pupils to take advantage of this and work hard at home to ensure they have all the information they need during the controlled assessment. As part of the coursework, pupils will be required to cook a two course meal with four high skilled elements. It is important that pupils decide on their final dishes early to ensure they have time to practise - if possible at home.

We also look forward to introducing the pupils to the newly refurbished food technology classroom. The room has been refitted with new sinks, worktops and cupboards and we are very excited to share this with the pupils this term.

What are we doing this term?

French

Pupils will begin the year with the topic of school. As well as talking about their own school life, they will also compare school in the UK to school in French-speaking countries. They will discuss school rules and describe a school trip using past, present and future time frames. Pupils will then complete the first of five GCSE writing booklets on the theme of ‘School’: the booklets contain key structures, vocabulary for each topic and suggested writing tasks. These booklets should form the basis of revision for the writing paper which constitutes 33.33% of the final GCSE grade. After half term, pupils will discuss aspects of working life and talk about their future aspirations. Towards the end of November, pupils will prepare for the mock exam papers.

This year the Modern Languages team welcomes Mrs Young who brings with her a wealth of experience teaching GCSE Modern Languages. She will be working closely with Miss Vanderwyer and Mrs Hambley to prepare Year 11 for the Summer 2021 GCSE examinations.

German

Pupils will begin by talking about food and drink, and learn about traditional German meals. They will describe a meal and give opinions using the past tense. In the lead up to half term, pupils will then move on to the theme of ‘Local area, holiday and travel.’ They will talk about transport and accommodation, and prepare role play scenarios for buying tickets and booking a room in a hotel. After half term, pupils will learn how to ask for directions and learn about some of the key landmarks in Vienna. They will then prepare role play scenarios for ordering food in a restaurant, buying souvenirs in a shop and describing problems when you are on a day out. Finally, pupils will prepare for the mock exam papers.

We are looking forward to the arrival of our two exchange teachers from Bamberg, Bedford’s twin town in Germany. Mr Hochdorfer and Miss Von Rueden will work alongside Miss Vandewyer in German lessons and run a lunchtime German club for those pupils who are keen to deepen their knowledge of German-speaking culture and the German language.

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 Duolingo 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. To support with reading and listening skills, Castle Newnham also subscribes to the Pearson Active Learn resources and we will be setting tasks via their website. For French, the five writing booklets should form the starting point of revision for the writing test. This element of the GCSE examination provides opportunities for self-expression and personalisation of the language, and thorough preparation will enable pupils to demonstrate the extent of their knowledge and guarantee them valuable marks.

Design Technology

Pupils in Year 11 will be learning the following over the Autumn term:

Complete a contextual challenge for :

Multifunctional living

Teenage Life.

Nature and the Environment.

Year 11

Refurbishment being carried out in the Food Technology

classroom.

MFL

MFL (cont….)