Gridlink and Gridlink International School

YEARS 7-9 (AGES 11-14)

(UK KEY STAGE 3 CURRICULUM STUDIES)

Standard courses follow the UK national curriculum, which describes programmes of study and attainment targets for pupils in British schools. These programmes can be varied for pupils with special educational needs, and are given as a guide to the possibilities for individually-tailored courses.

YEAR 9 (Age 13-14)

English

Pupils' abilities will be developed across the range of Speaking and Listening, Reading, and Writing.

Multimedia projects and programmes will be used to assist develop and assess listening and speaking skills. Books, poetry and other text information appropriate to the individual's level of development will be used during the course.

Pupils will be expected to produce both word-processed and hand-written work. They will be encouraged to recognise and use the vocabulary and grammar of standard English, and to understand the use of speech in differing situations. They will be taught to read with understanding and to analyse and respond to what they read. In writing they will be encouraged to develop both compositional and presentational skills, including use of IT.

Pupils will learn to respond to a range of texts with understanding of significant points and ideas, themes, events and characters. They will be encouraged to write in lively and thoughtful, varied and interesting ways.

Assessment in English by standard SAT papers will be offered towards the end of year 9 study.

Maths

Pupils will be taught mathematics drawn from all the sections of study - Using and Applying Mathematics, Number, Algebra, Shape, Space and Measures, and Handling data.

Their programme will be according to individual need as assessed at the start of the course, and based on both maths learning systems on the computer and off-computer "text book" work. Pupils will be introduced to the use of IT in their maths work.

Assessment in Maths by standard SAT papers will be offered towards the end of year 9 study.

Science

The programme of study will follow the National Curriculum across the subjects - Experimental and Investigative Science, Life Processes and Living Things, Materials and Their Properties, and Physical Processes. Pupils will be encouraged to use IT where appropriate in the presentation of their work.

The year's course will normally cover the following topics -

Pollution - acid rain, water pollution, food chains
Energy - efficiency, heat conduction, convection and radiation
Elements, mixtures and compounds - the Periodic Table, elements, mixtures and compounds, rocks
The Active Body - muscles and movement, skin, excretion
Sight and Sound - reflection and refraction, using light, musical sound
Health - growth, drugs, microbes and disease
Usng Forces - moments, leverspressure, gravity, gravitation
Matter - solid, liquid, gas, gases and pressure, dissolving
Variation - chromosomes, breeding
Chemical Reactions -salts, energy of reactions
Electricity and Magnetism - electric chargescircuits - series and parallel, magnetic fields, electromagnets

It will be useful for pupils to obtain or have access to some simple equipment to assist with their understanding of practical work - eg kitchen scales, spring balance, battery/lamp/wires for circuits.

Materials used will include multimedia CD-Roms in addition to course texts and worksheets.

Assessment in Science by standard SAT papers will be offered towards the end of year 9 study.

History

Pupils will study the following units -

1. Britain 1750 - 1900

Britain's worldwide expansion.

Industrialisation

Political developments.

2. The Twentieth-Century World.

The First World war and its consequences
The Second World War, including the Holocaust and the atomic bomb.
The legacy of the Second World War for Britain and the rest of the world.

Each study unit will include a depth study of one of the main personalities, events or developments and its significance.

Materials used will include multimedia CD-Roms in addition to course texts and worksheets.

Geography

In key stage 3 pupils will be given the opportunity to develop skills across the following areas - investigating themes and places, studies answering geographical questions, geographical patterns and physical processes, human interaction with the environment, global contexts.

The normal course of study in year 9 will include introductions to -

Natural Environments - climate, Britain's climate, equatorial, desert and Mediterranean climates
Hazards - volcanoes, earthquakes, soil erosion, global warming
Tourism - benefits and disadvantages
Italy, an EC Country - identity, environment and its effect, North and South
The USA, CIS and Japan - location and physical features, population and economic features. Japan depth study
World Development - North and South, population, trade, rich and poor, aid.
Additional depth study units - Development, Brazil, Kenya, Italy, Japan.

Materials used will include multimedia CD-Roms in addition to course texts and worksheets.

Information Technology

Development of skills in Information Technology will occur naturally through work across the curriculum.

Where offered as a separate subject -

Pupils will be taught to relate the use of IT to the purposes for which information is to be processed and communicated, and to consider its advantages and drawbacks.

Pupils will be encouraged to use IT to generate, access and present information. They will be introduced to concepts of control and simulation.

Pupils will be introduced to the basic anatomy and functions of computer hardware.

Pupils will be taught to use a word processor, create simple spreadsheets and desktop publishing documents. They will be taught to access simple database information.

Modern Foreign Languages

Subjects offered are French, German and Spanish.

Pupils will build on their knowledge and skills in -

Communicating
Language skills
Language learning skills
Cultural awareness

by studying the following areas of experience -

Everyday activities
Personal and social life
The world around us
Materials used will include texts, multimedia IT applications and may include cassettes.

Courses in Art, Music and Design Technology will be tailored to individuals' needs and the distance learning situation, including availability of materials and equipment.