Key Stage 4

KS4 Booklet

Key Stage Four Curriculum

Moving from one stage of the National Curriculum to the next is always an important step in a student’s school life. We call our option process ‘Pathways’.

Pathways was chosen to specifically name this major event in our pupil’s life as it signifies more clearly the sense in which pupils can select a range of different routes through to the future ambitions.  Each route is different, requiring different skills and demands.

We firmly believe that for a successful transition from Key Stage Three to Key Stage Four to be possible, the following points need to be considered:

• The transition presents both challenges and opportunities;
• The pupils will be expected to show an increased level of maturity and a growing sense of responsibility for their own work and progress;
• The students will find that the pattern and structure of their curriculum has changed and for the first time, they will have a degree of choice in the subjects they study. This can be both an exciting and daunting prospect; so having access to high quality information, advice and guidance is crucial for parents and pupils;
• Above all, they will face the challenge of preparing for their GCSE examinations at the end of Year 11.

To ensure a smooth transition between Key Stages 3 and 4, and to support our children in their academic pathways, we have developed a bespoke Pathways process. Pupils choose ONE of their GCSE option choices in Year 8 and a further TWO options choices in Year 9. As a result of their choice in Year 8, pupils study a Key Stage three curriculum across all subjects in Year 9 with one GCSE subject. This ensures that pupils continue to experience a broad and rich curriculum across a variety of subjects whilst allowing them to build a strong foundation and experience to make more informed choices in the future. The decision to follow this hybrid model occurred as a result of a consultation process to move the time our pupils enter their GCSE years from Year 8 to Year 9 and extend their Key Stage 3 curriculum. In order to ensure parity between options chosen, all option choices will have the same numbers of hours allocated to them over their study.

Key Stage 4 Curriculum Subject Allocation – Hours per week

Learning for Life (inc Citizenship) - Each year group has 20 hours a year