Torchlight - The Curriculum Edition

The Queen Elizabeth Academy

TORCHLIGHT

The Curriculum Edition Winter 2020 Issue 3

Contents 3 A message from Neil Curriculum at TQEA 4-5 History Curriculum: Is there too much choice?

Emma Hopkins 6-7 Art Curriculum Michaela Bennett 8 Computer Science Ben Packwood 9-10 Maths and the Curriculum Lauren O’Brien

11 MFL Naomi Harris 12 Religious Education Nic Patel 13 Business Curriculum 14 Geography Curriculum 15 Top Curriculum Reads Emma Hopkins 16 What is our curriculum at TQEA?

Hello From our Head •.

History Curriculum: Is there too much choice?

The History curriculum is always hotly debate amongst history teachers due to the amount of choice. History teachers love a good debate and are the first to want to challenge and debate new thinking. It is almost like a small child in a sweet shop. I am one who loves the curriculum it is a part of the job which it the best. We have all trained in our subject disciplines and want our students to share this passion of our subject. Where can we best make that happen. The curriculum. This can leave one problem though there is too much choice. How do we ensure breadth and depth avoiding overcramming and lacking substantial time to develop challenging knowledge? So how do we ensure how curriculum as history teachers is the best offer for our students and our context?

In the history department we started by looking at what we had in our curriculum and working backwards. What did we want our students to achieve and were we going to ensure this took place? Clarity is key without a clear sense of direction then we will never get to our destination. We wanted to ensure as a department student had access to the most powerful knowledge to be able to engage and debate historical topics. As George Santayana said “those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it”. If we want our students to be able to debate historical knowledge the next decision was the curriculum subject matter.

Everyone’s ideas of Michael Young deemed “Powerful Knowledge” which he terms as “that is the best knowledge we have in each subject” is a debate within itself but what is important for the student here at TQEA? As a team we worked on creating the golden thread through the curriculum. The Golden thread as a set of ideas we want to build upon and develop this was the element of power. For example, to begin with it is about tribal power, developing into the power of organisations such as the church to colonial power and empire and to today’s society of global superpowers. This then gave us an idea of the thread to be able to weave and sequence our topics through this and underpin with a clear understanding. Similarly, History curriculum is unlike others, it is a chronological curriculum which proceeds time and development of history to be able to track change, continuity and comparison points.

To be continued…

Mary Myatt has suggested the fundamentals of teaching is “the development of teacher subject knowledge underpins school improvement”. It is always assumed as history teachers we know everything. However, this is simply not true as with all subject there are aspects of our subject we can improve and develop in greater depth. This struck me to be true in one of our curriculum meetings there was a topic on Imperial China. Personally, my knowledge lies in modern history however to overlook this would be a missed opportunity. If we want our students to have a broad and depth experience of our subject it is important for us as teachers to continue to develop our subject knowledge. This in turn is now going to be put on as a training session by a member of the team to expand my knowledge and in turn teach the topic better. This is a part of our discussions I have enjoyed the debate and current understanding of topics utilising the expertise across the department to ensure we give our students the best offer.

One area in the Humanities department we wish to focus and develop is the element of challenge. Challenge often can be seen as an add on in the form of an additional or optional task. We have discussed how we can avoid falling into this trap and it comes from the foundations of the curriculum. If our curriculum isn’t challenging then no matter how we deliver it in the classroom it will not be challenging enough. One aspect we have worked on is selecting topics which fit with our golden thread but provide point of comparison with another country for example or point of contrast. Similarly we have routed the topics in historical interpretations to offer the most important part of our subject as a historian the historical debate. We want to bring this in through the use of extended reading. Sonia Thompson suggests “funds of knowledge is the head of our school then reading is its heart”. The suggestion that students need to experience the knowledge through academically challenging text to explore the subject discipline effectively. As a team we are currently working on creating strong resources around extended reading from external sources to add the depth in our topics from the curriculum.

Altogether the conversation around curriculum over this term has provided huge food for thought and opportunities to build the curriculum and reflect on what we already do well and areas of development. The curriculum we know is a living organism and we will continue to develop to provide the best history curriculum for our students at TQEA.

The intent of the Art Curriculum is to encourage purposeful observation, recording and exploration to foster students’ artistic awareness, understanding and skills, providing students with the opportunities to be the very best artist they can be

Curriculum in Art

It is our aim for students to be given the opportunities to engage with practitioners and examples of historical art, challenging students to become visually literate to think, act and speak like an artist.

In Years 7 and 8, students will work to explore the criteria for the KS3 National Curriculum.

Each term students are introduced to a new unit of work which focus on building skills and knowledge relating to observation, recording and critical understanding. They are introduced to artists and movements which are relevant to the titled topic and from these they undertake artist exploration, identifying the skills and techniques of artists' that link to the theme.

Students are given plenty of opportunities to analyse and evaluate their own work intended to strengthen the visual impact or applications of their work. As students work through the units they are introduced to the six formal elements which make up the fundamentals of any art work. These are line, tone, colour, texture, pattern and shape.

Their understanding of these enables students to develop their skills and act as a basis for the exploration of their ideas, explorations in media and outcomes. The KS3 curriculum aims to embed them with the skills and knowledge they require to complete the criteria of the National Curriculum whilst offering them a broad and balanced experience.

Curriculum in Art As students move through to GCSE, the KS3 curriculum has already given them the basic skills they require to complete the four main Assessment Objectives, which link to contextual understanding and analysis, drawing and recording, media exploration and producing a personal and meaningful response in the form of an outcome. These skills simply require defining and developing as their style and skills mature.

Year 9 is delivered in three parts with learning from each unit being interleaved to ensure students are confident when they begin their independent unit in year 10. The independent unit of work makes up a student’s personal portfolio. For students to showcase their work and achieve the Assessment Objective criteria successfully they will need to show evidence of the following; For Assessment Objective One, students will explore a wide variety of work produced by fine artists and understand the differences in their methods, approaches, purposes and intentions. Students will provide evidence of analytical skills and critical and contextual understanding by appraising, comparing and contrasting the work of relevant fine artists and other historical and contextual sources and use this to inform their own work. Assessment Objective Two encourages students to establish a clear working relationship between working methods and outcomes by documenting significant steps so that final outcomes do not emerge without evidence of the creative process.

Assessment Objective Three give students the opportunities to record ideas, first-hand observations, insights and judgments by any suitable means, especially drawing, and including, for example, line, colour, tonal and textural studies, photographs and annotation in sketchbooks, study sheets and/or on tablets or other means, to support personal intentions.

Assessment Objective Four ensures students are able to make explicit connections, where appropriate, between the different elements of the submission, including contextual, practical and written responses, presenting work that is meaningful, well-informed and in a sequence that can be easily followed and results in quality outcomes.

All units of work across both Key Stages develops students’ knowledge and understanding of not only art and artists, but also the key skills required to develop purposeful and well considered outcomes. Knowledge Organisers support the learning in lessons and are specific to each unit of work.

Students demonstrate their learning and understanding through the completion of prepared and meaningful tasks both in the classroom and at home.

Computer Science Computer Science is a subject that has changed a vast number of times in recent years. The Government under Michael Gove changed focus from Information Communication Technologies to Computer Science. This change has brought about many challenges, for myself key most is teaching ICT (80% coursework, 20% Exam), Computing (2x Coursework 60%, 1x Exam 40%), Computer Science x1 (1x Coursework 20%, 2 Exams 80%), Computer Science x2(2x Exams 100%). All these changes have happened within a space of 5 years, as such our Curriculum and long term plans have been fluid as they needed to as we have seen so much change in a short time span it has been difficult not to.

Our KS4 curriculum follows, national guidelines but I have designed it that it moves with a good pace. Some students initially find this to be intimidating however soon fall into the rhythm of pace. Partly I find this solves behaviour problems as students are always busy and on task. I am always setting high expectations consistently by pushing all of the students. By working through the content if gives us a lot of time throughout KS4 to then recap and review further strengthening students understanding.

In KS3, students study subject areas that feed skills directly into KS4. This helps give students an accurate picture of what the subject will be like at KS4 due to the large number of misconceptions the students have as well as their parents who will typically have their own preconceptions of the subjects. Placed at key junctions in KS3 students also look at topics that apply to their wider cultural understanding and life skills. Such as Y7 studying E-Safety as soon as they enter school and Y8 studying a topic on logical thinking that has many cross curricular links applying abstraction and decomposition to real life scenarios.

As the government as seen Computer Science as an important EBacc subject that is struggling to recruit and retain staff. A lot of resources and support has been created by the government to support the teaching of the subject. To help streamline the subject in all schools to increase the quality of support across schools the National Centre of Computer Education specifies certain areas to focus on to keep consistency between schools.

A lot of the assessment at KS3 uses multiple choice self-marking assessments.

Due to teaching whole year groups that will typically all do their End of Unit assessments at the same time, this is the only feasible way of managing workload. The Microsoft Forms sets allow for clear analysis of questions for individual students and class groups to help identify clear learning and targets to revise and recap later.

In KS4 we still used typed and written end of unit assessments with clear timed work that is marked individually with individual feedback. In between Assessments we use Educake self-marking homework tasks. These homework tasks allow for clear immediate feedback and can students can repeat them to improve scores with minimums set in place depending on year group. This allows to a range of flipped learning with AFL being used in each lesson.

Mathematics The maths department at TQEA aim to inspire our pupils to appreciate the beauty of Mathematics and use its logic skilfully across all areas of the school curriculum and life. Through our own enthusiasm and love for our subject, we follow a progressive SOL which covers content from each strand; Number, Algebra, Geometry, Probability and Data, Ratio and Proportion, (similar to KS1 and KS2), but the content covered at KS3 are slightly different but builds on the skills and knowledge acquired at the previous key stage. In addition to developing fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills which are evident across all topics, we also expose pupils to “real-life� problems that will support them in their life outside of school. These skills are embedded in both the KS3 and KS4 curriculum linking to both the national curriculum levels and GCSE specifications.

Our rational behind following this advice is to ensure we allow pupils to develop their numeracy skills, with the aim that all pupils leave us numerically competent to tackle mathematical problems in the real world, including everyday mathematical skills such as bills, mortgages and budgeting as well as the application of more complex skills that would be needed in engineering. Using the exam specification will also ensure that alongside developing pupils who are numerate, we also maximise pupil outcomes increasing their chances of employability with good GCSE grade in

Mathematics  Pupils will all sit lots of low stakes quizzes throughout the year on each of the topics we are delivering (exam style questions that have a range of fluency, reasoning, and problemsolving questions). This idea of low stakes, high impact is evident in the research carried in Ten Benefits of Testing and their Applic ation to Educational Practice , emphasises the importance of testing and in addition to this research paper, David W. Putwain’s research on Test anxiety in UK schoolchildren: Pre valence and demographic patterns indicates why low stakes quizzing is more beneficial for pupils. This paper focuses on KS$ pupils Firstly, it was clear that tests induce anxiety in students, and that this anxiety is likely to inhibit performance.

One explanation purported for this is that the "worry" component of anxiety takes up valuable working memory space, which makes the processing of the kind of complex tasks you are likely to find on a high-stakes exam more difficult.

The low stakes quizzes will inform our marking using the Whole Class Feedback sheets, with reflection time to address misconceptions and reteach built into the lessons. This is across both key stages. Information

MFL To increase student's cultural capital by teaching them about the language and culture of French and Spanish speaking countries and promote global citizenship by allowing them to explore the wider world through language learning.

R.E The principal aim of RE is to engage pupils in systematic enquiry into significant human questions which religion and worldviews address, so that they can develop the understanding and skills needed to appreciate and appraise varied responses to these questions, as well as develop responses of their own.

Year 7- ‘Big Questions’.

Within this topic student will learn to assess different responses to big questions raised within all aspects of life. These responses include various different religious views as well as atheist responses.

The questions that we look at include ‘How did I get here’, where students get to look at the different responses from science (The big Bang) and Theological arguments such as the design argument of William Paley. ‘Is there a God or not’, raising many arguments for religious and non religious people. ‘a difference within society.

Year 8– is death the end. Students will look at questions about death and analyse the various responses from both religious and atheist perspectives. Students will also be introduced to Humanists and study some of their key beliefs. We begin by looking at the question ‘is death the end?’, students unpick their own attitudes towards this questions whilst analysing the views of others (religious and non religious). Some time is spent looking at Buddhist response to this question, where students will learn the key principles of reincarnation, moksha and samsara. Students will discuss the roles of funerals and consider their importance. Students will know the key points of a Christian and Humanist funeral.

Students will assess what death means to a Humanist. Students will learn about the Christians perspectives as to what hell actually is, and review the religious ideas of Dantes Inferno and his 9 pits of hell.

GCSE-- Religious beliefs and teachings are only 50% of the GCSE. Philosophy and Ethics is a key component of the GCSE with pupils looking at question such as “Are all humans equal”, “Is t ever right to end a life?”, “Is marriage still relevant today?” and “What do I think about life after death?”.

It is these questions that give opportunity to show critical thinking, developed reasoning and evaluation skills.

The True Intent of Business Studies

In my time as curriculum leader for Business Studies, I have often questioned the intent of my subject: is it to encourage students to investigate their entrepreneurial skills? Is it to teach them how to make as much money as possible? Is it perhaps just to get them some good grades?

The answer that was most poignant to me came to me when I was creating my curriculum map and I found myself filling out the box titled ‘Development of cultural capital’. The box, at first, seemed almost impossible to comprehend for some units of study – however could I be developing cultural capital when we’re reviewing how self-service tills in Asda work?!

As with most conundrums, I turned to research to see what other people said of the matter.

French sociologist Pierre Bourdeiu emphasised that “cultural capital is intrinsically linked to economic and social capital” whilst he is referring to the economic status of the students rather than the subjects, a metaphorical dot-to-dot was joining in my mind. Business Studies is firmly rooted in the study of economics and social influences. Our students are being taught economic, entrepreneurial, and social skills through the subject. Having stepped back and viewed the bigger picture, I would now passionately argue that Business Studies provides an untold amount of cultural capital inherently.

From the moment students arrive to the subject in year 9, they are first taught about business in the real world. Students are provided with an overview of why businesses exist and why people set up businesses for themselves. The case studies for the scheme are selected by me to be relevant to the pupils and give an insight into businesses they know and love both locally and nationally. By providing this in-depth introduction, students are immediately engaged with their learning, but also considering their potential career path. The students are asking questions about the businesses, considering hypothetical situations, putting themselves in the shoes of business owners and employees alike.

Students are also encouraged to consider the practical application of business and economic concepts. In the Spring term of year 9, students are shown how employers advertise for jobs and how potential candidates apply for those positions. For many year 9 students, the recruitment unit of work may be the first time they have even thought about a CV. The inherent knowledge of what a CV is and how it is created is a thing many adults struggle with as evidenced in an Independent article by Rachel Gillett (2016) in which she lists 30 common mistakes on CVs that have cost people job opportunities. By embedding this knowledge and application in Year 9, the economic and social capital of our students is increasing more than many adults in the UK. In year 10, students take a forensic approach to studying and analysing finance, learning how money is lent, repaid and invested and making recommendations for business owners based on their financial performance. To some students this may be a potentially life-altering skill as they move into the world of work post education. The exploration and understanding of how finance works, along with the knowledge of their employee/consumer rights as also taught in the subject can greatly increase the cultural, social, and economic capital for our students.

We all want to see our students succeed academically. We often talk about how a good set of grades can open doors for students. I believe that the intent of developing the cultural capital of students along with their knowledge in Business Studies can help students walk through those open doors (and maybe open a few windows too – we need to keep the room ventilated after all!).

Geography Coherent Sequencing The national curriculum for Geography states that ‘Teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes’. This highlights the in-depth nature of the subject and implies the constant focus on human and physical interaction along with our impact on the planet.

The first port of call for year 7’s is the UK Physical and human landscape. This is a great way to begin applying knowledge and skills as not only to pupils gain further understanding of the way humans interact with the physical landscape but they can also gain a platform to compare our interaction with the rest of the plant as they explore further through the curriculum. Sherrington and Caviglioli suggest that curriculum should ‘allow ideas to build on secure foundations...sequenced over time’. The topic will focus on basic level knowledge of human interaction and physical landscapes whilst introducing basic level geography skills such as map reading and graph analysis. Focus then moves towards physical geography comparisons between the UK and the rest of the planet. The river landscapes topic explores the formation of features such as waterfalls and meanders coupled with the impact of humans and climate. This is then compared to the ecosystems of the rest of the world. This topic will look at physical challenges within varying biomes alongside human threats. This builds on prior learning skills such as mapping, explanation and evaluation, and allows pupils to begin to compare the UK with varying environments from around the world. Obtaining information is a key aspect throughout the curriculum and as students move from these core topics links become more apparent. Mark Enser explains that ‘commonplace geographical links help students form conceptual and contextual knowledge recall strategies which improve memory retention’.

As students move towards the end of year 7 focus turns on human interaction. Russia and Middle East topics allow students to form links between historical events and how humans use natural resources to gain wealth and economic development. These topics highlight consistent links and can also start to outline the impact we have on our environment through natural resource exploitation. As well as memory recall, the geography department has a focus on challenge. As pupils move through year 8 they start to apply knowledge more frequently to GCSE exam style questions, thus enhancing their geographical skills. The first topic, population, builds on knowledge gained from previous topics such as UK landscapes, Russia and the Middle East and begins to apply more critical analysis to the subject. For example as they explore the concept of an increased population in China, they begin to build links between human geographical events in densely populated countries, and more sparsely populated countries such as Russia. This then allows them to understand how these challenges are being overcome so that they can begin to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of specific strategies. In doing so, they can start to apply knowledge from previous subjects to help provide the evidence they need to support their arguments. Mark Enser suggests that challenge should ‘build on prior learning’ and should be used to ‘deepen thinking whilst exploring links’ between varying topics within geography.

As pupils approach the end of year 8 focus turns to extreme weather and energy. These are two of geography most relevant and thought provoking topics and accommodate the scope for deeper, more challenging thinking. Weather and climate are fundamental for the future course of our planet and are largely driven by the impact of resource consumption over the past 300 years. The topic also allows inclusion of all aspects of the key stage 3 curriculum. There are parallels from year 7 topics all the way through to year 8. This can allow students to challenge their perspectives and include links from every topic they have explored throughout year 7 and 8.

In doing this, students are equipped with the knowledge and skills to transit from KS3 to KS4. Those students not selecting geography will also have the knowledge to be well-rounded, critical thinkers who can show an understanding of the importance in the link between human activity and physical landscapes.

As a subject, discussions will continue to focus on further challenge within the curriculum. Such is the nature of the subject, and the link to the wider world, constant opportunities will arise to incorporate deeper thinking and parallels between us and the planet. It is for this reason that adaptations and versatility is essential in the implementation and planning of the curriculum.

Curriculum Top Reads Curriculum has become such an important area in schools so much so a number of great books full of research have been published. Please see my top reads below.

Curriculum at TQEA What is our intent?

Develop a broad and balanced curriculum that enables students to learn, recall and apply knowledge and skills across different contexts, supported by a robust and consistent approach to assessment. This will lead to successful and resilient lifelong learners who can cope in a range of changing contexts.

How are we going to do this? ● Recognise the importance of subjects as individual disciplines ● Recognise that key stages should be distinctively different ● Use the curriculum to address disadvantage and provide equality of opportunity ● Regularly review the curriculum ● Use the curriculum as the progression model and sequence knowledge accordingly ● Intelligently use assessment to inform curriculum design ● Ensure there is a retrieval of core knowledge woven through the curriculum ● Distribute curriculum leadership and encourage professionals to working and share collaboratively.

What impact do we want to see? ● Students are engaged by a broad and balanced curriculum and are culturally enriched by a range of knowledge and skills ● Students have positive outcomes at all Key Stages ● Students are resilient lifelong learners who can cope in a range of changing contexts