

Year 7 Curriculum Booklet
Year 7 Curriculum Introduction This information has been produced to inform you about your child’s learning at GEMS Wellington Academy - Silicon Oasis (WSO), during this academic year. It is intended to give a very broad overview of the learning journey students will undertake, along with the learning competences your child will develop and how the courses are assessed. Your child’s chances of a successful education will be greatest where an effective three-way partnership between student, parent and school is established. This booklet is an important tool for developing and maintaining this partnership along with attendance at our parents’ and information sessions. The more information you have about how your child is learning and what she/he is learning, the more you are able to support and enhance this learning. This may be through support with home learning, discussion, identifying relevant books, websites and television programmes or through family outings. At WSO, we believe that students should be given a broad and balanced curriculum which equips them for life beyond the school gates in the Twenty First Century. This sees the aims of education as being firstly to enlarge children's knowledge, skills, experience and imaginative understanding and thus their awareness of moral values and capacity for enjoyment. Secondly, it enables them to enter the world after formal education as active participants in society and responsible contributors to it, capable of achieving as much independence as possible. We also ensure that the education we offer ensures progression to Post 16 education and into Higher Education or employment.
Students study the National Curriculum subjects: English, Art, Design & Technology, Performing Arts (Drama, Music, Dance), Humanities (History, Geography), Modern Foreign Languages and Physical Education. In addition, students at WSO learn Arabic and Islamic Studies (Muslims) or Cultural Studies (non-Muslims). In addition, students at GEMS Wellington Academy commence GCSE programmes in both Mathematics and Science. The Enrichment programme provides additional opportunities for students to develop their interests and abilities. Details of the Enrichment offer are contained within another publication.
Marking and Feedback Students’ work will be assessed in a number of ways, which may include peer assessment, where the students are encouraged to mark one another’s work according to a given criteria and reflect on how their work can be improved. There will also be online activities, which are marked electronically, and work that is marked regularly by the teacher where feedback about how to improve will be included, especially with more substantial pieces of work. In addition to this, formative assessment will also take place in lessons where teachers will give advice on how work can be improved. Students should act on this advice in order to improve their work.
Arabic A :وصف املساق السابع على ف ّ :يعتمد منهاج َّ الص ِّ فهما لها ويميِّزأفكارها ويح ِّللها ويستخلص منها مهارة االستماع :حيث يصغي الطالب إلى النصوص املسموعة ويظهر ً ٍ محددة ،ويلتزم آداب االستماع ص وفق معايير .املبادئ والقيم ،ويق ِّيم الن َّ َّ مهارة التَّح ُّدث :يُظهر الطالب فهمه وقدراته في املحادثة ،كالطالقة والثِّقة وتنظيم األفكار والوضوح واستخدام عناصر اللغة املحاذية من مثل :التنغيم ،والنبر،واإليماء ،واإلشارات… ،ويشارك بفعالية في عروض رسميَّة كالخطب واملناقشات العلنيَّة واملناظرات ،ويستخدم مهارة املحادثة ألغراض متن ِّوعة .كطرح األسئلة وتبادل املعلومات وإعادة صياغة املسموع و سرد قصة وتقديم عروض مختلفة املقررة ويفهمها ،ويُظهرالقدرة على تحديد األفكار والحجج ووجهات النظر في النصوص مهارة القراءة :يقرأ الطالب املوا َّد َّ نصوصا أخرى إ ضافيَّة لتطوير لغته املقررة والربط بينها مستخد ًما معرفته ببنية النص ،ويقرأ باإلضافة إلى النصوص ً َّ .وتعزيز مهاراته القرائ َّية وربطه بالكتاب املكتوب باللغة العربية .املهارات البالغيّة :يتعرف الطالب املفاهيم البالغية املناسبة للمرحلة كالتَّشبيه التّا ِّم ,واالقتباس والتَّضمني الصحيحة واألفعال املعت َّلة, املهارات النَّحويَّة: يتعرف الطّالب دروسا ً متن ِّوعة في النَّحو مثل :الكشف في املعجم ،األفعال َّ َّ .....األفعال الخمسة ،نصب وجزم الفعل املضارع ،نصب األفعال الخمسة ،الحال ،املفعول به ،املفعول فيه ،املفعول له .مهارة الكتابة :بالتعرف على كيفيَّة كتابة التعبير الكتابي " اإلبداعيِّ -والوظيفيِّ" مثل :القصص وكتابة املقال والتَّلخيص
Arabic B During this academic year, students who are new to the Arabic language and who have never been exposed to its context will learn the basic skills of the language through the various levels. They will start with the sound level of the alphabet then the letter level which will enhance their ability to form meaningful words where they learn how to join letters. Additionally, they will experience writing from right to left. In contrast, students who learnt basic skills in their primary years will develop more complex language skills including the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) which will be integrated within the contexts of most lessons. In addition to that, some basic grammar skills will be covered. Moreover, the context of the lessons will include themes related to their daily lives such as greetings, introductions, my home, family, expressing their views, and references will be made to other school core subjects.
Useful websites: www.mylanguages.org www.arabicreadingcourse.com www.salaamarabic.com www.softarabic.com www.Learnarabiconline.com https://quizlet.com/browse-sets Useful apps: alphabet Arabe Arabic flashcards
user name: Mahmoud66
Anticipated Educational Visits: Visit Heritage Village in Dubai in Term 2 
Year 7 Arts, Humanities, Sport and Leisure In Year 7, students will study a competency-led curriculum that focuses on developing critical learning skills and tools as well as learning knowledge. The humanities (Geography and History) drive many of the stems for this curriculum and carefully woven opportunities are created to develop skills and knowledge of the visual and performing arts. We use the overarching theme of ‘extraordinary’ to excite our young people into thinking about the bigger picture and how to think critically and creatively. At the end of each module is a challenge outcome. These are devised to allow students to express, through different formats, a summary of their learning and how they have developed competences. We look forward to welcoming you into the Academy to see the students’ brilliant work!
Useful websites: http://www.battle1066.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_Abolition_Act_1833 http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Trebuchet/
English Year 7 students will have two hours per week of Literacy/English. These lessons will focus on the development of their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. The five modules are ‘Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar’; The Novel; Shakespeare; Poetry and Media. Students will be assessed half-termly.
Useful websites: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/ www.englishbanana.com http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/
Anticipated Educational Visits: Shakespeare4Kids to visit school and put on a production
Language and Communication (L&C) In Year 7 students will have four hours of L & C per week. They will complete six modules, each culminating in a challenge outcome. These modules are ‘How can we resolve conflict?’; ‘What is beauty’; What is the price of entertainment?’; ‘How can we see the world through poetry?’; ‘Whose world is it anyway?’ and ‘How does moving image create meaning? The challenge outcomes range from websites to poetry anthologies and short films. These will test a variety of language and communication skills and aim to develop students understanding of the wider world.
Cultural Studies The Year 7 scheme aims to empower students into thinking about what citizenship is and how important it is to be a ‘good citizen’. Students start the year by learning about the WSO competences and developing skills for learning. Students learn about what behaviours are viewed as good and bad in the local and wider community. Students use their knowledge on this to inform them about being a good citizen in school. Students learn about their roles in school and out of school, along with the responsibilities that they feel they have and those that they should have. They apply their understanding of this to other issues within school and to a much wider context.
Islamic Studies – Islamic B In Year 7, students will study the topics of The Unseen World, Faith and Courage, The Last Holy Book, Prophet Muhammad Calls for Peace and Prayer. Projects are inspired by the lessons through motivating chapters which will develop their ideas and abilities to think Students will be debating and tickling the topics of the Unseen and how to use proves to support their ideas.
Students will learn about the holy Quran in details and essential Islamic History stories like the story of Prophet Moses, and Prophet Muhamad, which would function as a motivational factor and encourage learners to implement various Islamic principles and practices learnt from historical examples. And by studying the daily prayer in details in a practical way, they will refine their skills to become competent visual communicators, working independently towards a final outcome.
Maths, Science and Technology (MST) In Year 7, students take part in a course that combines Mathematics, Science and Technology. The aim of the course is to develop students’ competence and knowledge in a way that allows them to see the links between these subjects and be able to apply their skills wherever they are needed in life. They will cover a wide range of Key Stage Three topics in Mathematics, Science and DT. The lessons will be delivered in a way that allows for student inquiry and will focus on a blended learning approach with the use of technology. As part of the course students will use different skills to apply their knowledge to real word examples and create varying projects each term to reflect the topic and to showcase their development. Useful websites: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zng4d2p http://www.educationquizzes.com/ks3/science/ https://www.cgpbooks.co.uk/interactive_ks3_science
Mathematics At Key Stage 3, students follow the British National Curriculum in Mathematics. In Year 7 students will be completing the following topics alongside their MST lessons: Autumn – Number, shape and angles, expressions and formulae Spring – Powers and roots, fractions, averages, probability, sequences Summer – Linear graphs, percentages, ratio and proportion
Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) In Year 7, students will initially have taster lessons in French and Spanish, then select their choice of language to continue with in Key Stage 3. In French, they will follow the Expo scheme of work, and in Spanish follow Mira. In both French and Spanish, students will develop the language learning skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. They will cover topics including greetings and introductions, talking about home and family, school subjects and opinions, local area and free time activities. Students who have studied French in primary school will begin with later modules on the scheme of work; in order to prepare them for the new-style GCSEs, there will be an emphasis on skills such as translation.
Useful websites: www.linguascope.co.uk (logon and password available from the MFL department) www.vocabexpress.com (individual student logons) www.languagesonline.org.uk www.zut.org.uk www.language-gym.com www.wordreference.com Anticipated Educational Visits: Visits to France and Spain are scheduled during Term 1 
Physical Education (PE) Students will participate in a range of sports from invasion games to aesthetic sporting activities. Each activity takes place within a block of 4 x 2hour lessons. Students will have the opportunity to develop their level of skill and tactical awareness in each activity. They will also be encouraged to collaborate with each other and take responsibility for their learning. Lessons focus on an ability to reflect on their own and others’ performance to make progress up the level ladder. Students will be provided with opportunities and be encouraged to take on leadership roles. They will be learning why exercise is important for their physical, mental and social wellbeing.
Useful websites: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/znyb4wx http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/academy/default.stm http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/change-for-life.aspx Anticipated Educational Visits: – Sports Day January 2016