English

English is one of the most popular subjects in the school for a very good reason. We are in awe of the power of the written (and spoken) word and cannot wait to share this enthusiasm and expertise with students. In every year group, students develop this love and awe too, through independent academic inquiry, collaborative dialogue with teachers and immersion in an eclectic array of texts. We offer an unapologetically literature-centred curriculum, studying a range of texts each year: poetry, drama, non-fiction and prose. We blend old and new, the traditional canon with writers of colour, the predictable with the surprising, contemporary and unpredictable.

Key Topics and Projects

In each year, we study a Shakespeare play (from the anarchic comedy of ‘Midsummer’ to the murderous tragedy of ‘Macbeth’). Students learn key skills, with a particular focus from September 2022 on critical writing, speaking and listening, and independence. Technical skills such as accuracy of spelling and punctuation, but also grammatical control, oracy and rhetorical fluency are taught via literary texts and ‘real’ texts as far as possible too. The aim throughout our teaching at Key Stage 3 is to balance contemporary texts and the classics – but, in all cases, texts are chosen for their literary merit, complexity, interest, diversity and enjoyment. At the end of each challenging year of study, students will become proficient in a range of technical skills. In Year 9, students will increasingly develop the more sophisticated technical skills of analysis which will be required of them when studying at IGCSE. For some topics we use bespoke and teachercurated anthologies of texts to expose students to a range of voices and writing. Year 7 students might explore autobiographical writing or the language of advertising, Year 8 students may study the Gothic genre, and Year 9 students may consider refugee poetry that focuses on the diaspora or migrant experience. From September 2022, each KS3 student will also produce an independent project in correlation with a unit of study that is done synchronously across all English classes in her year group. This might, for example, be a project on Shakespeare and Renaissance theatre, using library lessons to provide the materials as well as the space and time for research.

RHS Learner Qualities

We are committed to promoting fiction which is not aimed specifically at children, but which is accessible and enjoyable for our inquisitive and brave students. As alluded to in the previous section, in Years 7 & 8 one English lesson a fortnight is a designated ‘library lesson’ in which students read a fiction book of their own choosing, with opportunities to swap recommendations, discover new writers or genres and really stretch the ambition of their reading, under the guidance of the teacher who knows them best. In Year 9, the use of the library is on a more ad hoc arrangement but with the same principles underpinning its relevance to English study. Communication in all forms (active listening, critical thinking and empathy) are a key focus and an integral element of studying English. Our curriculum allows for a holistic sense of personal development alongside academic skills. Many of our texts originate from other cultures or deal with difficult, divisive or controversial issues, encouraging mature debate and compassion for others.

Co-curricular

Beyond the classroom, we have thriving and frequently-changing student-led societies which provide thrilling opportunities for passionate students to enrich their knowledge. Recently, we have had a Debating Society, competing against other GDST schools in formal competitions; we have also enjoyed ‘The Write Space’, a cherished creative-writing society for students to share, swap and nurture their writing skills; next year, we have a paired reading initiative pencilled in for the Spring Term. Theatre trips typically include a visit to see the Christmas performance at the Bristol Old Vic, which provides a fantastic alternative to pantomime, and we are also regularly visited by working authors to share their expertise and experiences with our students. Along with all of this, there are often cross-curricular opportunities with subjects such as Music, Art and History.

Mathematics

Problem solving, discussion, debate, making crosscurricular connections and risk-taking is at the very heart of the teaching ethos at RHS. Maths is not a spectator sport! Our students learn to work as part of a team to solve problems in a variety of real world contexts. Challenged not only to grasp the required skills and concepts, but to appreciate the way in which Maths relates to the world around us and to learn to appreciate the vast opportunities and career paths that success in Maths can facilitate.

Key topics and projects

Maths is taught on a spiral curriculum, concepts first met in Year 7 are revisited in subsequent years, incorporating higher level concepts and applications, developing an understanding of the inter-dependency of mathematical concepts and the cross-curricular applications. In Year 7 students begin in mixed ability groups. Fractions, decimal and percentages are explored, alongside algebraic techniques. Area and volume, transformations and symmetry, are covered, developing an understanding of the use of statistics to make decisions about data. Students quickly discover that the subject is much broader than at primary education and enjoy the opportunity to develop their skills through problem solving and group work. At the start of the end second half of the Autumn Term, we stream the students into teaching groups based on levels of confidence and ability, providing more targeted support to those that need it, whilst ensuring our more secure learners are sufficiently challenged. In Year 8 The emphasis is on further developing the key skills of algebra, area and volume and number, and to apply these to solve problems in less familiar contexts. We build confidence in the use of Mathematical language and in the communication of mathematical ideas. More complex concepts such as index laws and standard form, probability and set notation, construction and bearings and Pythagoras’ Theorem are introduced. Year 9 will bring a focus on mastering the KS3 techniques required to be highly successful in their GCSE years. Here the interconnectivity of ideas will be explored thoroughly, and girls start to develop their skills in identifying appropriate problemsolving techniques. They meet the challenges of simultaneous and quadratic equations, sequences, trigonometry, and further develop the idea of looking at the efficiency of solutions.