Year 7 Curriculum Overview 2021-22

Year 7 Curriculum Overview 2021-2022

Introduction The SPF Y7 curriculum is built on a model of breath: students study a large number of subjects from across six faculties, in addition to PE and Games lessons.

This document is designed to give you an overview of what your children will be studying, and guidance on how you can support them at home.

Our curriculum model is an interesting and exciting one, but it means that students have quite a lot to think about at any one time. Help at home in staying organised is really constructive for the students.

Assessments in Y7 are comparatively light touch, but students will be working towards formal end of year internal exams. There is guidance below regarding the process of revision, and in particular how students will know what to revise and where their revision materials will be.

Inevitably, some students find the process of assessment a difficult one; as parents, it will really help your children if you can focus on the interest of what they are studying rather than how well they are doing it. This will both aid academic progress (if students are interested in what they are learning about, they will make good progress) and it will help students not to feel anxious about whether or not they are doing 'well enough'.

In response to the inevitably digital nature of school work last year, this year we are focussing on increased quantities of handwritten work. It is really constructive to encourage your children to take pride in how they present this work.

The Y7 parents evening will take place on Tuesday 9th November. We will report on your children's progress in written form via end of term grade sheets in the Autumn and Spring Term. These grade sheets will give you an indication of attainment, attitude and levels of organisation. At the end of the academic year you will receive full written reports for each subject. To help students develop skills of self-reflection and independence, self-review will form an important part of each reporting cycle.

We hope all our students will enjoy and be enthused by the broad range of subject content available to them this year.

Katharine Radice Deputy Head Academic

English

Head of Faculty: Helen Kedie

Summary of syllabus content Y7 Autumn Term

Possible Texts

Key Skills

We study a novel or a whole Play by Shakespeare.

Novels might include: The Graveyard Book, Skellig, The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, Chinese Cinderella

We will cover a range of reading, writing and speaking and listening skills.

The teaching of poetry, autobiographical extracts and short stories will be woven into the teaching throughout the year.

Films will be used to enhance the teaching and learning in the classroom.

Shakespeare: Either The Tempest or A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Y7 Spring Term We study a novel or a whole play by Shakespeare

Novels might include: The Graveyard Book, Skellig, The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, Chinese Cinderella

We will cover a range of reading, writing and speaking and listening skills

Shakespeare: Either The Tempest or A Midsummer Night’s Dream Y7 Summer Term We will use a range of fiction and non-fiction extracts to prepare for the summer exam After the summer exams students will study a third text,

Texts might include: a selection of short stories or The Cambridge University Schools Classic Project’s Greek Myths

We will cover a range of reading, writing and speaking and listening skills - but the focus is very much on creative writing.

Revision for formal assessments There are no formal assessments during the course of the year, apart from the summer exams; progress is measured through class work and regular homework. No revision

materials are needed for the summer exams. All the skills that will be required for the exam are reinforced in the lessons running upto the exams.

How you can support at home Please encourage students to read for pleasure, daily if possible!

Help them to get into the habit of proofreading their work.

Maths and Computer Science

Head of Faculty: David Atkins

Maths

Head of Dept: David Atkins

Summary of syllabus content AUTUMN TERM 1

Properties of Number

2

Negative Numbers

3

Introduction to Algebra

4

Averages

5

Angles

6

Properties of 2D Shapes

7

Nets and 3D Shapes

8

Sequences

9

Co-ordinates : 4 quadrants SPRING TERM

10

Function Machines

11

Concept of Gradient

12

Transformations

13

Constructions : Triangles

14

Ratio and Proportion

15

Further Algebra : Linear Equations

16

Plotting Graphs SUMMER TERM

17

Addition and Subtraction : Integers, Decimals, Fractions

18

Multiplication and Division : Integers, Decimals, Fractions

19

Perimeter

20

Area : Rectangles and Triangles

21

Equivalent : Fractions and Decimals

22

Order of Operations (BIDMAS)

23

Fractions of Amounts

24

Metric Units and Estimation

Revision for formal assessments Maths tests are set usually every half term. Students are given a minimum of one week’s notice, via email, with information about the test content and suggested material with which to revise. This material will be in the form of links to shared documents, online material or, if appropriate, extracts from textbooks.

How you can support at home Students should be encouraged to spend the recommended amount of time on homework.

This should represent good, well focused work. It will also be useful for students to review what they have been doing in class, on an ongoing basis, by re-reading or checking examples regularly, but only for a few minutes at a time.

Computer Science

Head of Dept: Aisling Brown

Summary of syllabus content In the Autumn term, y7 students develop their logical thinking skills, and compete in Bebras, the computational thinking competition, before moving ontousing spreadsheets.

In the spring term, students work on video game design, which also introduces them to various careers available in the industry, as well as the opportunity to be creative in their approach to Computing. We then begin on using the Swift programming language to work on core programming concepts such as commands, loops and functions.

In the Summer term, we move onto the Python programming language, where students further develop their conceptual understanding of programming, before we apply this to an AI project where students develop their own chatbot.

Revision for formal assessments Revision for formal assessments will primarily be from exercise books, and from the topic section in Google Classroom that is labelled ‘0 Core Notes’. Key terms etc. can also be revised in the quizlet class.

How you can support at home Students should spend the recommended time on homework (and not more). If they have time remaining of their allocated time, a review of the lesson content from their books would be useful.

Modern Languages

Head of Faculty: Claudia Freeman

Students study two Modern Languages, one of which will be French or Spanish.

French

Head of Dept: Sandrine Parente

Summary of syllabus content In the Autumn term, students will study the comic book: Les 3 mousquetaires by CLE International; in the Spring and Summer terms they will work on the textbook Tricolore 1, (5th edition). Over these three terms, students will have covered:

Key Topics ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Meeting/Greeting Introductions School Family Descriptions Home Animals Celebrations Weather Sport Town Directions Daily routine Transport Clothes Time Food

Main grammar points ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Present tense Main regular and irregular verbs in the present tense Numbers up to 100 Definite and indefinite articles Possessive adjectives Asking questions Regular and irregular adjectives Prepositions Some examples of reflexive verbs Partitive articles

Assessment ● ●

There will be regular vocabulary and grammar tests Summer assessment

French activity for your diary ●

Monday 6 December 2021 (2.30pm): students will explore Les Trois Mousquetaires in one hour-long interactive performance at the Senior School.

Revision for formal assessments There will be a summer assessment, covering listening, reading and writing skills and speaking will be assessed informally in lessons. A revision list is shared at the beginning of the summer term in Google Classroom. In the French textbook there is a summary at the end of each unit with an overview of the grammar and vocabulary covered, which can be used to revise from, along with notes in class and resources on Kerboodle, an online subscription which students have access to. There is BBC bitesize available for revision, a variety of apps including Duolingo, Memrise, Quizlet, as well as the website languages online full of interactive exercises to reinforce grammar and vocabulary.

How you can support at home This is your chance to brush up your language skills or learn a new language! Ask your son/daughter to teach you the phrases they have been learning in class. They have regular vocabulary tests, so this is an opportunity for the family to get involved, testing each other.

Feel free to encourage post-it notes around the house with useful expressions in French or indeed some useful phrases and verb conjugations. Any exposure to the language is beneficial, so perhaps put on a French radio station at breakfast time or switch one of their favourite films into French with French subtitles.

German

Head of Dept: Claudia Freeman

Summary of syllabus content In Year 7 we follow the course Stimmt! 1. Students have access to the accompanying Übungsheft and audio files. Lots of speaking and writing in German is encouraged - having a go at communicating and talking about their lives.

Key Topics ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Greetings and introductions Numbers & birthdays Countries, saying where you live Family & animals Colours, characteristics, descriptions Free-time - hobbies & sports School - subjects & times, facilities Town - describing what’s in a town, shopping, buying snacks & drinks Cultural events such as Schultüten, Martinstag, Nikolaus, Weihnachten, Neujahr, Ostern are included when time permits

Main grammar points ● ●

Present tense The verbs sein & haben, regular & irregular verbs

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Modal verbs Connectives (und, aber, auch) Qualifiers Cases: nominative, accusative, dative Future tense werden / möchte + verb Word order including subordinate clauses Prepositions with the dative A brief introduction to the past tense

Revision for formal assessments There will be a summer assessment, covering listening, reading and writing skills. A revision list is shared at the beginning of the summer term on Google Classroom. At the end of each chapter in Stimmt! 1 there is an overview of the grammar and vocabulary covered with a checklist on the pages titled “Lernzieltest”. These are particularly useful for revision.

Students are also encouraged to look through and check their corrections from previous homeworks, building up a bank of responses about themselves in German. They can fill any blank pages from their Übungsheft as well.

There is BBC bitesize available for revision, a variety of apps including Duolingo, Memrise, Quizlet, as well as the website languages online full of interactive exercises to reinforce grammar and vocabulary.

How you can support at home Your child will have regular vocabulary tests, so this is your chance to brush up your language skills or learn a new language! Ask to help with the testing. to teach you the phrases they have been learning in class. This is an opportunity for the family to get involved, testing each other. Feel free to encourage post-it notes around the house with useful expressions in German or indeed some useful phrases and verb conjugations. Any exposure to the language is beneficial, so perhaps put on a German-speaking radio station at breakfast time or switch one of their favourite programmes into German, perhaps with German subtitles.

Mandarin Chinese

Head of Dept: Qinqing Guo

Summary of syllabus content Initially, students will develop their understanding of the mechanics of Mandarin Chinese (e.g pinyin, and character structure). Cultural context will also be a key part of the course. The textbook is Jinbu 1.

Key Topics ● ● ● ● ●

Self-introduction Family and home Leisure time School Food and drink

Assessment ●

Regular vocabulary tests

● ●

End of Unit Tests Summer assessment

Revision for formal assessments There will be a summer assessment, covering listening, reading and writing skills. A revision list is shared at the beginning of the summer term on Google Classroom, highlighting which pages in Jinbu 1 to focus on and the core notes to go over. There is BBC bitesize available for revision, a variety of apps including Duolingo, Memrise, Quizlet as well as other sources shared by the Chinese Dept. Students will have access to the audio files as well, to consolidate their listening skills and they can use the app Pleco to practise their vocabulary and character writing.

How you can support at home Learning Mandarin is like growing bamboo. There’s a lot of nurturing involved, before sprouts begin to appear. A lot of repetition is required to help consolidate the sounds and the characters. This could be an opportunity for you to learn a new language or brush up on any pre-existing Mandarin skills! Helping your child with revision for the vocabulary tests will support them. They might share some flashcards or a list with pinyin sounds. Let them share and teach you what they’ve learnt in class.

Spanish

Head of Dept: Veronica Escudero

Summary of syllabus content We follow the course ¡Viva! Segunda Edición 1 and we cover the following topics and grammar points below, adding any cultulral references which arise. We go global encouraging students to throw themselves into all things Spanish, not only looking at Spain, but also the Spanish-speaking world in South America. The emphasis is on speaking and writing Spanish, communicating aspects of their lives.

Key Topics ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Greetings Personal descriptions School Numbers and dates Family Pets Colours Town descriptions

Main grammar points ● ● ●

Genders Adjectival agreements Present tense

Revision for formal assessments There will be a summer assessment, covering listening, reading and writing skills. A revision list is shared at the beginning of the summer term on Google Classroom, highlighting which

pages in ¡Viva! Segunda Edición 1 to focus on and which core notes to go over. There is BBC bitesize available for revision, alongside a variety of apps including Duolingo, Memrise, Quizlet, as well as the website languages online full of interactive exercises to reinforce grammar and vocabulary.

How you can support at home Having a go yourselves! Here’s your chance to reinvigorate your Spanish or learn a bit, if you haven’t got any! There are regular vocabulary tests in Spanish lessons, so feel free to get involved and help with the learning and testing. Feel free to encourage post-it notes around the house with useful expressions in Spanish or indeed some useful phrases and verb conjugations. Any exposure to the language is beneficial, so perhaps put on a Spanish-speaking radio station at breakfast time or switch one of their favourite programmes into Spanish, perhaps with Spanish subtitles. You could add some Spanish songs to the family Spotify playlist perhaps?

Sciences Biology

Head of Faculty: Alex Van Dijk Head of Dept: Alex Van Dijk

Summary of syllabus content Students will be covering three sections in Year 7. The first section looks at cell structure and the skeletomuscular system. The second section covers human reproduction and causes of variation. The final section covers plant reproduction and ecosystems.

Revision for formal assessments Students will be issued with revision lists on Google Classroom and on paper. They will be able to revise from the AQA Key Stage 3 textbook.

How you can support at home Students will be coming home with questions that have arisen from their classroom discussions. The human reproduction topic in particular might lead to further questions.

It will be useful for students to think about their biology studies when engaged with other topics at home. This could include thinking about what happens in their body when doing sport, thinking about the different adaptations of zoo animals or going to the Zoology or Sedgwick museum to look at the skeletal structures of different animals.

Chemistry

Head of Dept: Dr Mark Woodward

Summary of syllabus content Students work through the first year of the AQA syllabus for Key Stage 3 which includes three themes: Matter, Reactions and Earth. Students will investigate states of matter and how to separate substances, the reactions of metals and acids and then end the year thinking about the structure of the Earth and its place in our solar system.

Revision for formal assessments Students will be issued with revision lists on Google Classroom and on paper. They will be able to revise from the AQA Key Stage 3 textbook which is issued to all students. KS3 Bitesize from BBC is also a very useful revision resource and teachers will often post links to the correct sections.

How you can support at home Students would benefit from discussing the concepts that they have learned in school, being able to vocalise their ideas on the topics will deepen their understanding and make their written answers more fluent and well reasoned.

It is also useful to think how the three sciences link together, especially the areas of Physics that are covered in many of the topics this year in Chemistry. They will also work to develop their idea of scientific method, how we explore the world around us by asking questions and then developing a way of testing those ideas.

Physics

Head of Dept: Matthew Fradley

Summary of syllabus content Students cover five topics in Y7 Physics: ● Practical Skills in Physics ● Forces ● Energy ● Electricity ● Waves Revision for formal assessments Students will be issued with revision lists on Google Classroom and on paper. They will be able to revise from the AQA Key Stage 3 textbook.

Students can also use websites, such as BBC bitesize, to help revise.

How you can support at home Encourage students to read widely. There are many excellent non-fiction resources available.

It is helpful to engage students in conversations about the world around them: how is Physics incorporated into the devices, technology and infrastructure we use every day?

Humanities History

Head of Faculty: Will Frost Head of Dept: Natalie Stanley

Summary of syllabus content Students will study three main units. The first term focuses on The Norman Conquest starting with the Battle of Hastings ending with an understanding of the ways in which William kept control post invasion. The second focuses on life in the Middle Ages including events such as the Black Death. The third term focuses on the Governance of the country including the struggle for power between Church and State, as well as learning about the Magna Carta and the significance of the murder of Thomas Becket.

Revision for formal assessments Students will be issued with revision lists on google classroom. They will also be able to use the Medieval Realms textbook and their class notes in their History folders and on google classroom.

How you can support at home Visiting places of historic interest is a huge help; anything from a stately home to a royal palace to a local church. Watching historical dramas on TV/Cinema is also a good way to engage students in the past. Encouraging students to read historical stories is also a great way to spark their interest and curiosity. The local villages around Cambridge and beyond are also a rich resource for learning about the medieval world.

Geography

Head of Dept: Tim Pegler

Summary of syllabus content Students will study four different units. We introduce what Geography is and how it applies to Cambridge. After that we look at some Physical Geography, studying Ecosystems before moving on to a variety of Natural Hazards. We finish by studying Africa - a continent of contrasts. Students will also learn to apply knowledge from these units by developing their geographical skills (especially descriptions, explanations and evaluation).

Revision for formal assessments Students will use their class notes in their exercise books to revise. Revision lists will be given out before tests. Each student already has vocabulary lists posted on Google Classroom. This contains key geographical terminology which they should make use of so that they become confident with the technical terms they need to use.

How you can support at home Taking students outside always helps! If they can engage with outside activities such as gardening or local conservation it will help them apply their newfound knowledge to the real world. Discussing issues such as news events is essential to make them more globally aware.

RS

Head of Dept: Will Frost

Summary of syllabus content Autumn

Hinduism ● Key beliefs, including: God, life after death, justice, ethical living ● Worship (at least one from): ○ Worship at home: nature and importance ○ Worship in the mandir: nature and importance ● Rites of passage and festivals: at least one

Spring

Judaism ● Founders and key beliefs: ○ History: importance of Abraham, covenant, promised land/Israel, etc ○ Ethics: importance of commandments ● Worship: nature and importance of the synagogue ● Holy Writings: nature and importance of the Torah ● Rites of passage and festivals: at least one

Summer

Sikhism ● Founder and key beliefs (at least two from): ○ History: the importance of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobin Singh (panj pyare, khalsa, etc) ○ Nature of God: Ik Onkar, Mool Mantar, etc ○ The cycle of birth, life and death (samsara, mukti, etc) ● Worship: nature and importance of Gurdwara ● Holy Writings: nature and importance of Guru Granth Sahib ● Rites of passage and festivals: at least one

Revision for formal assessments Students should refer to the revision list which will be posted on Google Classroom. Their teacher will direct them to the most appropriate resources to aid revision. Notes students have produced in their exercise books will form the starting point for revision. Time will be made available for revision in class and teachers will provide guidance about useful ways for students to structure and use revision notes.

How you can support at home Inquiring about the questions or issues your son or daughter is exploring in their RS and Philosophy lessons, and continuing these discussions at home, can really help students develop their own opinions. Similarly, talking to your son or daughter about religious or philosophical matters which arise in the news, particularly where these relate to the content outlined above, helps to consolidate and extend their understanding.

Latin

Head of Dept: Katharine Radice

Summary of syllabus content Students will work through Chapters 1-3 of their textbook, de Romanis. For the culture and context aspects of the course, they will learn about the Olympian gods, Roman heros, and Roman gods. The language syllabus will introduce them to 90 new Latin words, and to the grammatical concepts of parts of speech, case roles (nominative, accusative and ablative), adjectival agreement and the perfect and imperfect tenses.

Revision for formal assessments A summary of what should be revised will be posted on Google Classroom. Students will be able to revise from the reference materials in their textbook.

How you can support at home Students may like to tell you about the stories they have been reading in class (some are very dramatic indeed) and discuss how different the Roman world was from much of our own.

Vocab learning will be a regular task; it will really help students if you can test them on this, and help them repeat and focus on words which are less familiar.

Students will be completing the majority of their work by hand and in exercise books. They will need to remember to bring their textbook and exercise book to each lesson; high standards of presentation of written work will help them pay attention to details and take pride in their work.

Creatives Design Engineering

Head of Dept: Kerry Watkins-Marks

Summary of syllabus content Students are introduced to learning in a workshop environment and will participate in two Design & Make projects: an acrylic sculpture/holder and an electronic steady hand game.

This is mainly a skills-based course but there are opportunities to develop sketching techniques and CAD skills as well as becoming more familiar with the design process whilst using basic materials and processes.

Revision for formal assessments There is no end of year exam for Design Engineering in Year 7, so no revision required.

Ongoing assessment and feedback takes place throughout the course using project outcomes, development and research tasks.

How you can support at home Encouraging students to be curious about the world around them and the products we see and use. Discussions about problems they observe in everyday life and debating possible solutions and improvements to challenges they identify. Visits to museums, exhibitions and workshops where they get to experience technology and products making a difference to people's lives.

Drama

Head of Dept: Helene Barrell

Over the course of the year we will cover a wide range of practical activities which are designed to build confidence, encourage collaboration and creativity and to develop individual performance skills. These will include: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Drama games Mime Physical theatre Mask work Improvisations prepared in small groups from a given stimulus Spontaneous improvisation games and exercises Interpreting text for performance Using sound and lighting to enhance a performance Considering the role of theatre design elements such as costume, masks and set Learning to evaluate performance work using basic theatrical terminology Summer Term project on World War I and Michael Morpurgo’s ‘War Horse’

Revision for formal assessments There are no formal assessments in Drama in Year 7. Performance work will be informally shared with the class and celebrated throughout the year.

How you can support at home Students may wish to discuss topics they have explored in class; in particular, they may like to share details of improvisations or class performances they have helped to create or been involved in.

For those students who choose to take part in the Year 7 production we would ask for parents’ support in ensuring they are able to make a full commitment to rehearsals and to help them learn any lines they might be given.

Please also consider bringing your child to watch school productions by other year groups throughout the year - this can be very inspiring for them and we would love to see you in the audience.

Music

Head of Dept: Matthew Rudd

Summary of syllabus content During Music lessons students will be actively involved in listening, performing and composing, both in small groups and individually. They will explore different musical concepts using classical masterpieces, music from around the world and different musical styles as a context for creating their own music. The GarageBand app on their iPads will often be a vital tool in this process, combined with live instruments where appropriate. A variety of topics will form the basis of this exploration of repertoire and ideas: ● ● ● ● ●

All in the Rhythm Music on Stage Making Links Music in Context Musical Transformations

Revision for formal assessments N/A How you can support at home No homework is set in Music for class lessons, but students who have individual singing or instrumental lessons should practise regularly at home. Much of the work in class lessons is composition based; students may like to share their finished recordings with you and discuss the concepts they have been learning. Listening to, and talking about music - in whatever styles you enjoy at home - will give students a broader experience on which to base their own musical ideas.

Visual Arts

Head of Dept: Rachel Bloomfield-Proud

Summary of syllabus content Students are introduced to the formal elements of Art - line, tone, mark making, texture, colour theory through their investigations using Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism and Futurism. Students are introduced to a range of media - paint, ink, collage and digital. They work in an A4 sketchbook.

Revision for formal assessments

There is no end of year exam for the Visual Arts in Year 7, so no revision is required. Instead Assessment takes place throughout the year based on the classwork students produce.

How you can support at home Engaging conversations about what they have been doing in Visual Art, visits to galleries and exhibitions are always valuable and generally developing visual literacy by discussing visuals in the world around us, whether that be the everyday adverts, symbols, family photographs, films, fashion or more specialised art works/artifacts in exhibitions and around your home.

Games and PE

Director of Sport: Charlotte Wells

Students in Y7 have 1 triple and 1 double lesson of sport each week. The focus for PE is on basketball, touch rugby, handball, dance, gymnastics, tennis, athletics and fitness and in Games lessons, the major team sports of netball, hockey, football and cricket. As students move up the year groups the choice of activities widen and by the time they reach Yr 10 and 11 the students have a wide choice of activities that they can specialise in. There are many clubs that run before school, at lunchtime and after school. These clubs offer the core subjects and also offer sports that are not taught in the curriculum eg volleyball, badminton.