Our Extended curriculum gives students in Year 9 an opportunity to fully explore aspects of Key Stage 3 that would not be covered in Year 7 and 8. Staff have put together a fantastic, engaging and though-provoking curriculum in each of the subject areas outlined below.

Art

Students will further develop their skills, creating a number of personal pieces as a part of a project based around self and identity. This will be a project with digital based outcomes and responses. Students will learn or improve computer editing skills using Photoshop to experiment and enhance their photographs. Students will use this knowledge and take inspiration from a variety of artists before creating personal responses using digital and physical manipulating techniques. Students will further their skills in printing and will work in a variety of media: paper, textile, printing. 

Citizenship

Students take on a more global perspective as they have the opportunity to explore big global issues and problems. Students will explore the role of the UN and their Sustainable Development Goals, NGOs, governments, and individuals in tackling these issues before learning how to plan an ACTive campaign on an issue of their choice. Each session allows students to critically examine different arguments and perspectives on a different global issue. Topics addressed this academic year include fracking, climate change, plastic pollution, gender equality and human rights violations.

Computer Science

Students will undertake a creative project where they will be representing a tour company specialising in cities abroad. This will involve selecting, using, and combining multiple applications, such as Adobe Fireworks, Movie Maker and MS Publisher. Students will be collecting and analysing data as part of their publications they will create to meet the needs of a given audience.

Design Technology STEM

How much weight can a spaghetti bridge hold? How can you land an egg safely from a drone? 

Students will explore how products function and will learn to question the uses and effectiveness of design and materials used.  They will be able to engineer their developmental ideas to solve problems using their maths and science knowledge. Students will design for inclusivity, exploring how technology will support people to live longer, independent lives and why the needs of an ageing population will create demand for new technologies. 

Music 

Students will develop their knowledge in music theory and reading of notated music. They will have opportunities to perform using voices, keyboards, ukuleles, guitars and drum kits as well as composing using music technology. Students will be listening and appraising music throughout all of these topics and they will gain a critical understanding of music throughout a variety of genres and time periods.

Religious Studies

Students study Ancient Greek Philosophy through the ideas of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, exploring their ideas about the importance of questioning, independent thought, and the nature of the universe. Students also explore the philosophical question, ‘Can we prove God exists?’, which is approached through the lens of traditional arguments for God’s existence, presented by Thomas Aquinas and William Paley.  In the second half of the course, the focus shifts from Philosophy to Ethics; students explore questions of morality by discussing famous ethical dilemmas, as well as learning about the difference between absolutism and relativism. The final part of the course covers ethical theory, with a focus on utilitarianism and situation ethics.