YEAR 7 CURRICULUM

2015/2016

Dear Parent/Carer

On behalf of the staff at Backwell School, I would like to

welcome you to our school. Starting a new school is exciting,

but it is also one of those occasions that can cause a certain

amount of anxiety for both students and parents. The purpose

of this booklet is to give you an overview of what your son or

daughter will be studying in each subject over the coming

year. I hope that it will help you to support your child and

understand the curriculum that he or she will be following.

This booklet also contains important dates to inform you about

school events and a list of useful people you may need to

contact.

This booklet is available on our school website:

www.backwellschool.net.

Any feedback on the contents of this booklet will be gratefully

received.

Yours faithfully

Ben Houghton

Deputy Headteacher

CONTENTS

Important dates …………………………………………… 2

Useful people ………………………………………………. 3

T2 Breakout ……………………………………….………… 4

Art and Design ……………………………..………………. 7

Computing and ICT ………………………………………. 8

Design and Technology (DT) …………………………..... 9

English ………………………………………………………… 10

French ……………………………………………………….. 12

Geography ………………………………………………….. 13

History ……………………………………………………….... 14

Mathematics ………………………………………………... 15

Music ………………………………………………………..... 16

Philosophy and Religion (PR) …………………………….. 17

Physical Education (PE) …………………………………… 17

Science …………………………………………………….... 18

Spanish ……………………………………………………….. 19

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Education (SMSC) 20

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IMPORTANT DATES

Meeting with tutors

Thursday 15 October 2015, 4.30 pm – 6.30 pm

This is a chance for you to have a short meeting with your

child’s tutor, to discuss how he or she is settling in and for either

of you to raise any concerns you have. We also plan displays

and presentations on issues of special interest to Year 7

parents.

Reports

During Term 4 you will receive a short report through the post.

The short report contains assessment data and a short

comment from staff to share achievements and areas for

development. In July you will receive a target report. The

target report contains assessment data and a short comment

from staff to share achievements and areas for development.

Parents’ evening

Thursday 17 March 2016, 4.30 pm – 6.30 pm

This is an opportunity to have short meetings with all the staff

who teach your child to discuss how s/he has progressed

during his/her first year here.

If you have particular worries or concerns about your child

please contact us at any time. Telephone and ask to speak

to or leave a message for your child’s tutor or Miss Joanne

Leighton, Head of Year 7 or for Miss Vincent or Mr Wearne,

Deputy Heads of Year 7. If you leave a phone number we will

get back to you.

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USEFUL PEOPLE

Head of Year 7 Miss J Leighton

Deputy Head of Year 7 Miss L Vincent and Mr J Wearne

Tutors

7C1 Mr G Brees

7C2 Mrs R Lewis / Ms A Keep

7C3 Ms H Wild

7M1 Ms L Thomas

7M2 Mr N Falla

7Q1 Mr B Mortimer

7Q2 Mrs K Lewis / Ms R Wolfe

7Q3 Mrs K Stuttard/ Mrs R St John-Crees

7S1 Ms A Saif

7S2 Mr H Twist

Parent Support Adviser Mrs A Cheeseman

The Backwell Knowledge

The Backwell Knowledge is a series of meetings addressing

issues common to all parents of children just entering their

teens. The meetings take place over Terms 2 and 3 – please

watch out for further information that will be sent home.

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BREAKOUT DAY (THURSDAY WEEK 1)

Our Year 7 curriculum at Backwell aims to ensure that all our

students have the chance to become:

successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress

and achieve;

confident individuals who are able to live safe and

healthy lives;

responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to

society.

One day a week, every fortnight, we have a different day for

Year 7 students called Breakout Day. In this day, students

“break away” from the traditional timetable and take part in

alternative learning activities. These activities are designed to

allow students to experience more real-life situations and

explore ways in which they can negotiate more complex

personal and professional scenarios.

All activities should satisfy all or most of the Personal Learning

and Thinking Skills (PeLTS), as previously outlined by QCA. These

are six groups of skills that, together with the functional skills of

English, Mathematics and ICT, are essential to success in

learning, life and work. In essence, the framework captures

the essential skills of: managing self; managing relationships

with others; and managing own learning, performance and

work. It is these skills that will enable our young people to

enter work and adult life as confident and capable

individuals. The titles of the six PeLTS groups are:

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Independent enquirers.

Creative thinkers.

Reflective learners.

Team workers.

Self-managers.

Effective participators.

Whilst the current government has moved away from the

PeLTS acronym, skills-based learning is still highly valued and

we at Backwell decided to maintain the six skills as a way of

making learning explicit to students and encouraging them to

evaluate their own learning under these headings.

Breakout has also been designed to fulfil broader curriculum

outcomes such as promoting:

Identity and cultural diversity

Healthy lifestyles

Community participation

Enterprise

Global dimension and sustainable development

Technology and the media

Creativity and critical thinking

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Time will also be reserved specifically for the delivery of PSHE,

Citizenship and IAG (Information, Advice and Guidance) units.

Wherever possible these subjects will not be delivered in

isolation, but as part of integrated cross-curricular activities.

Over the past years Breakout has been extremely successful

and pupils have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It is so

highly valued by students, parents and teachers that we are in

the process of rolling out three whole-school ‘Breakout Days’

to all students from years 7 to 13; this means that all of our

students can continue to develop important life and

employability skills all the way through their journey at Backwell

School.

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CURRICULUM DETAILS FOR SUBJECTS STUDIED IN

YEAR 7

Art and Design

In Art we want our students to:

Enjoy making art and taking creative risks

Explore their own ideas and visually communicate views

Develop their skills using and experimenting with a

range of materials and processes

Understand and respond to art from our own and other

cultures

Learn the ICT skills needed to use our creative software

Our schemes in Year 7 give students the opportunity to

develop their skills in a range of media, including clay and

digital photography. In Term 1 and 2 they will learn the basic

elements of art, such as colour, line, tone, composition and

pattern by using a range of media, and taught how to

analyse and respond to the work of others. A final outcome

will be created responding to the theme of “Colour”. All this

work will be levelled for the start of KS3 Baseline. They will then

go on to explore issues on Healthy Eating and respond to the

theme of Decoration in other cultures. They will work

individually or together on team projects to come up with

creative and original outcomes. They will respond to Narrative

art and stories to give them skills with drawing and

composition.

Teachers develop schemes of work based on the National

Curriculum and pupils are taught how to create art through:

Inspiration from a range of sources

Experimentation and refinement of ideas

Communication of ideas, feelings, observations

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Planning and creation of a personal outcomes

Students are expected to have drawing materials for their

lessons, including HB and 2B drawing pencils, 12 coloured

pencils and black fine liner pens. To support their learning at

home we would like them to have a wider range of art

materials, which could be purchased at the school’s non-profit

making Art shop.

Homework is set in projects every two terms, with written

activity sheets at the back of their books. They are

encouraged to act on feedback to improve their work or are

given extra extension work. It is important that students can

work independently, making choices about the work they

produce, the media they use and how they respond to their

research into the work of others.

Computing and ICT

Students will not just learn the skills to use software but also how

to develop their computational thinking and how computers

store, use and communicate data. Seven units of work will

cover the following topics

Digital Literacy

Using presentation software to introduce present

information about the personal computer components

Digital Skills

Using spreadsheets to model a spy mission, and other

tasks.

Using programming software to create a computer

game

Controlling everyday events using flowcharts

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Technical knowledge

Understanding the roles of the components in a

modern PC

Finding information

Searching for reliable and accurate information

Organising and analysing data to draw conclusions.

Assessment will be by short tests throughout the year or by

teacher assessment of work produced. There is no homework

in ICT.

Students are very used to using ICT in their everyday life, so it

would be useful for parents/carers to tell them what life was

like before Computers!

Design & Technology

In Years 7 and 8 students study either Food and Textiles or

Product Design:

Group 1

Food Technology

Textiles Technology

Group 2

Product Design

Food and Textiles students will undertake alternate Food and

Textiles projects throughout the year, whilst Product Design

students will study their single option for the whole year (a

double lesson per week for each Group). This will enable

students to cover more in-depth and challenging projects,

resulting in a higher level of skill and understanding.

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Year 7 students only will follow the other Group’s topics the

following year.

Each subject area will cover a range of projects to develop

students’ research, product analysis, designing and making

skills. All subject areas will consist of practical projects and the

use of ICT where appropriate. Many of the skills learnt will be

transferable across the subject areas and all these Design and

Technology subjects are available as GCSE options at Key

Stage 4.

English

The aim of the English curriculum is to enable all students to

develop competency and creativity in all areas of the subject.

The curriculum is broken into three key assessment areas;

speaking and listening, reading and writing. One lesson per

fortnight is timetabled in the library classroom and is used to

promote independent, wider reading skills. We expect all

students to be reading regularly throughout the year and ask

parents to support this at home.

The Year 7 syllabus is delivered through the following

programmes of study:

Narrative: Transition Unit. Reading a variety of texts that reflect

a range of cultural experiences and exploring the writers’

craft; organising writing effectively; varying sentence structure

and writing with technical accuracy. Final outcome: write an

autobiographical account.

Fiction: shared novel. Organise and present texts effectively;

read for pleasure and for meaning; explore the craft of the

author. Final outcome: write a book review.

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Poetry: performance. Reading and analysing a variety of

contemporary and pre-20th century texts; analysing the

techniques used and experimenting with these in their own

writing, using inventive approaches to making meaning a

playing with language. Final outcome: write a poem – and

perform it!

Drama: play script. Analysing and showing awareness of the

conventions of a drama text; devising and performing and

reflecting on their performances; expressing their ideas

creatively and imaginatively; communicating with each other

confidently and effectively. Final outcome: speaking and

listening assessment based on a key event in the play (e.g. an

alternative scene).

Language study: language variation. Read a range of text

from different media; explore formality in texts; discuss and

investigate writers’ choices of language and the purpose of

texts. Final outcome: transform the formality of an existing text

for a new audience/purpose.

Non-fiction / Media: news. Reading and accurately writing a

range of non-fiction texts; consider task, reader and purpose in

their writing. Final outcome: speaking and listening assessment

based on news report they’ve written; analysis of a published

newspaper report.

ICT: developing their ability to present texts appropriately;

reading a range of multi-modal texts, including information

texts. ICT is delivered through the English curriculum in a

variety of ways.

During the year, formal assessed work will be completed in

students’ purple books whilst their green books will be used for

notes and drafting purposes. In addition, homework will

normally be set once a week and might focus on providing

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students with regular grammar, punctuation and spelling

practice. This will usually take about 30 minutes to complete.

Parents can assist by helping their child to proof read and

check their draft or finished work.

French

Aims and Objectives: The course in French develops the four

language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Students learn to communicate in French by being given a

range of tasks with a real purpose. The course focuses on the

immediate world of the learner and covers the following topic

areas in Year 7:

Introducing yourself and exchanging personal

information

Family and personal descriptions

School

Food and drink

Assessment: During the year formal tests are given on the skills

of speaking, writing, listening and reading. Teachers regularly

evaluate and give feedback to students on their progress.

Homework: Students are given a range of tasks involving

comprehension, writing or learning. They can expect either

one long task or two 15 minute tasks a week.

How to support learning: Students are expected to have their

own pocket French dictionary – we recommend the Oxford or

Collins range. Students are issued with workbooks which

include useful summary pages at the end of each unit. It is

recommended that students bring in their own headphones

for computer room lessons. The website

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www.linguascope.com is excellent for follow-up activities at

home (ask teacher for username and password).

Geography

In Year 7 the emphasis in Geography is on giving a broad

introduction to the subject with a particular focus on the UK

and our home region of the South West.

We start by examining what Geography means and

throughout the year aim to encourage and inspire our

students to take an interest in the world around them. We

support them to ask questions and to become confident at

working independently to find out how and why things

happen.

The following modules are covered during the year:

Map-work skills - from atlases to OS Maps

The geology and landscapes of the SW

Farming and how it impacts us

The growth and change of our local settlements, Bristol

and Backwell

Tourism in the UK – including a fieldtrip to examine the

impacts of tourism in Wells.

Weather and Climate in the UK

Geographical skills are emphasised throughout all modules

and as much investigative and practical work as possible is

included, together with fieldwork.

History

The aims of the History Department’s teaching are:

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To foster an enjoyment of History in students and to

encourage them to take a greater interest in the past.

To give students a greater understanding of the history

and culture of other countries including their present

situation in the world.

To help students understand present day issues.

To assist in training students’ minds by means of

particular skills and disciplines.

Most of the time in Year 7 is spent studying Britain 1066-1603,

including the Battle of Hastings, Thomas Becket, King John and

Magna Carta, the Reformation of the Church and the Reign

of Elizabeth. Students also study a non-European Society –

either Medieval Islam or the Native Peoples of North America.

Homework is set each week. Usually this is a single short piece.

On some occasions, though, longer project based work may

be set over a period of weeks. Here guidance will be given to

students on how they might spread their effort over a number

of weeks, rather than leaving it all until the last minute. We

also like to include the opportunity of model-making

somewhere along the line, e.g., constructing a motte and

bailey castle.

Students are encouraged to develop the skills of arguments

through clear explanation, the use of examples to support

their ideas and structuring these ideas clearly. A variety of

sources are analysed, with an emphasis on making inferences.

We employ a system of continuous assessment with

comments-only marking.

We feel very strongly that parents can best support and

consolidate their children’s learning in History by taking an

interest themselves. The ‘What did you learn today in History?’

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approach is great, encouraging the children to share their

new-found knowledge.

Mathematics

Mathematics is taught to students in ability sets enabling them

to develop at a pace to match their ability. This allows

students to enjoy and feel confident with Mathematics

encouraging engagement and motivation to meet high

expectations. Early in the year those students requiring extra

support are identified and appropriate provision is given.

Assessments are made termly to monitor progress. Homework

is set regularly to reinforce class work and encourage

independent learning.

To aid progress at home, we recommend use of study guides

and websites of the appropriate levels. Familiarising students

with their tables and everyday uses of Mathematics such as

units of measure and arithmetic calculations is also beneficial.

Asking students to explain what they have learnt is an

excellent way of consolidating understanding and involving

parents/carers in learning.

The course outline is:

Term 1: Introduction to algebra, including use of

negative numbers under the four basic operations.

Term 2: Transformation, use of all four quadrants. Area,

volume and nets of solids.

Term 3: Fractions, percentages and decimals.

Term 4: Measures, facts about polygons, angles,

construction, loci and bearings.

Term 5: Estimation, rounding and use of significant

figures. Number facts – use of integers and primes.

Types of number.

Term 6: Probability and statistics.

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Music

Music is a unique form of communication that enables

students to develop a wide range of transferable skills.

Collaborating and working with others as musicians as well as

adapting to different musical roles and respecting the values

of others is a vital part of the learning experience.

The course aims to promote enjoyment and develop interest in

music by engaging all students in composing, performing and

appraising. Students work individually, as a class, in pairs or

small groups on a wide range of practical activities. These

may include:

Singing as a class or in small groups, with some choosing to

further their ability and enjoyment in the school’s choirs.

Playing pitched percussion, such as glockenspiels and

xylophones, keyboards and other relevant instruments,

with students who show ability and interest being

encouraged to play in the school’s orchestras and bands.

Composing projects

Listening to the performance of music and analysing

aspects of its composition, often with reference to

appropriate notation.

Topics covered in Year 7 include Rhythm, Elements of Music,

The Orchestra, Musical Structures, Pentatonic Music and

Programme Music. All pupils will be introduced to the Treble

Clef and begin to develop their own notation skills.

Assessment is carried out regularly to promote good progress

and there is an emphasis on students monitoring their own

technical and creative skills. Peer assessment and self-

evaluation form are encouraged alongside formal assessment

tasks once a term.

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Philosophy and Religion

The curriculum is based on the North Somerset locally agreed

syllabus (a legal document followed by all local schools) and

national guidelines. The programme of study does not require

a religious belief and is not about teaching people to believe;

the fact that some students have religious beliefs, some are

atheist and some are indifferent is a reflection of society as a

whole. Students have the opportunity to discuss and reflect

on the belief systems of the six major religions, as well as a

range of ethical and topical issues, in a safe atmosphere in

which every view and belief is valued. The key skills of

empathy, analysis, interpretation and synthesis are

transferable skills which support all areas of the curriculum.

The Year 7 syllabus:

What is belief?

Code breaking.

What do people believe about God?

What happens when we die?

By what authority?

What does it mean to be human?

Physical Education

We aim to instil and encourage a positive approach to

Physical Education, with students enjoying healthy exercise

and learning about physical well-being and the need for

safety.

Students are introduced to new skills and activities as well as

the traditional games. Self-confidence, body awareness and

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control are developed through individual performance, group

work and team play.

Autumn activities: Girls: Fitness, swimming, netball

Boys: Rugby, swimming, gymnastics

Spring activities: Girls: Hockey, gymnastics, team

games

Boys: Soccer, badminton, fitness

Summer activities: Girls: Rounders, tennis, athletics

Boys: Cricket, athletics, softball

Students are taught in ability groupings, promoting

differentiated teaching and learning. Talented students are

encouraged to represent school teams and are nominated for

District and County trials.

Science

Students are expected to:

Build on their scientific knowledge and understanding

from Key Stage 2 and make connections between

different areas of science.

Use scientific ideas and models to explain observations.

Understand a range of familiar applications of science.

Think about the advantages and drawbacks of

scientific and technological developments and

consideration of different opinions.

Safely carry out investigations of different types,

communicating methods, observations, conclusions

and evaluations.

Learn how scientists work and the importance of

experimental evidence in supporting scientific ideas.

Develop the use of ICT to research and communicate

ideas.

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Content of science at Key Stage 3 - The course is modular

and topic based and will include the following topics:

Sc1- Scientific enquiry

Sc2 – Life processes and living things

Variation and classification

Reproduction.

Environment and feeding relationships.

Microbes and health

Genes

Sc3 – Materials and their properties

Acids and alkalis.

Simple chemical reactions.

Solids, liquids and gases.

Sc4 – Physical processes

Light

Electrical circuits.

Space

The ideas are taught in a modular form at the end of which

they are assessed in the form of tests.

Spanish

The course in Spanish aims to develop pupils’ ability to

use the language effectively and to the best of their

ability using the four main language skills: listening,

speaking, reading and writing. We aim to promote

awareness and provide an insight into the culture and

people of the Hispanic World. Students learn to

communicate in Spanish through completing a range of

tasks with a real purpose. The course focuses on the

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immediate world of the learner and covers the following

topic areas in Year 7:

Introducing yourself and exchanging personal

information

Family and personal descriptions

Pets

School

Assessment: During the year formal tests are given on the

skills of speaking, writing, listening and reading. Teachers

regularly evaluate and give feedback to students on

their progress.

Homework: Students are given a range of tasks involving

comprehension, writing or learning. They can expect

either one long task or two 15 minute tasks a week.

How to support learning: Students are expected to have

their own pocket Spanish dictionary – we recommend

the Collins range. It is recommended that students bring

in their own headphones for computer room lessons. The

websites www.espanol-extra.co.uk and

www.linguascope.com (usernames and passwords from

teacher) are excellent for follow-up activities at home.

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Education

(SMSC)

Students’ wider education is important for us to develop

in order for them to become reflective and socially

responsible citizens who can make a valuable

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contribution to their communities. Within tutor time

students will have the opportunity to discuss and reflect

upon relevant issues broadening their understanding of

world events and appreciating a range of different

cultural identities. Students also have a weekly assembly

which covers a range of topics for students to reflect

upon. Throughout many other lessons students are also

taught fundamental British values.

September 2015