Our curriculum

Please find here a copy of the letter sent home to all parents on the morning of Tuesday 17th March, regarding school work for students self isolating.

As a school, we have risk assessments, emergency plans and contingencies in place should we have to close either partially or fully, due to government instruction or significant staff absence. In the event of any closure, we will inform you via email or text message and a message on our school website. Our social media channels (Facebook and Twitter) will also carry the message. 

In the event of any whole school closure, work will be made available on Showbie by your child’s teachers. Many classes in school are already doing this. We are very fortunate in being an iPad school, this will allow the vast majority of students to access revision or work remotely from home. However, we would be grateful if you could inform us as soon as possible (via a note in your child’s planner to be shown to his/her tutor) of any difficulty with this – in which case additional contingencies will be made for your child.

However, we are very aware that some students are now having to self-isolate to follow Public Health England and the government’s guidance. We understand that this can cause worry, but whilst the school is open, we cannot set work on an individual basis due to the numbers involved.

Instead, for self isolating students, there are a number of home learning websites, which will consolidate the learning that has been going on in lessons. Our first recommendation is to check Showbie, as a lot of the work going on in lessons is also being uploaded to Showbie. Please do not worry about your child ‘falling behind’ or missing out, as contingencies are now being rolled out throughout our curriculum.

Our curriculum at Key Stage 3 (Years 7 and 8) is mapped out here to and we can highly recommend these websites:

• www.senecalearning.com
• www.hegartymaths.com
• www.quizlet.com
• www.pearsonactivelearn.com
• www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize

The mapping of our Key Stage 4 curriculum will follow soon, however students on GCSE courses should be aware of the content they have recently been studying. In addition, on the reverse of this letter are specific websites for a variety of individual subjects (the links can be found here: tinyurl.com/um3nstn . Again, we would recommend these for students who are self-isolating. In the event of a whole school closure, staff will post appropriate work on their Showbie class pages, which will take priority.

We will continue to keep you informed of any updates as soon as we get them and thank you for your understanding and support at this very unique and challenging time.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Hill

Vice Principal (Curriculum)

Specific Links for each subject area:

English/Literacy

• Homework booklets:
  • Key Stage 3 – Dahl  /   Sachar  /  Dickens  /  Poe  /  Orwell  /  Steinbeck  /  Romeo and Juliet  /  Hunger Games
  • Key Stage 4 – Macbeth  /   Creative writing  /  Nonfiction writing / Poetry – Nature /  Personal  /  Society

• Dropbox files:
  • A Christmas Carol  /  Revision resources  /  Power and conflict resources  /  Poetry resources  /  Non-fiction and creative writing

• www.sparknotes.com – full of useful analysis of themes, characters and quotations for all the texts
• www.shmoop.com – revision website that breaks down almost every element of the text you are studying and offers quick and interesting analysis.  
• www.bbcbitesize.com –   Always offers quick, clear and concise information on the text you are studying, broken down into manageable chunks especially KS3 here:
• www.studywise.co.uk – offers links to other useful revision websites.

Maths

• Hegarty Maths – Number 1 recommendation
• Corbett maths

• Mathster – Free worksheets

• Khan Academy – Includes YouTube videos 

Science

• 23 equations – Learn your GCSE equations wherever you are

• GCSE Free Science lessons – Youtube videos

• Cognito – YouTube videos covering GCSE Science content
• Doc Brown – Science Revision

Religious Studies

• BBC Subject Link – Further information is also on Showbie and we would  encourage students to engage with aspects of worship, festivals and authority in different religions

Modern Languages

• languagesonline.org.uk – Self marking activities for French and German
• Quizlet – Online vocab learning (many teachers have their own classes set up)
• Vocab Express – Vocab learning – use individual login provided by your teacher

History

• BBC – Free curriculum mapped videos

• Historical association – Secondary resource

Geography

• BBC Bitesize – For Exam classes
• Online Textbook – The textbook we follow, but online

• Tutorful – Top Geography websites, YouTube videos, and resources
• Cool Geography – Top Geography website as is Geographycat

Arts & Performing Arts

• Art for Kids Hub – YouTube videos

• Red Ted Art  – Craft activities for children
• Music revision for Year 10 and Year 11 and direct from Mr Lowe here
• Music for all students is ” data-saferedirecturl=”https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DDJp9IINoN7c&source=gmail&ust=1584532128879000&usg=AFQjCNG2magyEVEkMCWlpz2UglhIaYDZUQ”>here

PE

• GCSE PE resources 

• Teach PE – information linked to GCSE resources

The organisation and delivery of the curriculum at Manor CE Academy has always been key to our success. Whilst we are an Academy we value the breadth of the National Curriculum and therefore follow it. We also believe that effective curriculum design requires essential concepts and knowledge to be planned and “sequenced” with end points and building blocks carefully thought out. We also make sure students can learn for the ‘long term’ and develop their skills of memory.

Our full curriculum policy sets out our curriculum intent (the aims of our programme of education, including the knowledge and skills to be gained at each stage); curriculum implementation (how we select, sequence and structure our curriculum to best suit our students) and how we measure the impact (how we evaluate what knowledge and skills students have gained against our expectations).

The curriculum at Manor Academy is split into two key stages. Key Stage 3 runs from Year 7 into Year 8, and Key Stage 4 runs from Year 9 to Year 11. Students study a wide range of subjects through Key Stage 3 and we try to encourage a good breadth of subjects as options for Key Stage 4 as well. As Manor is a church school, all pupils take Religious Studies as a GCSE. The government actively encourages schools to ensure EBacc subjects are available to all pupils. The Ebacc comprises English, mathematics, science, history or geography and a foreign language. Performance within these subjects make up 70% of key government measures, with the remaining 30% for all other subjects.

Curriculum and Organisation

Key Stage 3: Years 7-8

Students follow the programme of study of the National Curriculum and take the full range of subjects

Key Stage 4: Years 9-11

All students study English (Language and Literature), Mathematics, Science, Religious Studies (personal, social and health education and citizenship). In addition, non-examination subjects of Enrichment and core PE are followed.   Students must also, in the majority of cases, study a Modern Foreign Language (French or German).

In addition, students have access to study further optional courses. Courses are available in the following areas:

Other optional courses available are Child Development and the Certificate of Personal Effectiveness (CoPE) with Wider Key Skills.

There is also a comprehensive Foundation Learning strand of courses which are offered to students with specific requirements.  Please note that the curriculum offer changes on annual basis. 

In the Sprin term of Year 8, parents and students are informed about the choices available and the work to be covered in each course.  Students are offered advice before any decisions are made.  Students receive advice from subject teachers and an independent Careers Adviser.

Cross-curricular skills are developed throughout Key Stage 4, in ICT, economic and industrial understanding, enterprise education, environmental education and citizenship. PE and Enrichment are taught as non-accredited core subjects.

Organisation

Year 7 and 8

Students are taught mainly in mixed ability forms with some setting in certain areas (Maths in Years 7 & 8, MFL in Year 8 and Science in Year 8).

Years 9, 10 and 11
Students are divided into sets for Mathematics, English, Science, Religious Studies and Core-PE. For Option subjects, they are taught in groups according to their choice of subject and the examination level to which the subject is taught. Options are blocked according to students’ preference and not in pre-defined blocks.

Who to contact about our curriculum

Please feel free to contact us if you require any further information about our Curriculum

Vice Principal: Attainment and Progress – Mr A Hill

Email:  a.hill@mce.hlt.academy Phone: 01904 798722

Able, Gifted and Talented Students

Rationale

Manor CE Academy is committed to the provision of high-quality education for all students but recognises the need to make additional provision for students who are able, gifted and talented. All students have the right to equality of opportunity; to experience teaching which allows them to move forward in their learning and to be provided with opportunities and appropriate support to meet their individual needs. We are committed to:

• providing an environment which encourages all students to maximise their potential
• recognising the needs of more able students both academically and socially
• ensuring that more able students are motivated to achieve to the best of their ability
• providing enrichment and enhancement opportunities for more able students where
• communicating effectively with parents and carers with regard to issues related to the Gifted and Talented
• providing a co-ordinated approach to transition between the primary and secondary phases

Definition

A gifted student is one who has the potential to excel automatically in one or more subjects such as English, Drama, Technology or Mathematics.  A talented student is one who has the ability to excel in practical skills such as Sport, Leadership or Artistic Performance (Government Definition – April 2008).  An able student is identified using a variety of methods such as National tests, Cognitive Ability Tests in Year 7, teacher assessment and nomination.  This is a continuous whole school process.

External Examinations

All students are encouraged to aim for academic success. They are entered for GCSE examinations in the syllabus appropriate to their abilities. Most students will be entered for 10 subjects.  Parents are informed of the entries being made on behalf of their child. Where appropriate, students may be encouraged to take different routes of accreditation.