Dear Parents and Carers

We had a really nice evening with our Year 8s and their parents and carers yesterday as they considered their Year 9 curriculum. We have made some changes to this process over recent years and feel that it now balances the needs of students to have a broad curriculum together with the skills they will require. Students progressing into Year 9 will maintain nearly all their current subjects but where we do facilitate some choice is around the creative and technical subjects. Whilst the traditional “English Baccalaureate” subjects of English, Maths, Science, Humanities and Languages certainly provide a balanced and strong education, especially if a student is likely to progress to university, we must also keep in mind that students making these choices now won’t retire until around 2080. 

To be successful until this date will require creativity and confidence in using technology. Therefore, our Year 9 curriculum brings into play subjects such as Photography, Creative imedia, Computer Science and the Arts, allowing students to choose some new experiences whilst keeping the core subjects, Humanities and Languages. Then, at the end of Year 9 these students will choose which subjects to take forward to GCSE having had a far broader range of experiences from which to make an informed choice.

It is always a nice evening discussing these options with the Year 8s and their parents and carers and I thank all those who came last night. 

Best wishes

Andy Perry

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