Year 10: What can I study?
Key Stage 4
- As a Year 10 student at Logic Studio School you will study on a personalised programme linked to work placements and projects within employment.
- Your personalised offer will include:
- Academic GCSE’s, including all of the Ebacc subjects
- A vocational qualification in our specialisms
- Lessons based around real Employer-Led project briefs to stimulate new ways of learning
- Rigorous tracking and regular review of learner progress working in close partnership with parents and carers
- A customised curriculum which recognises your abilities as an individual
Curriculum Information
The following subjects are studied at GCSE:
All Key Stage 4 students have five periods of English per week. We follow the AQA specifications for Language and Literature. Although all students study the same set texts, careful thought is given to the pedagogical approach needed to challenge the most able and those in need of more support. Some students will also take part in weekly literacy support sessions and others will have enrichment and extension lessons. Students complete at least two pieces of portfolio work per half term, including a half termly assessment. Prep is set weekly.
In Year 10, we study a range of fiction texts in preparation for English Language Paper 1. We look at how writers describe settings, create characters, tension and atmosphere and put this into practice in a range of creative writing tasks. For English Literature, we study the modern play ‘Blood Brothers’, a range of Power and Conflict poetry and ‘Jekyll and Hyde’. In Year 11 we study ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and prepare for English Language Paper 2, studying a variety of modern and 19th century non-fiction writing.
All Key Stage 4 students complete a BTEC First Award in Business Studies. The qualification is made up of four units, three of which are internally assessed with one external exam. In Year 10 students study Unit 1 Enterprise in Business and Unit 2 Finance for Business (external exam). In Year 11 they complete Unit 3 Branding and Unit 8 Recruitment and Selection.
Lessons are designed around BTEC assessment criteria and command words. In Year 10 students complete weekly prep which is focused on developing Unit 2 exam skills. In Year 11 students may be asked to attend a weekly ‘coursework clinic’ to ensure their internal assessments are complete and on target. Across the two-year qualification students will develop their analysis, evaluation and justification skills within a business context.
Students will undertake the Edexcel GCSE in Computer Science over three lessons per week, plus 1 hour of prep. The course covers three main areas: Principles of Computer Science, Application of Computational Thinking and a Computer Science Project. It is assessed by two exams and one piece of coursework, all undertaken in Year 11.
Year 10 students undertake a BTEC First Award in Creative Digital Media Production. Over 3 lessons per week for two years, they will undertake 4 units, covering: Digital Media Sectors and Audiences, Planning and Pitching a Media Product, Digital Moving Image Production, Website Production. The course is highly applied, particularly in Year 11 when students will make their own videos and websites. The course is assessed by an exam at the end of Year 10, and 3 pieces of extended coursework. The delivery of this course is supported by extended work during Project Based Learning weeks, which utilise the support of industry professionals.
At KS4 students have 4 lessons of History a week. History follows the Edexcel exam board and teach topics on Elizabethan England, Crime and Punishment Through Time, Weimar and Nazi Germany, and Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-1991. In Years 10 and 11 students are assessed regularly both on exam technique and knowledge requirements. This is achieved through a combination of mock exams, and knowledge tests. Students are set a 1 hour PREP task once a week at GCSE level. This could be a mixture of reading and comprehension, exam style questions or facts to learn in order to prepare for knowledge tests.
Students in Year 10 and 11 are taught three periods of Chemistry each week. Students follow the AQA Chemistry specification only. The Year 10 scheme of work covers Bonding, structure, and the properties of matter, Quantitative chemistry, Chemical changes, Energy changes, The rate and extent of chemical change.
Students in Year 10 and 11 have formative assessments every half term. In the summer term of Year 10 students sit a GCSE mock examination in Chemistry. Students are informally assessed throughout the year by their teacher and good use is made of self and peer assessment through STAR activities. PREP is set once a week and consists of knowledge test and a task to secure, apply and extend the topics covered in class.
Students in Year 10 and 11 have four Spanish lessons per week. Students sit Edexcel 9-1 GCSE. Lessons focus on the skills required at GCSE and are assessed at the end of each module. Teachers use Pearson’s materials for both Spanish, Viva and Studio, for the basis of our KS4 curriculum and use in-house materials in conjunction with this. Prep is set once a week and will include vocabulary learning. Mocks take place at the end of Year 10 and Year 11.
At Key Stage 4, students receive 4 lessons of Geography per week, and follow the new 9-1 Edexcel B Specification. There are three components investigate that cover the two aspects of Global Geographic Issues, UK Geography and fieldwork. Fieldwork is compulsory for the new GCSE specification and our students are expected to do two different one-day fieldwork experiences throughout the two years. At the end of each topic, students are assessed using a past paper from the topic just covered. All assessments are tracked throughout the year and reported to parents every term. Students receive PREP every week, which summarises and consolidates the students’ learning, with a series of past GCSE questions that need to be answered.
Syllabus Information
If you would like to find out more about the curriculum that our school follows click below. You will also see information about the relevant person to contact for each subject area.
Curriculum Overview
Year 10 and 11 students study a broad but academically rigorous curriculum. In addition to our specialist areas, nearly all students study English, Maths, Science and Modern Foreign Languages or at least one Humanity; these are not only vital subjects for securing a place in Higher Education but also for being highly functional within our global society. Additional subjects depend upon the pathway on which the student has been placed. P.E. is taught to all students with an increased emphasis on developing sporting interests that students will continue with after leaving us.
In Years 10 and 11, students are generally set by ability, albeit in very small year groups. Again, there is a strong emphasis on teacher-led differentiation and targetted intervention lessons for any student not progressing as they should.
Outside of class, students complete PREP in all examined subjects at Key Stage 4. There is an increased expectation that students spend more time on this work outside of school as the quantity of work given will exceed the time allocated during timetabled PREP sessions. It is important that students form this habit in order to support the development of their study skills in preparation for external examinations. PREP tasks can take many different forms: consolidating classwork through further or extended questions, ‘interleaving’ tasks which ask the students to recall work covered a few weeks ago, ‘flipped learning’ tasks which prime the students with information ready for future teaching, the development of revision notes and study aids that summarise key topic areas or any other appropriate task the teacher sees fit.
It is important that students are assessed regularly so that they are given the opportunity to apply their class-based understanding to the types of questions they will receive in external examinations. We believe that everybody benefits from this. Our students have an opportunity to prepare for and experience the same type of questions they will see in their final examinations and it highlights – for both the student and the teacher – areas of strength and weakness so that teaching may be adapted to better meet the learner’s needs. It also provides the school with an opportunity to identify those groups not performing in line with expectations so that school-wide intervention may be put into place. In addition to in-class assessment there are also three periods of mock examinations. These take place in the June of Year 10 and the December and March of Year 11. At this point students experience the pressure of preparing for and sitting multiple exams in a short space of time.
Through incisive monitoring of assessment data the school carefully creates intervention groups. We first focus on the ‘basics’ (students not achieving good progression in English and/or Mathematics), then widen this to include Science, Modern Foreign Languages and Humanities. We also look carefully at the performance of key sub-groups within the school, for example White British, Pupil Premium, Most Able, etc. Senior leaders hold regular meetings to discuss the progress of these students and teachers are required to indicate the Wave 1 interventions that have been put in place to support these students.
Attendance is also monitored closely with separate intervention in place where we recognise this is impacting on learning. Some students may be timetabled for specific intervention lessons in English, Mathematics and Science during Year 11. We also look at how periods of PREP can be used differently to further support the progression of these students.
PSHE and Religious Education
The personal development and wellbeing of students always features as part of our key priorities. We believe that this is the bedrock of good mental and physical health. Consequently students can engage with their academic learning better. PHSE and R.E is currently delivered through two strands: ‘PBL weeks’ and our PSHE programme. ‘PBL weeks’ include numerous opportunities, from participation in debates, partaking in the democratic process, workshops, visits and keynote speakers and a range of activities around well-being, keeping safe, sex and relationships. These are reinforced by a weekly PSHE lesson at KS4 which is reflects the needs and interests of our students and is planned to ensure purposeful and relevant use of time. Our weekly assembly programme provides a series of rich, diverse and well-coordinated assemblies. Many members of staff lead on Whole Academy assemblies. R.E is also taught implicitly in many subject areas across KS4.
CEIAG
We have a duty to secure independent careers guidance for all students. Careers guidance for young people should inspire and motivate them to fulfil their potential. We strive to help every pupil develop high aspirations and consider a broad and ambitious range of careers. We acknowledge that one of the best ways to inspire every pupil is through the creation of real-life contacts with the world of work to help them better understand where different choices can take them in the future. More detail can be found in the careers section of the website.
Transition
Any periods of change can be challenging to deal with. When that change can affect future paths through education or into careers the change can be all the more daunting. It is for this reason that we pride ourselves on the support that is offered to students at these key points. We always put the student first and ensure that decisions that are made are best suited to individual needs.
During Year 10 and 11, students receive talks through assemblies and dedicated career days that start to get them thinking about their Post-16 options. We also hold a Year 11 Transition evening in September where offer advice and guidance to parents on this matter. Students complete surveys in the Summer of Year 10 and the Autumn of Year 11 to indicate probable destinations. All students have a 1-2-1 interviews with the Senior Leadership Team in October of Year 11 where reporting data is correlated to destination choice and further advice is given. We seek to retain as many students as we can, where we feel our provision is best suited to their needs. Continued tracking of destination choices allows staff to have meaningful and targeted meetings with students at regular intervals.
We know that the passion our staff have for teaching their subject can make the difference in students applying to Higher Education. Students are also encouraged into Wider Participation schemes such as the ‘National Collaborative Outreach Programme’ (NCOP) as we firmly believe that university education should be the first choice for our most able learners. Our Sixth Form students are provided with a range of employer engagement activities and undergraduate preparation sessions.