Year 8 – Key Stage 3
Key Stage 3 is the first three years of secondary school education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, for pupils aged 11 to 14. KS3 begins when pupils start secondary education. It’s a part of the National Curriculum and so sets out which subjects have to be taught. It also determines how children should be tested and what standards they should achieve. KS3 is not that different to primary education, except the level of achievement is obviously higher and the lessons harder.
Overview
Key Stage 3 is the first three years of secondary school education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, for pupils aged 11 to 14. KS3 begins when pupils start secondary education. It’s a part of the National Curriculum and so sets out which subjects have to be taught. It also determines how children should be tested and what standards they should achieve. KS3 is not that different to primary education, except the level of achievement is obviously higher and the lessons harder.
Years 7 and 8 are an introduction to secondary school subjects. Your child will be developing skills and ways of thinking which set them up and prepare them for GCSE’s in years 10 – 11.
Year 8 Courses
- English
- Mathematics
- Science
- Geography
- History
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English Curriculum
The KS3 English Curriculum has been designed to spark students’ interests and creativity, whilst also providing them with a solid basis of preparation to meet the rigours of Key Stage 4 and 5. It is designed to challenge students, promote valid and respectful discussion and debate, as well as introduce them to a wide range of different texts and genres. The overarching intention is that students are able to confidently discuss, analyse and make their own judgements about a piece of writing. Within different units students will develop a wide variety of skills. These will include analysing language and its impact on the audience/ reader; discussing how structure within a text is used for effect and how context helps to impact writers and their work. Students will also study a wide range of non-fiction texts including newspaper articles and speeches and learn how to use language and structure to argue their own point of view successfully. There are also literacy lessons, focussing on spelling, punctuation and grammar, and library lessons focussing on independent reading embedded throughout the year. Students will also have opportunities to write creatively, both within the texts and genres they are studying and beyond. Through this work students will also learn subject-specific vocabulary to be employed within their own writing, as well as how to structure their work successfully and with flair.
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Maths Curriculum
The aims of the KS3 Curriculum in line with the National Curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils:
- • become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
- • reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
- • can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.
- Adding and subtracting with larger numbers || More calculations || Negative numbers ||STEM: Writing ratios || Using ratios to solve problems || Multiplicative reasoning
- 3D solids || Nets of 3D solids || Surface area || Volume || Working with measures
- Data collection sheets || Interpreting bar charts || Drawing bar charts || STEM: Pie charts
- Simplifying expressions || Functions || Solving equations || Using brackets
- Adding and subtracting decimals || Multiplying decimals || Ordering and rounding decimals || STEM: Problem-solving with decimals
- Measuring and drawing angles || Vertically opposite angles ||Angles in triangles || Drawing triangles accurately || Designing nets
- Squares, cubes and roots || Calculating with brackets and indices || LCM and HCF || Prime factor decomposition
- Generating sequences || Extending sequences || Special sequences || Position-to-term rules || Finding the nth term
- Fractions and percentages || Comparing fractions || Fractions of amounts || Adding and subtracting fractions || Fractions and percentages || Calculating percentages || STEM: Percentages and proportion
- The language of probability || Outcomes || Probability calculations || Experimental probability || FINANCE: Comparing probabilities
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Science Curriculum
- Forces: Contact Forces || Pressure
- Matter: Periodic Table || Elements
- Organisms: Breathing || Digestion
- Electomagnets: Electromagnets || Magnetism
- Reactions: Chemical Energy || Types of Reactions
- Ecosystem: Respiration || Photosynthesis
- Energy: Work || Heating & Cooling
- Earth: Climate || Earth Resources
- Genes: Evolution || Inheritance
- Waves: Wave Effects || Wave Properties
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Geography Curriculum
By the end of KS3 we want students to understand the breadth and relevance of geography in their present and future lives. We want them to understand the importance of a good balance between human and physical phenomena and that, being educated in these areas allows them to look at the world from a number of lenses and critically evaluate their observations. We want our students to comfortably use academic terminology when discussing and writing about geographical concepts and use all the knowledge they have gained to inform their future opinions. Every unit has been created with the aim of enhancing students’ ability to thrive in their understanding of the key geographical concepts of place, space, scale, interdependence, physical processes, environmental interaction, sustainable development, cultural understanding and diversity. These are important as they will help our students have a better understanding for the wider world around them, how it functions, and the implications human actions are having on the natural world. By the end of KS3 they will know how migration and globalisation are interconnected and how the concept of interdependence is tied in with this. They will also learn about the causes and impact of flooding and plate tectonics, understanding the delicate balance between human and physical geography. These concepts are fundamental in becoming a successful geographer and to make the most out of GCSE and A ‘level.
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History Curriculum
The Key Stage Three History Curriculum is a vitally important and challenging phase of students’ learning. It is designed to be ambitious, enjoyable and knowledge rich; sparking students’ curiosity and passion for learning about the past. The overarching intention is that students become articulate and deeply knowledgeable subject specialists. Students are expected to write, speak and adopt the habits of historians, for example making substantiated judgements, having a deep respect for evidence and using academic vocabulary confidently. The history curriculum is designed to ensure students develop the crucial subject- specific knowledge and disciplinary understanding needed to succeed at Key Stage 4, 5 and beyond by providing a solid foundation, embedding critical knowledge and skills and providing opportunities for students to problematise the discipline’s second-order concepts: change and continuity, causation, significance, interpretations, evidence and diversity. By the end of Key Stage Three we expect students to understand the significance of studying history, its relevance for understanding the world today and its importance in key areas such as developing tolerance, respect and understanding towards others.
- Unit 1 : What should everybody know about the Crusades?
- Unit 2 What sort of change was the English Reformation?
- Unit 3: Cromwell Hero or Villain Why do interpretation s of Cromwell differ
- Unit 4: How far did New World Slavery turn Africans into Negroes.
- Unit 5: The British Empire: What can tea reveal to us about Britain and the wider world 1750 -1900?
