Key Stage 4 Curriculum

It is our aim that when our students leave Tretherras they tell and live their story of success with happiness, pride and confidence.

When young people leave Tretherras, they will be able to: Communicate Convincingly; Engage Fully; Decide wisely; Achieve Highly.

Key Stage 4 sees the beginning of their GCSE courses. Students will already be able to see their KS3 learning impacting on knowledge they are now accessing at KS4, and teachers will support students in this by making links both across and within the curriculum.

A rigorous revision programme, SORT, runs across all subjects and helps students to Summarise, Organise, Recall and Test their knowledge throughout the year so they are best placed to succeed in their examinations at the end of Year 11.

In Year 9 students will continue to follow a broad curriculum, but will choose to focus on either one of their Humanities subjects and continue to study the Modern Foreign Language they have studied in Years 7 and 8. Students in Year 9 will continue to be taught all the Creative and Performing Art subjects by specialist teachers as discrete subjects.

Part-way through Year 9 students will complete their option process for their Level 2 programme of study in Years 10 and 11, choosing 4 options to complement their core curriculum. In Years 10 and 11, all students follow a core curriculum which includes English and English Literature, Mathematics and Science. In addition, all students follow a course in Physical Education and SMSC, which includes Careers Guidance, Ethics & Philosophy and Citizenship. All students in Year 10 undertake a week’s Work Experience in the summer term.

The English Baccalaureate (the EBacc) is awarded (but not certificated) to students who gain GCSE grades 9-5 in the following subjects: English, Mathematics, Core Science, a Modern Foreign Language (French or Spanish) and a Humanities subject (History or Geography). The thinking behind the EBacc is that it encourages students to take a range of academic subjects which will provide students with an appropriate foundation for the next steps in their education or training after GCSEs. It is highly valued by Universities and any student with future aspirations to study at university should consider choosing EBacc subjects. However, we believe that the best courses and subjects for students are the ones that suit them best, which they enjoy the most, and which offer them clear progression to study and training beyond Year 11. This is why we offer a wide range of subjects to give our students the greatest choice possible.