Year 7 to 9 Maths, English and Science

Our Key Stage 3 Sessions are designed to support pupilprogress from Year 7 – Year 9through specialised teaching and individual plans.

Sessions are tailored to suit the needs of the students and help to prepare the students for their pathway to Key Stage 4, which focuses predominantly on exams. These sessions are based in groups and allow for discussion and interactive learning, which is key to developing student’s confidence and abilities in preparation for Key Stage 4 and beyond.

*All Key Stage 3 and 4 teachers are specialised in their subject areas and teach in Secondary schools within Greater Manchester.

For GCSE English Language students should:

• Read fluently, and with good understanding, a wide range of texts from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, including literature and literary non-fiction as well as other writing such as reviews and journalism
• Read and evaluate texts critically and make comparisons between texts
• Summarise and synthesise information or ideas from texts
• Use knowledge gained from wide reading to inform and improve their own writing
• Write effectively and coherently using Standard English appropriately
• Use grammar correctly and punctuate and spell accurately
• Acquire and apply a wide vocabulary, alongside a knowledge and understanding of grammatical terminology, and linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• Listen to and understand spoken language and use spoken Standard English effectively.

GCSE English Language is designed on the basis that students should read and be assessed on high-quality, challenging texts from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Each text studied must represent a substantial piece of writing, making significant demands on students in terms of content, structure and the quality of language. The texts, across a range of genres and types, should support students in developing their own writing by providing effective models. The texts must include literature and extended literary non-fiction, and other writing such as essays, reviews and journalism (both printed and online). Texts that are essentially transient, such as instant news feeds, must not be included. The number and types of texts, and their length, are not prescribed.

GCSE specifications in English Literature should enable students to:

• Read a wide range of classic literature fluently and with good understanding and make connections across their reading.
• Read in depth, critically and evaluatively, so that they are able to discuss and explain their understanding and ideas.
• Develop the habit of reading widely and often.
• Appreciate the depth and power of the English literary heritage.
• Write effectively, analytically about their reading, using Standard English.
• Acquire and use a wide vocabulary, including the grammatical terminology and other literary and linguistic terms they need to criticise and analyse what they read.

Scope of study‍

Students should study a range of high quality, intellectually challenging and substantial texts in detail. These must include:

• At least one Shakespeare play.
• At least one 19^th Century novel.
• A selection of poetry since 1789.
• Fiction or drama from the British Isles from 1914 onwards.

All works should have originally been written in English.

Within the range of texts from above, the emphasis should be on deepening students’ understanding. The texts should be chosen with the key aim of providing students with knowledge to support both current and future study.

To broaden their knowledge of literature and enhance their comparative and critical understanding, students should read widely within the range above to prepare them for ‘unseen’ texts within the examination. These unseen texts may or may not be by authors whose works students have studied as set texts.

Reading Comprehension and Reading Critically

Literal and inferential comprehension: understanding a word, phrase, or sentence in context; exploring aspects of plot, characterisation, events, and settings; distinguishing between what is stated explicitly and what is implied; explaining motivation, sequence of events and the relationships between actions or events.

Critical reading: identifying the theme and distinguishing between themes; supporting a point of view by referring to evidence in the text; recognising the possibility of and evaluating different responses to a text; using understanding of writers’ social, historical, and cultural contexts to inform evaluation; making an informed personal response that derives from analysis and evaluation of the text.

Evaluation of a writers’ choice of vocabulary, grammatical and structural features: analysing and evaluating how language (including figurative language), structure, form and presentation contribute to quality and impact; using linguistic and literary terminology for such evaluation (such as, but not restricted to, phrase, metaphor, meter, irony and persona, synecdoche, pathetic fallacy).

Comparing texts: comparing and contrasting texts studied, referring where relevant to theme, characterisation, context (where known), style and literary quality; comparing two texts critically with respect to the above.

Writing

• Producing clear and coherent text; writing effectively about literature for a range of purposes such as: to describe, explain, summarise, argue, analyse and evaluate; discussing and maintaining a point of view; selecting and emphasising key points; using relevant quotation and detailed textual references.
• Accurate Standard English: accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar.

GCSE Science

GCSE Science has several routes, including combined and triple, higher and foundation, which are catered for at the centre. Content is reviewed, annotated, and guided practice and assessment then takes place to assess retention, using booklets which are tier and level specific to each student. Students fill in a personalized learning checklist each session of learning covered using assessment data. Homework is given in video format to consolidate and extend, and also promote metacognitive and revision strategies. Science has 3 main assessment objectives in each exam. They are:

• ‍AO1 - This assessment objective is defined as being able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of: scientific ideas; scientific techniques and procedures. Arguably, AO1marks are the easiest to access in the GCSE assessment as this is learning information from the specification and reproducing this in the examination. This is usually tested with command words such as: State, Describe, Define, Give, Label. In sessions, we review prior learning and make summary notes in exercise books to aid with recall and unpick any misconceptions.‍

• AO2 - Apply knowledge and understanding of: scientific ideas; scientific enquiry, techniques and procedures is what is being assessed AO2. AO2 is considered to be more challenging, as students have to use their knowledge and skills to apply it toa given situation. Often, in the foundation tier, familiar situations are used, but for higher tier it tends to be unfamiliar situations. This Assessment Objective is usually tested with command words such as: Compare, Explain, Estimate, Use. We target this AO in sessions by supporting students with applying what they have learnt or experienced in a lesson to an unfamiliar situation by modelling how to approach these questions can be really helpful. Share the decoding of the question, showing the students the information, the examiner has given them in the rubric and connect it to the information in the spec and show how to synthesis this into an answer. This is supported by my insights as an AQA examiner, and effective answering techniques are shared.
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• AO3 - This assessment objective is widely considered to be the most challenging and makes up just 20%of the GCSE assessment. It is defined as analyse information and ideas to: interpret and evaluate; make judgments and draw conclusions; develop and improve experimental procedures. AO3 is usually assessed using command words such as:  Evaluate, Justify, Predict. This is a key focus of tutoring sessions and to help students approach these questions, it can be useful to encourage small groups of students to collaborate. They can work together to brainstorm what they know and plan the answer together before writing their own personal answer. Then show students the mark scheme so they can reflect on their own answer and encourage them to annotate improvements. This is an exercise in critical thinking, with practice, confidence will grow and technique will become more refined and students will become increasingly successful at achieving marks for this challenging learning objective.

Maths

Download the Maths Learning Journey Map - Year 7
Download the Maths Learning Journey Map - Year 8
Download the Maths Learning Journey Map - Year 9