Curriculum

In Year 7 and Year 8 we teach the full range of National Curriculum subjects and are proud to offer a broad curriculum to our students. This is complemented by the strong development of computing capabilities, both in timetabled IT lessons and across the curriculum. Students will experience Maths, English, Science, Art, Drama, Music, PE, RE, Design Technology (on rotation with Food Technology and Graphics), History, Geography, Social and Personal Education, IT and Modern Foreign Languages.

We provide excellent personalised provision for those students who need additional support in order to make sure that all of our students reach their full potential.

We are particularly proud of our Year 9 curriculum offer. It is a blend of finishing Key Stage 3 whilst preparing students for Key Stage 4 both in terms of selecting the right options and understanding the rigour of each subject area. After February half term, in the build up to students choosing their options, we give students access to and experience of subjects that they have not yet encountered as part of the National Curriculum or to explore those they have engaged with in more detail. Careful guidance is provided to families and supported by information evenings and individual appointments with senior staff to discuss the right options for each student. Students will then choose which subjects are best for them to commit further to in Year 10. For some, this will rightly focus on a core of Ebacc Subjects, but the route for every student is carefully discussed and considered. All students continue with the study of at least one Ebacc subject, in addition to the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science. We also have ambitious plans for encouraging a growth in the number of students continuing to study a Modern Foreign Language. We believe that the ongoing process of guidance and consultation, offered by our options process, does not restrict access to the National Curriculum or breadth of opportunity.

Our wide choice of options at Key Stage 4 allows each student to select a curriculum which meets their abilities and aspirations. We offer the full range of traditional academic subjects and a number of creative and broadly vocational subjects. These currently include at GCSE:

Core subjects (GCSE)	Options subjects (GCSE)	Additional courses (BTEC or National Diploma)
English Language	Art	Hospitality & Catering
English Literature	Astronomy (twilight)	Music
Maths	Drama	Sports Studies
Biology (Triple Award or Combined Science)	Business Studies
Chemistry (Triple Award or Combined Science)	Computer Science (twilight)
Physics (Triple Award or Combined Science)	Design Technology
Geography or History	Food Preparation and Nutrition
	French
	German
	Spanish
	ICT
	Music (twilight)
	PE
	Photography

In addition to the qualifications offered above, pupils also have timetabled lessons in the non-examined subjects of Social and Personal Education and Core PE.
As we appreciate that no cohort is the same, the subjects on offer each year are carefully tailored to fit each cohort’s option preferences in order to create a personalised and bespoke curriculum offer. Our curriculum is constantly reviewed and developed to reflect students’ abilities, interests and career aspirations, together with our enrichment provision and personalised careers guidance.

Social and Personal Education is a compulsory subject at Studley High School. At KS3 lessons will cover predominantly Citizenship topics as outlined in the National Curriculum. They are exposed to some PSHE through SPE Days, tutor time activities, and a couple of their modules which are delivered alongside their Citizenship modules. At KS4, the focus in all lessons, SPE Days and tutor time is on PSHE content. The curriculum has been designed to incorporate a variety of skills that students need to develop to be successful not only in Social and Personal Education lessons and their future lives, but in other subjects at Studley High School. These skills will include the use of literacy and numeracy skills where possible, including the use of understanding articles in the media and the appropriate and sensible use of finances available to them. They will also include the ability to understand and critically evaluate current practices around the world, including different country’s governmental roles in human rights and peace organisations, the work of charities in a range of topic areas, and how different types of governments uphold their laws and values. Furthermore, there will be a lot of coverage on physical and mental health and wellbeing. All of these skills will support pupils to access their curriculums in a range of subjects including Religious Education, Physical Education, History, Geography, and Science.

Why study a Modern Foreign Language?

In today’s global society, being able to communicate in a second language is a valued skill that improves your focus, allows you to connect with others and better understand the world.

Learning a foreign language has benefits beyond just learning the language.

– Shawn Schofield

Improved Personal Development

Allow yourself to grow and see the world from another perspective. Others feel valued when you put the effort into learning their native language and will respect you for it.

Improved Self-Discipline

Self-discipline is the ability to push yourself forward and stay motivated. Learning a language will make you feel more productive and dedicated. Even if you are very talented in learning languages, it requires time, energy and commitment. Potential employers and colleges recognise that studying a language is a challenge, which demonstrates resilience.

Improved Career Prospects

Having an MFL GCSE under your belt is a significant advantage that sets you apart when competing with others in the job market. Languages are in the top ten in-demand skills in industry, according to a report published by Indeed.com in October 2022. Although this can open up job opportunities across the globe, increased salaries for bilingual employees in UK-based are also commonplace. Further, languages are counted as facilitating subjects by the Russell Group, which represents 24 leading UK universities, which means they are among the most required or preferred by universities to get on to a range of degree courses.

Improved Brain Power

The brain is a muscle – which gets a good workout with speaking more than one language! Bilingual students are able to concentrate better, ignoring distractions more effectively. They are also able to better hold information in the working memory, helping to avoid cognitive overload. The areas of your brain responsible for learning language are so flexible, that extra use helps it to become more easily moulded, helping you to learn even better in the future. Learning a language also improves your problem-solving skills, your long-term memory and your creativity.

Improved Cultural Capital

Our GCSE courses delve into the culture of the target-language speaking world, and we study a wide range of topics: history, geography, media and performing arts, politics, sports, cultural traditions and festivals. A language is key for developing a well-rounded student and increasing links in the brain to schema, or pillars of knowledge. These links develop your comprehension skills; an extra layer of understanding which you can apply to your other subjects. Learning a foreign language also helps you improve your understanding of your own language by understanding grammatical concepts, root meanings of words and expanding your vocabulary.

Improved Travel Experience

Always wanted to make new friends, understand the menu and use public transport on holiday? Being able to communicate in the language of a country you are visiting makes you feel more confident to try new things and experience more of the culture, whilst avoiding awkward and uncomfortable situations where messages are ‘lost in translation’. Further, speaking a foreign language makes working or studying abroad much more of an achievable goal.

Improved Confidence

Every learner makes mistakes while discovering a new language, but it is a necessary part of the learning process. Learning a language means putting yourself out there and being out of your comfort zone, speaking in front of other people. The upside is the amazing sense of accomplishment you feel when you succeed in getting your point across and you will become less nervous in new situations.

Finally, learning a language is fun!

Which other subject encourages playing games, watching films, listening to music, speaking to others and an overseas residential visit as genuine ways to improve your skills?

Where will learning a language take you?

If you still need some convincing, have a look at the following links:

Why Study Languages?
700 Reasons to Learn a Language 

As the backbone of the education of all students and based on research on how long term memory is secured, we aim to fully support the Core departments of English, Mathematics and Science. A carefully structured timetable will support, where possible, one lesson a day (over 4 days) for these subjects at Key Stage 3 and 4. We benchmark curriculum time against that offered in other schools and prioritise the staffing and timing of Core lessons as part of our drive to deliver the very best learning and outcomes that we can for our students.

Studley High School is fully committed to providing the often life changing opportunities that success in the arts can bring for our students. Throughout times of austerity and challenge, the arts will often remain a growth industry in Britain and, alongside our commitment to encourage ambitious take up of Ebacc subjects, we believe that this must never be at the expense of the support and study of the arts. Following dedicated, timetabled national curriculum lessons for such subject through years 7, 8 and 9, we offer a broad selection of options that include Art, Photography, Drama, Music and Performing Arts at Key Stage 4. Extra-curricular enrichment includes many arts focused activities including many opportunities to perform, create and present work for all year groups.

It is our aim to enable all teachers in all subjects to meet the needs of all students through highly effective teaching and learning. All students have access to a broad and balanced mainstream curriculum alongside their peers. At Studley High School we are committed to offering an inclusive curriculum to ensure the best possible progress for all our students, whatever their needs or abilities. We believe that all children have an equal right to a full and rounded education, which will enable them to achieve their full potential. We consistently strive to secure special educational provision for students for whom this is required, that is ‘additional to and different from’ that provided within the differentiated curriculum.

At Studley High School, we invest in the professional development of our teachers to ensure that all of our students get the very best educational experience. We invest time and resources into the professional development of our staff so that they can apply their understanding of cognitive science to the design of each curriculum, Schemes of Work, individual lesson plan and resource. Teaching at Studley High School is underpinned by cognitive science which enables our students to gain the knowledge, skills and attributes to be successful learners and citizens. We focus on the latest research-driven teaching and learning strategies in all areas of teaching and learning, including retrieval, dual coding metacognition and Rosenshine’s principles.

Alongside our challenging and ambitious curriculum offer, we recognise that a student’s life at school goes further than just what happens in a classroom; it comprises all experiences offered within our school. Our ‘Studley Promise’ guarantees that every child will have the opportunity to discover and develop lifelong interests and talents throughout their time at high school. The ‘Studley Promise’ aims to highlight the different opportunities that are available at Studley High School. None of these are compulsory (with the exception of Geography fieldwork at GCSE) however, we have carefully planned trips and events to be spaced out, where possible, and ensure that all year groups get a variety of opportunities offered to them. All trips offered will be communicated to parents in good time. Financial support is also available for anyone in receipt of pupil premium/ free school meals. ‘The Studley Promise’ ensures that all enrichment activities are directly related to the curriculum studied. We have high ambitions for all students at Studley High school and we want them to leave us as confident, responsible, independent and resilient young people. The ‘Studley Promise’ sits at the heart of this.