Heart of England’s curriculum demonstrates our motto of ‘Creating Futures’. It is designed to maintain a broad curriculum so that students don’t narrow their options too early. This enables them to leave with a clutch of qualifications that help them to be competitive against their peer group in the modern jobs market. In addition to this, the curriculum content broadens horizons and helps students understand the world we live in.
As a consequence, having studied a broad and balanced curriculum for three years in Key Stage 3, students now have the opportunity to make some choices about what they study at Key Stage 4 (Years 10 and 11).
The majority of students study the core curriculum, shown below:
The hours given to study in the core are as follows:
Subject | Hours per fortnight | Subject | Hours per fortnight |
English | 8 | A Modern Foreign Language | 5 |
Mathematics | 7 | History or Geography | 5 |
Combined Science | 9 | Physical Education | 4 |
Separate Sciences (must be taken as an option, see below) | 14 = 9 (Core) + 5 (option) | Religious Studies | 2 |
In addition to this, students pick two subjects from the selection below | Hours per fortnight |
Art, Art Photography, Business Studies, Computer Science, Design BTEC, Drama, Food & Nutrition, Geography, Health & Social Care, History, Media Studies, Music, OCR Physical Education, Product Design, Separate Sciences | 10 (5 per subject) |
All courses, with the exception of PE, are externally assessed.
We believe that the Core Curriculum is the best basis for our students to stand on equal footing with peers in a world of competitive applications for jobs, apprenticeships, and college courses. However, we also understand that for some students this suite of subjects does not fit their needs. If parents and carers believe that a Reduced Core is more suitable for the educational needs of their child and their profile as a learner, then they are invited to apply for the Reduced Core Curriculum shown below:
In addition to this, students pick three subjects from the selection below | Hours per fortnight |
Art, Art Photography, Business Studies, Computer Science, Design BTEC, Drama, Food & Nutrition, Geography, Health & Social Care, History, Media Studies, Music, OCR Physical Education, Product Design, Separate Sciences | 10 (5 per subject) |
To apply for the Reduced Core, please complete the short form found here by Friday 3 March:
Every effort is made to give students their first choice, regardless of whether students follow the Core Curriculum or Reduced Core; however, courses may be oversubscribed or there may be insufficient numbers for a course to be viable. In either eventuality, all students’ choices will be considered carefully. It is therefore extremely important that students also think very carefully about what they would choose if one of their options did not run.
Due to content overlap, it is not permissible to study the following combinations of subjects:
This year we are again running a GCSE language course from scratch in two years. While we believe that passing a GCSE in a modern language, having studied it for 5 years, is achievable by most of our students, taking a GCSE in a new language from scratch is really challenging. As such, the option of studying German from the beginning will only be open to those students who, in both their Autumn & Spring Term reports, have ‘excellent’ for every category of the language they are currently studying. Students who achieve this will receive an email informing them that this option is open to them, but they are under no obligation to take it. Other students will continue with the language that they are currently studying.
Please note: if the number of students wishing to take this course is not great enough, it will not run.
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