XP School

XP. School Curriculum Map(Draft) for Year 7 Students 2014/15

The following project ideas are only meant as a guide and are subject to adaptation and/or change depending on the skills, passions and expertise of staff appointed to XP. Therefore, these projects are presented as examples, not exemplars, and will be used as a baseline from which improvements will be made to ensure depth and quality to everything we do at XP. Also, National Curriculum levels will be reviewed and altered where appropriate in line with the changes to assessment at a national level.

First Expedition

Outward Bounds Expedition to North Wales 26th-29th August

This will be a fantastic opportunity to live our values of Respect, Courage, Quality, Compassion and No excuses through team building activities.

After the Expedition we will reflect on our experiences and create a presentation about what we learned on our expedition.

Create Expeditions 

Project 1 ( 8 Weeks)

What makes a community successful?

Students will consider what elements make a successful community and why they contribute to its success. The project will involve interviewing key people who are involved in our community of Doncaster and what their thoughts are? We will also write to leading educationalists and politicians to ask for their thoughts on this question. This will then result in our students producing thinking about XP values and their own research to produce a piece of personal, reflective writing on how they could play a part in building a ‘great’ community at XP. This will be exhibited in our reception.

How does this link to the National Curriculum?

This project covers the areas of both Speaking and Listening and Writing in the English Curriculum. Students will discuss ideas and research the ideas of others through formal interviews and through formal letter writing. Students will then produce a quality piece of writing for public display that brings together their findings and personal thoughts on, ‘What makes a community successful’. This expedition also has strong cross curricular links with Personal, Social and Health Education, Citizenship and Spiritual, Moral and Cultural Education.

Key Skills to be developed through this Learning Expedition

Speaking and Listening

Students will:

‘engage in specific activities that develop speaking and listening skills’

‘develop speaking and listening skills through work that makes cross-curricular links with other subjects’

‘speak and listen in contexts beyond the classroom’

Writing

Students will:

develop independence in writing

produce extended writing to develop their ideas in depth and detail

write for contexts and purposes beyond the classroom.

Assessment Opportunities

Below are extracts from level descriptors that will be covered in this project:

Reading

Level 4

In responding to a range of texts, pupils show understanding of significant ideas, themes, events and characters, beginning to use inference and deduction. They understand that texts reflect the time and culture in which they were written. They refer to the text when explaining their views and are able to locate and use ideas and information.

Level 5

Pupils show understanding of a range of texts, selecting essential points and using inference and deduction where appropriate. In their responses, they identify key features, themes and characters and select sentences, phrases and relevant information to support their views. They understand that texts fit into historical and literary traditions. They retrieve and collate information from a range of sources.

Level 6

In reading and discussing a range of texts, pupils identify different layers of meaning and comment on their significance and effect. They give personal responses to literary texts, referring to aspects of language, structure and themes in justifying their views, and making connections between texts from different times and cultures and their own experiences. They summarise a range of information from different sources.

Writing

Level 4 

Pupils’ writing in a range of forms is lively and thoughtful. Ideas are often sustained and developed in interesting ways, with organisation generally appropriate for purpose. Vocabulary choices are often adventurous and words are used for effect. Pupils are beginning to use grammatically complex sentences, extending meaning. Spelling, including that of polysyllabic words that conform to regular patterns, is generally accurate. Full stops, capital letters and question marks are used correctly, and pupils are beginning to use punctuation within sentences. Handwriting style is fluent, joined and legible.

Level 5

Pupils’ writing is varied and interesting, conveying meaning clearly in a range of forms for different readers, using a more formal style where appropriate. Vocabulary choices are imaginative and words are used precisely. Sentences, including complex ones, and paragraphs are coherent, clear and well developed. Words with complex regular

patterns are usually spelt correctly. A range of punctuation, including commas, apostrophes and inverted commas, is usually used accurately. Handwriting is joined, clear and fluent and, where appropriate, is adapted to a range of tasks.

Level 6

Pupils’ writing is fluent and often engages and sustains the reader’s interest, showing some adaptation of style and register to different forms, including using an impersonal style where appropriate. Pupils experiment with a range of sentence structures and varied vocabulary to create effects. Spelling, including that of irregular words, is generally accurate. Handwriting is neat and legible. A range of punctuation is usually used correctly to clarify meaning, and ideas are organised into well-developed, linked paragraphs.

How does this link to English GCSE?

AQA GCSE English Unit 1 Understanding and Producing Non-Fiction Texts. Students will be producing a specific text, with a clear audience and purpose. This is excellent preparation for this element of GCSE English. In addition, Speaking and Listening skills will be developed that are necessary at GCSE level.

Potential Partners to support this Expedition

Politicians (Both local and national).

Community Leaders

Social Enterprise

Doncaster Faiths Together

Doncaster Chamber of Commerce and Business Leaders

 

Project 2 (8 Weeks)

Local Heroes Past and Present 

This expedition focuses on researching local heroes, one from the present and one from the past. Students will research their two heroes and write a structured biographical piece of writing and an accompanying portrait of their subjects that will be published in book form as well as presented to parents in their first student-led learning conference.

How does this link to the National Curriculum?

The key focus of this expedition is to develop skills that will help them to research historical events. This information will then be presented in an appropriate form which will build on literacy skills (including Speaking and Listening) and will link clearly to learners progression towards writing in different forms and for a specific audience.

History 

1. Key Concepts

Chronological understanding

a Understanding and using appropriately dates, vocabulary and conventions that describe historical periods and the passing of time.

Cultural, ethnic and religious diversity

a Understanding the diverse experiences and ideas, beliefs and attitudes of men, women and children in past societies and how these have shaped the world.

Change and continuity

a Identifying and explaining change and continuity within and across periods of history.

Cause and consequence

a Analysing and explaining the reasons for, and results of, historical events, situations and changes.

Significance

a Considering the significance of events, people and developments in their historical context and in the present day.

Interpretation

a Understanding how historians and others form interpretations.

2. Key processes

These are the essential skills and processes in history that pupils need to learn to make progress.

Historical enquiry

Pupils should be able to:

a identify and investigate, individually and as part of a team, specific historical questions or issues, making and testing hypotheses

b reflect critically on historical questions or issues.

Using evidence

Pupils should be able to:

a identify, select and use a range of historical sources, including textual, visual and oral sources, artefacts and the historic environment

b evaluate the sources used in order to reach reasoned conclusions.

Communicating about the past

Pupils should be able to:

a present and organise accounts and explanations about the past that are coherent, structured and substantiated, using chronological conventions and historical vocabulary

b communicate their knowledge and understanding of history in a variety of ways, using chronological conventions and historical vocabulary

3. Range and content

This section outlines the breadth of the subject on which teachers should draw when teaching the key concepts and key processes.

a The study of history should be taught through a combination of overview, thematic and depth studies.

b In order to give pupils a secure chronological framework, the choice of content should ensure that all pupils can identify and understand the major events, changes and developments in British, European and world history covering at least the medieval, early modern, industrial and twentieth-century periods.

c Appropriate links should be made to some of the parallel events, changes and developments in British, European and world history.

4. Curriculum opportunities

During the key stage pupils should be offered the following opportunities that are integral to their learning and enhance their engagement with the concepts, processes and content of the subject.

The curriculum should provide opportunities for pupils to:

a explore the ways in which the past has helped shape identities, shared cultures, values and attitudes today

b investigate aspects of personal, family or local history and how they relate to a broader historical context

c appreciate and evaluate, through visits where possible, the role of museums, galleries, archives and historic sites in preserving, presenting and influencing people’s attitudes towards the past

d use ICT to research information about the past, process historical data, and select, categorise, organise and present their findings

e make links between history and other subjects and areas of the curriculum, including citizenship.

Assessment Opportunities

(See below for History NC levels and criteria)

Level 4

Pupils show their knowledge and understanding of local, national and international history by describing some of the main events, people and periods they have studied, and by identifying where these fit within a chronological framework. They describe characteristic features of past societies and periods to identify change and continuity within and across different periods and to identify some causes and consequences of the main events and changes. They identify and describe different ways in which the past has been interpreted. When finding answers to historical questions, they begin to use information as evidence to test hypotheses. They begin to produce structured work, making appropriate use of dates and terms.

Level 5

Pupils show their knowledge and understanding of local, national and international history by describing events, people and some features of past societies and periods in the context of their developing chronological framework. They begin to recognise and describe the nature and extent of diversity, change and continuity, and to suggest relationships between causes. They suggest some reasons for different interpretations of the past and they begin to recognise why some events, people and changes might be judged as more historically significant than others. They investigate historical problems and issues and begin to ask their own questions. They begin to evaluate sources to establish evidence for particular enquiries. They select and deploy information and make appropriate use of historical terminology to support and structure their work.

Level 7

Pupils show their knowledge and understanding of local, national and international history by analysing historical change and continuity, diversity and causation. They explain how and why different interpretations of the past have arisen or been constructed. They begin to explain how the significance of events, people and changes has varied according to different perspectives. They investigate historical problems and issues, asking and refining their own questions and beginning to reflect on the process undertaken. When establishing the evidence for a particular enquiry, pupils consider critically issues surrounding the origin, nature and purpose of sources. They select, organise and use relevant information and make appropriate use of historical terminology to produce well-structured work.

Level 8

Pupils show their knowledge and understanding of local, national and international history, constructing substantiated analyses about historical change and continuity, diversity and causation. They analyse and explain a range of historical interpretations and different judgements about historical significance. They suggest lines of enquiry into historical problems and issues, refining their methods of investigation. They evaluate critically a range of sources and reach substantiated conclusions independently. They use historical terminology confidently, reflecting on the way in which terms can change meaning according to context.They produce precise and coherent work.

How does this link to GCSE History?

Listed below are some of the areas that could be assessed (depending on exam board/syllabus choice) at GCSE and that are link specifically to content and skills delivered in this project:

AQA History A GCSE Unit 3: Historical Enquiry – History Around Us

An assignment of approximately 2000 words based on the study of the visible remains of a locality or site in its historical context. The task for the Historical Enquiry will be set by AQA. Schools are able to contextualise this task to best suit their own specific circumstances.

AQA History B Unit 3: Historical Enquiry – British History

Unit 3 requires candidates to produce an Historical Enquiry of approximately 2000 words on Britain in the 20th century. The tasks and sources for the Historical Enquiry will be set by AQA. Schools may, subject to AQA approval, to contextualise the tasks to best suit their own specific circumstances.

AQA History B 3.3 Unit 3: Historical Enquiry

Tasks and sources will be set by AQA. Each year a two-part Historical Enquiry will be set on each of the optional topics in this unit. The task and sources will be published each year. Historical Enquiries will be replaced on an annual basis and will only be available for one assessment opportunity. The optional topics are as follows:

• The British People in War

• Britain at War

• Britain and the Aftermath of War

• The Changing Role and Status of Women since 1900

Potential Partners to support this Expedition

Imperial War Museum

Local History Society

Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery

 

Discovery Expeditions

Project 1 (8 weeks)

How do we solve the problem of Blue-Green Algae?

In this first Science/Technology expedition students will be engaged in a significant amount of fieldwork. We will be analysing the water at the Lakeside to identify how much of an issue blue-green algae is in the lake. Students will compile their findings and research ways that the problem could be solved. We will do this in collaboration with the Local Authority with help from our university partners. After the research has been completed students will prepare a paper to present to Doncaster Council and Local Authority Officers.

How does this link to the National Curriculum?

This expedition covers a number of key areas outlined in the National Curriculum for Science and Geography. In addition, this expedition focuses on numeracy skills, particularly data collection and interpretation and there is a significant literacy focus in terms of both formal letter writing and report writing.

Key Concepts

Scientific Thinking

Critically analysing and evaluating evidence from observations and experiments.

Applications and Implications of Science

Exploring how the creative application of scientific ideas can bring about technological developments and consequent changes in the way people think and behave.

Collaboration

Sharing developments and common understanding across disciplines and boundaries.

Key Processes

Practical and Enquiry Skills

use a range of scientific methods and techniques to develop and test ideas and explanations

assess risk and work safely in the laboratory, field and workplace plan and carry out practical and investigative activities, both individually and in groups.

Critical Understanding of Evidence

obtain, record and analyse data from a wide range of primary and secondary sources, including ICT sources, and use their findings to provide evidence for scientific explanations

evaluate scientific evidence and working methods.

Communication

use appropriate methods, including ICT, to communicate scientific information and contribute to presentations and discussions about scientific issues.

Range and Content

Organisms, behaviour and health

behaviour is influenced by internal and external factors and can be investigated and measured.

The environment, Earth and the universe

human activity and natural processes can lead to changes in the environment.

Geography

1. Key Concepts

1.1 Places

a. Understanding the physical and human characteristics of real places.

b. Developing ‘geographical imaginations’ of places.

1.5 Physical and human processes

a. Understanding how sequences of events and activities in the physical and human worlds lead to change in places, landscapes and societies

1.6 Environmental interaction and sustainable development

a. Understanding that the physical and human dimensions of the environment are interrelated and together influence environmental change

2. Key Processes

1.1 Geographical enquiry

Pupils should be able to:

a ask geographical questions, thinking critically, constructively and creatively

b collect, record and display information

c identify bias, opinion and abuse of evidence in sources when investigating issues

d analyse and evaluate evidence, presenting findings to draw and justify conclusions

e find creative ways of using and applying geographical skills and understanding to create new interpretations of place and space

f plan geographical enquiries, suggesting appropriate sequences of investigation

g solve problems and make decisions to develop analytical skills and creative thinking about geographical issues.

 

2.2 Fieldwork and out-of-class learning

Pupils should be able to:

a select and use fieldwork tools and techniques appropriately, safely and efficiently.

2.4 Geographical communication

Pupils should be able to:

a communicate their knowledge and understanding using geographical vocabulary and conventions in both speech and writing.

3. Range and content

The study of geography should include:

a a variety of scales, from personal, local, regional, national, international and continental, to global

b a range of investigations, focusing on places, themes or issues

c the location of places and environments

d key aspects of the UK, including its changing human and physical geography, current issues and its place in the world today

f physical geography, physical processes and natural landscapes

h interactions between people and their environments, including causes and consequences of these interactions, and how to plan for and manage their future impact.

4. Curriculum opportunities

This expedition will provide opportunities for pupils to:

a build on and expand their personal experiences of geography

b explore real and relevant contemporary contexts

c use a range of approaches to enquiries

d use varied resources, including maps, visual media and geographical information systems

e undertake fieldwork investigations in different locations outside the classroom, individually and as part of a team

f participate in informed responsible action in relation to geographical issues that affect them and those around them

g examine geographical issues in the news

h investigate important issues of relevance to the UK and globally using a range of skills, including ICT

i make links between geography and other subjects, including citizenship and ICT, and areas of the curriculum including sustainability and global dimension.

Assessment Opportunities

See link below for NC Levels and criteria for Science

http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/secondary/b00198831/science/ks3/attainment/how

 

See link below for NC levels and criteria for Geography

Click to access geography%202007%20programme%20of%20study%20for%20key%20stage%203.pdf