Old Grammar CURRICULUM GUIDE
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Old Grammar CURRICULUM GUIDE JUNE 2020 Contents The Lower School ................................................................ 2 Old Grammar ....................................................................... 3 Subjects ............................................................................... 5 Subject Information ............................................................ 7 Art and Design ............................................................... 8 Classics ........................................................................... 9 Core Learning & Survival Skills ................................... 9 Drama ........................................................................... 10 English .......................................................................... 12 Linguistics .................................................................... 13 French ........................................................................... 14 Geography .................................................................... 15 History .......................................................................... 16 IT and Computing ........................................................ 17 Mathematics ................................................................ 18 Music ............................................................................. 19 Physical Education and Games ................................. 20 Swimming .................................................................... 21 PSHE and Citizenship .................................................. 21 Religion and Philosophy ............................................ 22 Science .......................................................................... 24 School Library.................................................................... 26 Great novels for young adults - A Reading list .................. 29 The Lower School Your child is about to experience a significant change in their schooling and the prime objective of this booklet is to familiarise you and your child with what they will be enjoying over the next academic year. My role, as Head of Lower School, will be to ensure that this new chapter of your child’s education is a fruitful one. I want them to thoroughly enjoy all that they encounter and become familiar with what it means to be a pupil at CLS. I will be closely monitoring their progress both inside and outside of the classroom and ensure that they are on the right path. As they progress through this exciting year of secondary school, your child will be gently encouraged to take greater responsibility for organising themselves and their work. They will be guided by their Form Tutor and subject teachers on how to present work, organise themselves, use a locker correctly and manage their time well. They will still require guidance from home, but we encourage pupils to be independent learners and responsible citizens. It is very important to us that your child makes the most of the numerous and wide-ranging extra-curricular opportunities at CLS. Whatever their passion may be, CLS will endeavour to cater for it, encourage it and allow it to flourish. Opportunities to represent their form or school are commonplace. We believe that providing scope for pupils to develop outside of the classroom is of great importance and encourage them all to live a full school life. Old Grammar provides a great platform for pupils to find their interests outside of the classroom at a young age and often the youngest pupils provide the most enthusiasm for learning outside of the classroom. I hope that you will find this booklet helpful and that it is useful in helping your child to settle into his exciting new life here at City of London School. Mr Chris Apaloo HEAD OF LOWER SCHOOL [email protected] Old Grammar Starting at a larger school can be daunting and frequent communication with staff is important. It is helpful if parents contact their son’s Form Tutor with any concerns they might have. Similarly, Form Tutors will be in touch with you if they think there is a difficulty with which you can help. This is the normal expectation and parents are urged neither to worry about contacting the school nor to feel excessive apprehension if contacted by the school. Such early informal contact can often avoid subsequent misunderstandings and potential distress for your son. Boys entering the school in Old Grammar are split into two mixed ability forms. We aim to have as few boys as possible from the same previous school in the same Form, so that they get a fresh start and the boys will be mixed up again at the end of Old Grammar, as they progress into the First Form. During the year, there will be two School Reports for Old Grammar - one at the end of the Autumn Term and one at the end of the Summer Term. You will also receive a Progress Card which will summarise your son’s progress at various intervals throughout the year and a card in the Summer Term containing exam results. The first one will be just as we break up for October half-term and it will be on the Parent Portal for you to access. There will be an opportunity early in the Autumn Term to meet with your son’s Form Tutor and get to know other new parents. There will also be a formal Parents’ Evening later in the year when you will be invited to meet the staff who teach your son (boys do not attend Parents’ Evening until Fourth Form). As a pupil at CLS, your son will be expected to do regular homework and the amount will increase as he advances through the school. Each boy has a Homework Diary which parents (and Form Tutors) are asked to sign once a week and add comments if appropriate. You will receive a copy of your son’s timetable and homework timetable early in the Autumn Term. He will find his progress being tested periodically by his teachers and, near the end of the academic year, there will be a more formal examination period. My role as Head of Year is to work closely in collaboration with subject teachers to support and monitor the progress of every pupil in Old Grammar. This ensures that they succeed with their studies and are equipped with all the necessary tools to achieve their best in every subject. Please do not hesitate to get in touch, should you have any immediate concerns or questions, and I look forward to meeting you all in due course. Miss Emma Pollock HEAD OF OLD GRAMMAR [email protected] Subjects ■ Art and Design ■ IT & Computing IT: Information Technology ■ Classics ■ Mandarin Purple ■ Mathematics ■ Drama Orange Music English ■ ■ Lavender Grey ■ PSHE ■ French (+ ■ Fr. vocab) PSHE: Personal, Social & Health Education Light Green / Pink ■ PE, Games & Swimming PE: Physical Education ■ Geography Religion and Philosophy Light Blue ■ Yellow ■ History ■ Science Red Dark Green The colours above (■■■■■■■■■■ ) refer to the colours of exercise books you will be given for these subjects. Boys will get a print out of this for either their locker or homework diary and a poster is also in the form room. These colours remain in place until the end of the Third Form. Subject Information 8 Art and Design Art and Design The Art and Design Department aims to encourage creative thinking, develop design skills and increase artistic ability in all our students. Members of staff in the department are enthusiastic, multi-skilled and very keen to pass on their own passion for art and design. Boys will experience a variety of media, processes, techniques and technologies, and will begin to develop proficiency in many of the basic skills of Art and Design. The boys will experience the following areas of practice: drawing and painting, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture and workshop practice where students work with materials such as hard and soft woods, pewter and acrylic; work is often produced using IT and the laser cutter. Old Grammar are split into two and taught by two members of staff (one Art teacher and one D&T teacher). The groups switch between Art and D&T approximately halfway through the year. Boys attend two periods a week in the department, are taught in small groups and teaching in Old Grammar is generally project based. In Art lessons, work is focused on the theme ‘Fantastical and Strange: Myths, Legends, Fairy tale and Folklore’. In D&T the focus is on applying skills and making products, such as Victorian style pewter topped wooden boxes. Homework is set fortnightly, and is used to build on and enhance classroom work. Occasionally they will receive more demanding extended homework projects, which will be completed over a longer period of time. Each boy will have a sketchbook which he is encouraged to use properly, recognising the importance of the sketchbook in both art and design activities. Over the course of the year, boys will be introduced to basic studio and workshop techniques and safety practices, and will experience ‘resistant materials’ such as wood, metal and plastic as well as a range of mark- making media such as paint, pencil, markers, charcoal and pastel. They will also have the opportunity to experience working in a three- dimensional medium, such as clay or Modroc. Core Learning & Survival Skills 9 Boys’ work is featured in exhibitions to coincide with parents’ evenings and school events such as concerts. Work by Old Grammar boys is also exhibited in the Old Grammar and First Form corridor, and in other parts of the school. In OG the boys will begin to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to enable their self-expression and creativity