In year 8 students have 30 lessons a week, these are allotted as follows:

Number of lessons per subject

Below is a general overview of the topics students are taught throughout the year in each subject.

For a more in depth outline of each subject please click on the link for the subject page.

If you would like to speak to us about any aspect of our curriculum, please get in touch.

Art

  • Cubism
  • Still life

Computing

In Year 8, the topics range from ICT such as “Quiz Game Spreadsheets”, “Creating a multipage website” moving onto Computer Science such as “Cracking the code”, “Programming”, “Foundations of Computing” and “Sorting and Searching”. Year 8 covers some history when the students investigate Bletchley Park and the part it played during World War 2.

Visit our computing page for more information

Dance

Autumn term

  • History of dance
  • Bollywood
  • Fusion performance

Spring term

  • Chaos and order
  • Chair movement and choreography

Summer term

  • Dance through social media
  • Youtube tutorial dance
  • Dance assessment and evaluation

Design and technology

Food

  • Further development of core skills
  • Planning and cooking dishes for a child

DT

  • Woodwork – Pencil case with pyrography
  • Metals practical – Coat hook

Textiles/Graphics

  • Fabric plant
  • Sketch up plant design

Drama

Autumn term

  • History of theatre
  • Jonah and the whale performance assessment
  • Pantomime

Spring term

  • Chaos and order
  • Damilola Taylor performance piece
  • London riots performance assessment

Summer term

  • Devising social media
  • Girls Like That performance assessment

English language and literature

Autumn term

The Bone Sparrow (novel)

  • Explore the function and distinct voices of characters in a dual narrative.
  • Explore the structure of different narratives.
  • Differentiate between inference and deduction.
  • Extend knowledge of writers’ craft: plot, characterisation, descriptive detail, how to create suspense and the impact on the reader.

Spring term

Much Ado About Nothing (full Shakespeare play)

  • Revise Shakespearian drama conventions secured in Y7.
  • Explore the function of different characters
  • Explore the barriers between characters
  • Explore the relationships between characters
  • Extend knowledge and interpretations of form, language, structure and staging.

Summer term

Noughts and Crosses (modern play)

  • Develop understanding of genre-dystopian fiction.
  • Revisit and extend knowledge of modern drama conventions: stage directions, characterisation, different narrative voices, form, structure, language, tension.
  • Explore the function of different characters
  • Explore the relationships between characters
  • Explore the barriers between characters
  • Explore the barriers within society

Geography

Autumn term

  • Weather
  • Climate change factors
  • Hurricane Katrina – case study
  • Japan
  • Tsunami 2011 – case study

Spring term

  • Rainforests
  • Living in the rainforest – indigenous tribes
  • Deforestation – causes
  • Sustainability – methods
  • Coastlines
  • Tsunami formation

Summer term

  • Sustainability
  • Renewable energy
  • Settlements
  • Urban models
  • Hierarchy of settlements

History

Autumn term

  • The English Reformation
  • Catholicism v Protestantism
  • Dissolution of the Monasteries
  • Elizabethan England, 1558 – 1603
  • The Spanish Armada
  • Mary, Queen of Scots

Spring term

  • Early Stuart Dynasty – James I
  • Hampton Court Palace conference
  • The Pilgrim Fathers
  • The Gunpowder Plot
  • The English Civil War – causes, course and consequences
  • 11 Year Tyranny
  • 1640 Parliament and compromise
  • Build up to war

Summer term

  • The Interregnum and Commonwealth under Cromwell
  • World Turned Upside Down – England post 1649
  • Oliver Cromwell
  • The Industrial Revolution, 1750 to 1900 – The Modern Age
  • Pauper Apprentices and factory life
  • Growth of urbanisation
  • Growth and development in infrastructure – roads, cannel system and railways
  • Coal mining and steam power

Mathematics

Autumn term

  • Directed number & decimals
  • Factors, multiples, powers and roots
  • Manipulating expressions
  • Rounding and estimation
  • Area & perimeter
  • Solving equations
  • Fractions

Spring term

  • Polygons
  • Metric units & conversions
  • Ratio and proportion
  • Presenting Data
  • Percentages

Summer term

  • Substitution
  • Sequences
  • Transformations
  • 3D shapes
  • Angles
  • Constructions
  • Coordinates & linear graphs
  • Real life graphs

Modern foreign languages

French

  • Lifestyle
  • Sport and leisure
  • Daily routine
  • Entertainment and advertising

Spanish

  • My city and where I live
  • School
  • Diet and healthy living
  • Holidays

Music

Autumn term

  • History of music
  • Blues
  • Keyboard
  • Jingle Bells

Spring term

  • Chaos and order
  • Pachabels Canon
  • Find your voice
  • Singing assessment

Summer term

  • Media
  • Harry Potter assessment
  • Composition character assessment

Physical education

  • Developing and embedding skills
  • Tactics
  • Habits, routine and best practice
  • Outdoor education residential
  • Strategic thinking
  • Decision making
  • Competition
  • Opportunity to support primary school sports events

Religious studies

Autumn term

  • Good and Evil
  • Theodicy
  • The Devil and evil
  • Nazi persecution of the Jews
  • Religion and Science
  • Ethical Issues surrounding Religion and Science
  • Accident vs Design
  • Is Humanity unique?

Spring term

  • Animal Rights
  • Ethics of  meat consumption
  • Animal testing in labs and its morality
  • Aspects of Islam
  • The Hajj Pilgrimage
  • Food and Fasting
  • Life of Muhammad

Summer term

  • Aspects of Sikhism
  • Guru Nanak
  • Sikh Gurus
  • The Formation of the Khalsa /5 Ks
  • The Guru Granth Sahib
  • The Golden Temple
  • British Sikhs
  • Aspects of Judaism
  • Abraham
  • Moses and the burning bush
  • Shabbat
  • Jewish Wedding
  • Passover Seder Meal

Science

Autumn term

  • Health and Lifestyle
  • Ecosystem Processes
  • The Periodic Table
  • Separation Techniques
  • Electricity and Magnetism

Spring term

  • The Earth
  • Metals and Acids
  • Adaptations

Summer term

  • Energy
  • Motion and Pressure
  • Ecology
  • Enrichment tbc