In year 9 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
- Hundertwasser
- Hockney Landscape painting
Computing
In Year 9, the topics are more relatable to Computer Science in preparation for their option choices, the students will study “Cybercrime”, “Digital Circuits”, “Getting down and online”, “Programming” and then a topic will be specifically related to Business Studies for the students to gain an insight into what Business Studies is before they make their GCSE options.
Dance
Autumn term
- Rosie Kay
- Emancipation of expressionism
Spring term
- Nutcracker ballet
- Teacher led movement
Summer term
- Performance assessments
- Intro to GCSE
- Skills and techniques assessment
Design and technology
Food
- Further development of core skills
- Planning and cooking dishes for a child
DT
- Woodwork – Snap and grab
- Pencil stand
- Metals practical – Aluminium key tag
Textiles/Graphics
- TBC
Drama
Autumn term
- Physical theatre
- DNA
Spring term
- Surrealism
- 9/11 themed performance works
Summer term
- Intro to GCSE
English language and literature
Autumn term
Orangeboy (novel)
- Explore the function and distinct voices of characters. Narrative structure. Descriptive detail in crafting characters, settings and key events.
- Differentiate between inference and deduction.
- Extend knowledge of writers’ craft: plot, characterisation, descriptive detail, how to create suspense and the impact on the reader.
- Analyse writers’ intentions
- Foreshadowing, suspense, tension
- Motif
Spring term
The Ostrich Boys (modern play)
- Develop understanding of modern drama. Revisit and extend knowledge of modern drama conventions: stage directions, characterisation, different narrative voices, form, structure, language, tension, flashbacks, foreshadowing.
- Explore the function of different characters
- Explore the relationships between characters
- Explore the barriers between characters
- Explore the symbolism of props and motifs
Summer term
The Woman in Black
- Introducing a novella.
- Layered narrative structure
- Gothic conventions
- Exploring the fear of the unknown and the reliability of the narrator.
- Exploring the function of the narrator
- Exploring the barriers of fear and isolation
- Exploring the function of setting
- Motif
GCSE Poetry Anthology
- Revision and development of poetry analysis skills
- Introducing a poetry anthology
- Introduction to GCSE texts and literature AOs
- Focus on language, structure, terminology and effect on reader
- Selecting evidence precisely to illustrate understanding of writers’ methods and intentions
Geography
Autumn term
- Rivers
- River basin & watershed
- Types of erosion & transportation
- Landform features creation
- Development
- Development definition
- Reasons for poor development
- The development gap
Spring term
- Tectonic hazards
- Plate tectonics
- Distribution of tectonic hazards
- Plate boundaries
- Weather Hazards
- Global Atmospheric Circulation
- Tropical storm creation
- Primary and secondary effects of tropical storms
- Somerset floods case study
Summer term
- Climate change
- Effects of climate change on people.
- Mitigation – alternative energy, carbon capture, planting trees and international agreements.
- Adaptation – managing water supply, change in agricultural methods and reducing the risk from rising sea levels.
History
Autumn term
- Black, British and Belonging
- The Middle Passage
- Slave auctions
- Slave worked economies
- Punishment on a plantation
- Revolt and resistance
- The Civil Rights Movement in the USA, 1950s to 1970s
- The American Civil War
- The Emancipation Proclamation
- Civil rights abuses and prejudice
- The Klan and white supremacy
Spring term
- Early Twentieth Century Britain – The Liberal Government and women’s Suffrage movement
- Reasons for reform in Britain
- Liberal welfare reforms program
- Impact of the Liberal reform program
- Women’s suffrage movement
- Arguments for and against women’s suffrage
- The First World War
- Impact of trench warfare
- Weapons of warfare
- Shot at Dawn
- Battle of the Somme
Summer term
- The Holocaust
- Nazi treatment of German Jews
- The Final Solution
- Children of the Holocaust
- Anne Frank
- A Nation of Contrasts: The USA 1910-1929: Immigration
- A Nation of Contrasts: The USA 1910-1929: Racial and Religious Tolerance
Mathematics
Foundation
Autumn term
- Place value, rounding, estimating
- Directed number
- HCF/LCM
- Algebraic manipulation
- Angles
- Sequences
- Fractions
Spring term
- Solving equations
- 2D shape
- Percentages
- Index laws
Summer term
- Ratio & proportion
- Analysing data
- 3d shape
- Coordinates and linear graphs
- Representing data
- Probability
Higher
Autumn term
- HCF/LCM
- Index laws
- Standard form
- Congruence and similarity
- Manipulating quadratics
- Fractions and reciprocals
- Solving equations and rearranging formula
Spring term
- Analysing data
- 2D shapes
- Ratio and proportion
- Angles
- Percentages
Summer term
- Sequences
- Pythagoras
- Trigonometry
- Real life graphs
- Representing data
- Transformations
- Scale drawings & bearings
Modern foreign languages
French
- Technology
- Teenage issues
- Diet and health
- Parties and festivals
- Transport and holidays
Spanish
- Entertainment – social media/tv/films
- Fashion and shopping
- My world
- The Hispanic world
Visit our modern foreign languages page for more information
Music
Autumn term
- Music for stage and screen
- Somewhere Over The Rainbow
- Jingle Bells
Spring term
- Ukelele
- Performance and appraising
- Tchaikovsky
Summer term
- Musical variations
- Composition variation assessment
- Introduction to GCSE
Physical education
- Enhance tactical approach to sport
- Components of fitness
- Theoretical application of sporting knowledge
- New skills, practices and activities
- Further enrichment opportunities
- Participation or performance
- Enhance practical ability in a broad range of activities
Religious studies
Autumn term
- Life After Death
- Cultural celebrations – Day of the Dead
- Sky Burials
- Near Death Experiences
- Heroes of Faith
- Death in the Sand
- Life and times of Gandhi
- Heroes of Faith: Judaism
- Nicky Cruz
- Dr Martin Luther King
- Muhammad Yusuf – Islam
- William Booth and the Salvation Army
Spring term
- Ethics and Religion
- Morality of animal testing
- IVF The right to a child?
- War and Justice
- Child soldiers
- Aspects of Buddhism
- The story of Siddhartha
- The four noble truths
- The Three marks of existence (Universal truths)
- The Noble eightfold path
- The five precepts
Summer term
- Introduction to GCSE
Science
Autumn term
- Cell Biology
- Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table
- Atomic Structure (Physics)
- Consolidation
Spring term
- Infection and Response
- Particle Theory
- The Atmosphere
- Electromagnetism
- Consolidation
Summer term
- Bioenergetics
- Ecology Part 2
- Sustainable Development
- Revision for End of Year Exams