Achievement with heart.
Year 7 Curriculum Overview Spring Term 2024
Year 7 Curriculum Overview Spring Term 2024
Contents Art Computer Science Drama English FLAM French Geography History Latin Mandarin Maths Music PE PSHE Science Spanish
Achievement with heart.
Year 7 Curriculum Overview Spring Term 2024
Art This term the students will develop a photographic image into a design drawing suitable for use as a print. They will use refined cutting skills to show pattern and texture, and complex colour combining to create a graded printed colour base layer. This project builds directly on the skills acquired in their leaf print project. The students will further refine their skills and explore more complex processes to create a two-stage layered lino print using graded colour.
Key contact Eve Blackwood Head of Art eb@hchnet.co.uk
Computer Science In the first half of the term, after finishing their websites built with HTML before Christmas, students will start learning about algorithms and ultimately programming techniques using Edublocks, an online, block-based front-end for the Python programming language. They will use input statements, outputs to the screen, parameters, sequence, selection, and iteration, random functions, x/y coordinates, RGB colour representation, and functions. This platform will take them towards Easter. Their assessment will include a practical challenge to be completed in class by the end of term.
Key contact Andrew Evans Head of Computer Science aev@hchnet.co.uk
Year 7 Curriculum Overview Spring Term 2024
Drama We will start this term by looking at techniques used to devise theatre. Students will use the theme of bullying to explore techniques such as cross-cutting and conscience corridor. They will create characters and monologues to explore different perspectives on the theme. Students will also be introduced to Brazilian practitioner Augusto Boal, who used forum theatre to help people find solutions to their problems. In the second half of the term, students will use what they have learned to create characters for the school production of Alice in Wonderland. In this multi-disciplinary unit, students will learn all the different facets of putting on a production, starting with script writing, and then looking at how to design, direct, and act key scenes from the story.
Key contact Alice Goodman Director of Performing Arts ago@hchnet.co.uk
English Spring 1: Y7 will be studying Freedom by Catherine Johnson. We will be focusing on creative writing this halfterm, including Fiction creative writing (stories and descriptions). Their assessment will include a fiction creative writing task where they will be expected to write a story or description. Spring 2: They will be studying Poetry from around the world. We will be focusing on analytical writing and considering how to write analytical paragraphs in response to poetry. Their Spring 2 assessment will be an analytical response to a question about one of the poems you study. About the book: Catherine Johnson brings the haunting history of slavery to life in this crucial historical fiction for middle-grade readers. Nat, a 12-year-old born into Jamaican plantation slavery, faces hardships when his family is separated. Sent to England to care for pineapple plants, Nat dreams of freedom in bustling London. His encounter with Shadrack Furman transforms his life. This captivating adventure offers young readers profound insights into slavery while maintaining an accessible narrative. Grounded in historical events, the story includes real figures like Olaudah Equiano and Granville Sharp. The book ends with an informative historical note, summarizing slavery for readers of all ages.
Key contact Chloe Fabregas Head of English cfa@hchnet.co.uk
Lille, France HCH French Trip
Year 7 Curriculum Overview Spring Term 2024
FLAM (Français Langue Maternelle) The objective of the unit 2 is to understand how a specific type of character is constructed and evolves across different literary genres. In this unit, students will explore a character that appears in numerous texts and works of art in various forms: the monster. Authors and artists from different eras and places have embraced this character, often at the limits of humanity, invoking the imagination of readers powerfully. Students are invited to journey through a gallery of creatures, each stranger than the last. During this unit, they will also need to read the book "La Barbe bleue et autres histoires" to complete the assignment 2. In the next and third unit, students will study extracts of “La Genèse” from the Bible. The objectives are to understand the responses that Genesis seeks to provide to humanity's major questions about its origins and the mysteries of the universe. The unit also encourages reflection on the values taught in this fundamental text.
Key contact Aurore Duvollet Head of FLAM acd@hchnet.co.uk
French Four periods: This term, students will carry on their work on Tricolore 1. We will discover the main festivals and celebrations, in particular the Epiphany, where we will bake the traditional “Galette des Rois”. We will then move on to learn how to describe someone, to then finally learn about the weather forecast and different activities according to the weather. Assessments will be carried out at the end of each unit, with precise guidance for revision published on Teams a week before the test. Two periods: This term, pupils will continue to work on Tricolore 1. We will learn to talk about our pets, ask questions, express opinions, use adjectives to describe things, understand and practise descriptions, use some everyday phrases, making verbs negative and adjective agreements. During the second half of the term, we will focus on asking for and giving the dates, learning about Saints’ days and other festivals, talking about birthday dates and present and developing their knowledge of verbs and adjectives.
Key contact Clarisse Gheur Head of Languages clg@hchnet.co.uk
Jurassic Coast, Dorset HCH Geography Trip
Year 7 Curriculum Overview Spring Term 2024
Geography This term we will focus mainly on map reading skills, testing and enhancing students’ use of Ordnance Survey maps. Describing location using grid references, the representation of relief and scale/distance will be covered. We will also work with satellite imagery and aerial photography, particularly when considering direction and aspect. Consideration will be given to the power of maps and how representations of place and boundaries can be used (and abused) as a political tool. Assessment will be composed of two practical tests.
Key contact Tom Roberts Head of Humanities twr@hchnet.co.uk
History We start with a resumption of the reign of Henry VIII, picking up on the break with Rome and establishment of the Church of England. We then consider Henry’s achievements and legacy following his death in 1547, before assessing the extent to which Protestantism was introduced under Edward VI. Students will finish the term by beginning their investigation into the reign of Mary I and the restoration of Catholicism. Homework will be set once a week, and there will be two in-class assessments throughout the term. These will feature questions that will allow the students to continue developing their analytical skills.
Key contact Tom Roberts Head of Humanities twr@hchnet.co.uk
Pompeii, Italy HCH Classics Trip
Year 7 Curriculum Overview Spring Term 2024
Latin In Latin, we will be looking at early Roman Christianity, Roman town planning sanitation and hygiene, slaves and the free as our cultural topics through reading evaluating and analysing sources in translation. We will be looking at irregular verbs optionally with a variety of tenses and uses of the ablative, genitive, and dative cases from all 3 declensions (with 3rd declension adjective agreements). We will be covering vocabulary from chapters 4 – 7. There will be both a comprehension and translation assessment in February and March.
Key contact Victoria Rwabeh Teacher of Latin vrw@hchnet.co.uk
Mandarin In spring term, Year 7 pupils will learn to talk about holidays, including the following subtopics: talk about weather, different countries and languages, where to go on holidays, different means of transport, learn to use pastime markers to talk about where they went on holiday, and learning about holidays in China. Students will be able to write and read the relevant key vocabulary of the topic. A vocabulary quiz will be carried out once a week, and the end-of-term exam will be assessed via listening, speaking, reading, and writing exercises related to the term topic we learn. Students will learn and practise popular Chinese songs and perform in the Chinese New Year assembly and enjoy watching other year groups of students’ Chinese New Year’s performances to celebrate the cultural festival together.
Key contact Shirley Xue Wang Teacher of Mandarin sxw@hchnet.co.uk
Year 7 Curriculum Overview Spring Term 2024
Maths This term, students will be working on the following topics in maths: an introduction to probability, ratios including sharing items into given ratios, scale drawing and this will then lead into drawing enlargements of shapes and recognising similar shapes. Students will then move on to plotting and recognising linear graphs and their algebraic equivalents in the form y= mx + c. After half-term, students will be working on percentages, both with and without calculators, recognising increasing and decreasing by percentage amounts, and relating this to the real world by calculating VAT.
Key contact Nick Edwards Assistant Principal, Head of Maths ned@hchnet.co.uk
Music In spring term, students will explore music from other areas of the world including African drumming and Indonesian Gamelan. We will play gamelan ensemble music building on note and rhythm reading from Autumn term. Students will then make their own pentatonic compositions in pairs, performing them on glockenspiel, keyboard, or their own instrument. In the final weeks of spring term, we will then begin preparation for the Year 7/8 Production. The students will be creating their scene in Drama and in Music, the students will be composing the music to accompany their Alice in Wonderland drama scene using the Tech Lab.
Key contact Rosalind Ridout Director of Music rri@hchnet.co.uk
Team Building Day September 2023
Year 7 Curriculum Overview Spring Term 2024
PE In the spring term, the students will focus on the core skills of basketball and padel tennis. The lessons will be taught off-site at St Mary’s University so that they can utilize their indoor facilities and the padel tennis courts at Imber Court. In basketball, the students will learn about the rules of the game and refine their skills in passing, shooting, and dribbling. In padel tennis, the students will learn about the rules, scoring, and how to play the lob, backhand shot off the glass, and the bajera shot. Students will be taught the correct technique to perform the skills and will learn through individual practice, partner work, and group tasks to enhance their understanding of the sports.
Key contact Janak Odedra Director of Sport jvo@hchnet.co.uk
PSHE This term we will be focusing on the relationships and sex education aspect of PSHE. We will explore the following topics: friendships, family relationships, falling in love, assertiveness in relationships, puberty, having a baby, my changing feelings, British values – what is personal identity, what is radicalization and extremism? The lessons are predominantly discussion-based, with group work opportunities. At the end of each half term, there is a self-reflection lesson, allowing the teacher to assess understanding and for the students to consider their own learning and understanding. Due to the sensitive nature of the topics explored this term, teachers are encouraged to have an anonymous question box available for students. A reminder that parents have the option to opt their child(ren) out of the sex education lessons, a form has been sent out by Amy Burgess, please contact her if you have any further questions or to request copies of lesson plans and resources.
Key contact Amy Burgess Deputy Head Pastoral acb@hchnet.co.uk
Granada, Spain HCH Spanish Trip
Year 7 Curriculum Overview Spring Term 2024
Science Yr7 will carry on with their second biology chapter- body systems and organization encapsulating knowledge and understanding of human anatomy. Following on from this we will return to physics and learn about sound and hearing. The next two chapters will be human reproduction followed by a move to chemistry and learning about reversible and irreversible chemical reactions. During the term, we will continue to develop the students' practical and reporting skills where appropriate.
Key contact Thomas McCarthy-Ward Head of Science tjmw@hchnet.co.uk
Spanish During the spring term, the students will begin with learning how to write and talk about the school environment using the present tense and connectives. They will develop the sophistication and expressiveness of their phrasing, syntax, and vocabulary in order to form and express their opinions both in first person presentation and responsive conversation. Their assessment will be a mixture of written and oral based on the topic ‘school’.
Key contact Clarisse Gheur Head of Languages clg@hchnet.co.uk