Year 8 Subject Information
Welcome I am delighted to present your guide to our Year 8 curriculum at South Hunsley School. I hope you will find it useful and informative. It is designed to help prompt and support conversations with your child about their learning throughout the year, and in particular when we send your child’s reports home in December, March and July. We have recently completed an extensive review of our Key Stage 3 curriculum, which runs through Years 7 and 8. We want to be sure students have every opportunity to build upon the excellent progress they have made in their primary schools. We are also keen to lay the strong foundations needed for the new challenges presented by revised GCSE courses which, as you may know, are now graded 9 -1 rather than A* - G. This guide outlines our ‘Big Questions’ curriculum. It sets out the syllabus for each Year 8 subject area and is intended to be a general guide, because the specific level of work and topics covered may vary between students and classes in order to ensure all students can get the most from their lessons. We hope you are able to use it as a starting point in discussing your son or daughter’s learning with them and also to provide a little more information on the content that has been assessed in our termly data reports. If you have questions about any element of this book, or our assessment and reporting systems, please visit our school website or the school VLE where you will find detailed guides. We wish all of our Year 8 students a happy and successful time at South Hunsley. Jonny Uttley Executive Principal
English (Reading) Big Questions
Knowledge and Skills
What makes a good plot?
Use quotations to support understanding
Does a comedy have to be funny? Do we need to understand someone’s life to understand their work?
Deduce, infer or interpret texts Examine structure and presentation of texts Explore effects of language and grammar Explain writers’ viewpoints and their effect Consider social and historical contexts
English (Writing) Big Questions Should writing follow rules? How can a world be truly perfect? Does our language define us?
Knowledge and Skills Write imaginative and thoughtful texts Write texts appropriate to task, reader and purpose Organise ideas effectively Use paragraphs effectively Use sentences accurately and effectively Punctuate sentences accurately Select effective vocabulary Use correct spelling
Maths Big Questions
What is the pattern? What do I know about these angles?
Knowledge and Skills Generating terms of sequences using term-to-term nth term rule Recognise arithmetic and geometric sequences and find the nth term rule Plot and read coordinates and graphs Understand graphs written in the form y=mx+c Understand real life graphs, including Velocity-Time and Distance-Time graphs Drawing and measuring of lines and angles Change freely between standard related units Use scale factors for diagrams and maps Express one quantity as a fraction of another
Use ratio notation and write a ratio in its simplest form Solve problems involved with percentage increase and decrease How is the area or Understand and use knowledge of perimeter and area perimeter of this shape of 2D shapes, including circles and composite shapes calculated? Interpret mathematical relationships, including algebraic and geometrically Rearrange formulae to change the subject Use standard units of length, area and volume Round numbers to an appropriate degree of accuracy Understand the probability scale for words, percentages, fractions and decimals Understand all probabilities sum to 1 What are the chances? Use Venn diagrams including unions and intersections What do I know about this Use sample space diagrams to generate theoretical probabilities shape? Understand properties of triangles, quadrilaterals and circles Understand and use Pythagoras theorem How can this be represented as a fraction or a ratio?
Science Big Questions
Knowledge and Skills Breathing Respiration What is keeping Fred alive? The skeletal system The muscle system Does a reaction have to be Chemical and physical changes seen to be believed? Chemical reactions The reactivity series Chemical equations Forces Energy Bigger, better, faster? Motion Pressure What is wrong with Bob? Infection Vaccination Drugs and health Structure of the earth If rocks could speak, what The rock cycle The water cycle stories would they tell? Evolution of the atmosphere What is in my home of the Heat transfer future? Circuits Power Magnets
Art Big Questions How can we record what we see?
Knowledge and Skills
What can we learn from artists? How can we create a hybrid?
Use of media and artistic techniques
What makes a design success?
Focussing on how to build texture within a detailed design
How can my art be 3D? Will an animal hybrid be successful?
Applying the formal elements of art
Putting techniques and skills into action to form a successful hybrid
Increased knowledge and experience of media Working with different materials Adopting different processes to develop a 3 dimensional hybrid Develop formal elements and transfer these into 3 dimensions
Drama Big Questions How has Commedia dell’arte influenced modern culture?
Knowledge and Skills Developing use of voice to suit characterisation
Key conventions of Commedia dell’Arte and Greek Theatre Appropriate conventions to a piece of drama How can we successfully Creating comedy using exaggerated physicality create catharsis in an audience? Using key terminology Listening and responding to others whilst exploring How can drama be used as issues through drama a tool for political change? Creating a politically-motivated workshop Exploring internet safety Can theatre exist without Engaging an audience meaning? Communicating ideas through characterisation Analysing and realising a text
How can we use nonverbal communication skills to create comedy?
Use of movement and mime skills Creating comedy through movement Communicating ideas to an audience Applying skills and techniques appropriate to genres and styles Reflecting on the work of others, using key terminology
Food Big Questions
What are the functions of ingredients or materials?
What factors affect food choice?
Knowledge and Skills Development of practical skills Knowledge of macro and micro nutrients: • Carbohydrates • Protein • Vitamins • Minerals Complex practical skills and independence Developing recipe choices using cultural understanding and knowledge of food ingredients, their properties and availability: • Cultural influences on food • Sustainable food choices
Geography Big Questions
Why does no one live in Antarctica?
How is the population changing in China?
Kenya believe it?
Knowledge and Skills Key places in our world Key physical features in Antarctica Using Geographical terminology How humans affect the natural environment The causes and impacts of climate change Different factors that make Antarctica an extreme environment Responses to protecting wildernesses Continuing use of Geographical terminology Population pyramids Reasons for migration Why urban areas are experiencing rapid population growth Why pollution is increasing in China Implications of an ageing population Impacts of global companies on workers in China Developing use of Geographical terminology Conditions in the world’s largest slum Why Kibera is growing and the implications of this How our world is increasingly interdependent Responses to globalisation in Kenya How the traditional way of life in Kenya is changing
History Big Questions
Knowledge and Skills Knowledge Introduction to the UK The power of the monarchy in 1603
Was James 1st James the worst? Why did the English kill their king?
The reign of James I and his kingship qualities The Gunpowder Plot The English Civil War Execution of Charles I Oliver Cromwell The Glorious Revolution Concepts and skills Chronology Significance Causation Knowledge
How great was Great Britain in 1745-1901?
How should Britain be remembered in slavery
Industrial Revolution Child labour and the factory system Public health The greatest Victorian The British Empire Concepts and Skills Interpretation Revision Knowledge The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Life on the plantations Abolition of slavery Concepts and Skills Structure and organisation
Information Technology Big Questions
How can we make computers do what we need them to do?
Knowledge and Skills Program in a visual programming environment Develop logical thinking skills by programming and controlling different sprites Create programmes using text-based programming Use a range of different programming concepts including iteration, selection, syntax, debugging Use computers to store data and information Hardware & Software that enables the Internet
Describe how websites can be used by different organisations Understand what constitutes as good web design and How does the internet apply this to design work work? Create a simple website using a combination of HTML and CSS Add interactive elements such as user controlled sound and video to a website Advanced search techniques Check information sources, assessing their reliability, Can old information create accuracy and bias Use graphic editing skills such as effects, removing something new? backgrounds and layers How does IT improve Set out and format a business letter business? Create a database and perform a mail merge Collect data by designing and creating a suitable data capture form
MFL French Big Questions
Knowledge and Skills Knowledge Free-time and hobbies Local area Holidays What's occurring? Media How can I give my opinion Music and fashion My house and home in a variety of different Skills ways? Listen, read and respond to the spoken language What will happen? Engage in conversations What happened? How can I talk about others?
Give opinions and reasons Read and show understanding of words, phrases and simple paragraphs Write phrases from memory and adapt to create new sentences Develop vocabulary Understand and use basic grammar Understand and use different tenses
MFL Spanish Big Questions How do I give opinions using the right adjective agreements? How do I give extra detail in my sentences? What strategies can I use when translating a text into English? How do I use two tenses together? How do I write extended texts using new and old vocabulary?
Knowledge and Skills Knowledge School life My house and home Free-time and hobbies Local area Self, family and friends Skills Listen, read and respond to the spoken language Ask and answer questions Give opinions and reasons Develop accurate pronunciation Write phrases from memory and adapt to create new sentences Develop vocabulary Understand and use basic grammar Understand and use different tenses
MFL German Big Questions
Knowledge and Skills Knowledge
How does the definite and indefinite article change in German?
School life
Do you want to know what I think?
Local area
How do I work out the gender and plural of nouns?
Family and friends My house and home Holidays Skills Listen, read and respond to the spoken language Engage in conversations Give opinions and reasons
How do I talk about the future using present tense?
Develop accurate pronunciation
How do I use a range of verb forms referring to past, present and future?
Develop vocabulary
Write phrases from memory and adapt to create new sentences Understand and use basic grammar Understand and use different tenses
Music Big Questions
Knowledge and Skills The historical context of Blues music How to play the Blues scale and chords How much has the slave trade influenced African Improvise 12-bar blues - American and Western Develop performing and improvisation skills in popular music? selected genres. This may include Scottish Music, Elizabethan Music and Samba Explore a variety of structures within a range of How can Google musical genres, including Scottish and Elizabethan Classroom help me in Music Music? Compose their own composition within the framework of existing structures How can Music Technology help me when Students further develop music technology skills using the music software ‘Sibelius’ and notate their composing music? composition Introduction to the ukulele and how to play simple chords What do I need to consider Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and Bach’s Toccata and if I am to be successful in Fugue learning a new instrument? How to play the main themes on the keyboard and compose a Toccata, using different compositional techniques
PE Big Questions
Knowledge and Skills Badminton: forehand, backhand, serving, positioning
Who will challenge me? Is it the taking part that counts?
Can sporting performance be ‘creative’? Should I be outside at the moment? How can I challenge others? What else is out there for me? Can I work in a team to overcome challenges?
Gymnastics: Body position, gymnasts’ skills developing routines Rock Climbing: developing a range of movements, climbing, traversing, orienteering, teamwork Fitness: my body’s abilities, warm ups and cool downs, recovery rates Attacking, defending, dribbling, passing and shooting Strategies and tactics, combining skills with accuracy Control, positioning, basic team coordination skills, coaching and communicating Sports included: basketball, hockey, rugby, netball, football Athletics: running, jumping, throwing, setting a baseline, working towards personal bests Tennis: groundstrokes, forehand, backhand, serving, movement of self and movements of opponent Softball, rounders and cricket: throwing, bowling, catching, fielding on the ground, batting
Product Design Big Questions What is the impact of new technologies and components?
What is biomimicry?
Knowledge and Skills Using new technologies within manufacturing Using electronics and systems for control process Using design inspiration to create and manufacture prototypes Using professional tools and equipment The influence and impact of design influences Explore, create and evaluate as part of the design process Investigation skills to enable research and make informed decisions based on stakeholder needs
Is it sustainable?
Understand the importance of sustainable design Examine the iterative design process Develop a wide range of practical skills Manufacture more complex prototypes to communicate design ideas
RS Big Questions
Do we always agree?
Who is at fault?
What does it mean to be Jewish?
Knowledge and Skills Knowledge Prejudice and discrimination and their causes Various forms of prejudice- sexism, racism, homophobia, Islamophobia etc. Peace and conflict- nationally and globally The media and conflict- how religion and groups are portrayed How to resolve conflict in a multi-cultural society Skills Empathy Value of others Solving conflict Suggesting solutions Reflecting on influence of media Knowledge Truths Humans and the treatment of animals Existence of God Miracles - Jesus’ and non-religious ones The afterlife Evil and suffering Skills Considering different view points Debating moral issues Answering/discussing challenging questions Knowledge Jewish beliefs, values, customs food laws and festivals Jews and persecution (the Holocaust) Skills Identifying Jewish beliefs Explaining Jewish culture Empathy
Textiles Big Questions
What are the functions of ingredients or materials?
Can textiles products be both creative and engineered?
Knowledge and Skills Hand skills Decorative techniques Personal interpretation of needs and design Aesthetics Sustainable and environmental awareness Precision and accuracy Creative and functional design Meeting a specification Ergonomics
South HunsleySchool School South Hunsley and Sixth SixthForm FormCollege College East DaleRoad Road East Dale Melton North Ferriby Ferriby HU14 3HS HU14 3HS 01482 631208 01482 631208 enquiries@southhunsley.org.uk www.southhunsley.org.uk www.southhunsley.org.uk