SOUTHEND HIGH SCHOOL FOR BOYS
Year 8 Curriculum – 2016/17
A Summary to Parents
SUBJECT
AUTUMN
SPRING
Journalism – writing biased newspaper
article; spoken language study- creative
response based on a study of
spontaneous speech; reading a novel –
literature essay, creative writing; test
unit; reading a novel; reading diary (all
year) Speaking and Listening
assessment.
Indices, Standard Form, Probability,
Polygons, Ratio, Linear Equations,
Linear Inequalities, Area, Scatter
Graphs, Simultaneous Equations
Stories in different genres – literature
essay, creative writing; war poetry –
literature essay, creative writing; the
language of advertising (own
advertisement, developing reading
skills); test unit: Stories in Different
Genres; Speaking and Listening
assessment.
Circles, Percentages, Functions and
Sequences, Transformations, Gradient
& Intercepts, Pythagoras Theorem
Food and digestion, Formulae and
Equations; Electricity and Generation;
Respiration
Consolidation of present and near
future tense, Introduction to perfect
tense, Activities and Interests, Family,
School, Travel, Home and Abroad
Work on pronunciation. Translations
from English to French. Analysis of
short literature texts.
Introducing yourself/Shopping for food
and clothes, describing your family.
Consolidation of tenses. Translations.
Role play. Half-termly assessments,
weekly vocabulary tests.
Rocks and Weathering; Heat and
Temperature; Infectious Diseases;
Metals and the reactivity series
Extension of Speaking and Listening
Activities, Activities at home and
abroad, Interchange of present,
perfect and near future tense.
Art & Design
Pop-Art (Lichtenstein and Warhol)
Digital animation, Perspective and
Observational drawing, colour theory
skills, Modern Art, Titian’s Bacchus
and Ariadne and Comic strip designs.
Observational drawings of organic
objects, clay sculpture, Leonardo da
Vinci engineering project, discussing
options and career paths with art
qualifications.
RE
Ultimate Questions:
Being Human: a philosophical
exploration of what we know and how
we know it, questions of identity and
meaning.
Death: how have people understood
death and the idea of an afterlife?
How does this affect how we cope
with death?
English
Maths
Science
French
Spanish
Geography
History
PE
Design &
Technology
ICT
Music
PSHE
Citizenship
SUMMER
Shakespeare unit – study of a play
and a variety of creative and literary
tasks; Titanic – literature essay,
creative writing; Test Unit: Summer
exam; Speaking and Listening
assessment
Quadratic Graphs, Statistics, Trial and
Improvement, Scale Diagrams,
Volume of Prisms,
Speed/Distance/Time and Travel
Graphs
Sound; Inheritance and Variation;
Chemical reactions and energy;
Magnetism
Speaking and writing about food,
school and shopping. Oral
examination. Reflexive verbs
Travelling abroad. Using
conjunctions
Extension of Speaking and Listening
Leisure time/sport & past tense.
Activities Holidays/weather/ordering
Healthy lifestyle.
a meal. Weather expressions (using
Past and future tenses
the imperfect tense) Half-termly
Half-termly assessments, weekly
assessments, weekly vocabulary tests. vocabulary tests. Role plays and
Role plays and translations.
translations.
Tectonics, Urbanisation, Climate Change, Sustainability, Glaciation and polar environments, Development. (two units per
term)
Slavery and Empire. The Industrial
World War One.
World War Two.
Revolutions
Existence/Non-existence of God: a
comparison of arguments for God’s
existence with Humanistic arguments
that do not base morality on God.
Games: Soccer, Hockey, Rugby.
Cross-country.
P.E: Basketball, Badminton.
Mobile phone point of sale stand.
Landscape painting (Turner), Public
Sculpture, the Italian Renaissance,
Old Masters, Modern Masters, the
challenge of Modern Art, an
introduction to portrait and figure
drawing.
Principles and Rules: an exploration
of how rules are derived from moral
principles, focussing on
Utilitarianism.
Freedom and predestination: Are
we free? Is freedom an illusion? Is
autonomy possible?
Buddhism: the philosophy of this
Eastern worldview and how this
affects Buddhist practice and action
in the world.
Games: Soccer, Hockey, Rugby.
P.E: Gymnastic Sequence, Indoor
Athletics, Table tennis.
Games: Athletics – track events,
Cricket.
P.E. Athletics – field events, Cricket,
short tennis
Model Racing Buggy
Electronics
Viruses, copyright-plagiarism, health
Python programming, hardware,
Computer graphics, animation using
and safety, Sketchup, Database –
software, introduction to binary,
adobe suite.
Introduction, creating and setting up a
hexadecimal
database, data validation, queries,
forms, reports.
Ragtime
Blues (or Dance)
Dance (or Blues)
Jazz
Music for Film
Ensemble Performance
Subjects covered throughout the year include: Health and Hygiene, Sex and Relationship Education, Careers Education
and Guidance, Economic Well-Being and Financial Capability.
Democracy in the UK including Government Income & Expenditure; Crime, Punishment & the Legal System.