Paignton Community & SPortS aCademy

As we wish a “Happy New Year” to you, it seems hard to believe that the Year 10 students have already completed the first term of their GCSE courses. The majority of students have settled well into their Key Stage 4 studies and have started to understand how important it is to be engaged and motivated in their lessons. Teachers have worked exceptionally hard with the students to impart their knowledge and, in some cases, introduce them to completely new subjects. The students have their first set of PPE examinations in February, and this will enable their teachers to identify how much progress they are making. Homework is being set regularly by the teachers so please contact the Year Team if you need to reactivate or install the Class Charts application to see what is being set. We can assure you that if your child is suggesting that they do not have any homework that this is not the case!Parents’ evening is in March and we would like to see as many parents as possible. The GCSEs have changed so significantly in recent years and we feel this would be a superb opportunity to meet your child’s teachers to discuss their progress.

Helen Wilkinson, Head of Year

Believe and Achieve

YEAR 10

CurriCulum Newsletter - spriNg term 2019

SCIENCEAll students will now be following the OCR 21st Century specification in preparation for taking the GCSE exams in 2020. Scientific literacy and the impact of science and technology on everyday life has featured highly in past examinations and there will be a focus of this throughout the year. This term begins with an internal PPE (pre public exam) which will focus on assessing their knowledge of the course content taught so far, with a particular focus on Biology. The following modules will be assessed in their first formal assessment at KS4: B2 Keeping Healthy; B4 Using Food and Controlling Growth; and B5 The Human Body – Staying Alive. The results from these assessments will be communicated to parents later in the academic year. Can I please take the opportunity to remind you that revision guides are available to purchase through ParentPay. The revision guide covers the entire GCSE course and it is recommended that all Year 10 students have one. To support students in their learning, we provide revision sessions after school and this will have been communicated to the students. After the formal assessment, students will begin to work through the modules of C5 Chemical Analysis; C6 Making Useful Chemicals; and P3 Electrical Circuits. During this period, regular assessments will take place in a variety of different forms including practical assessments and traditional end of unit progress tests. Further information relating to the course is available on the OCR website.

CONTACT INFORMATIONT: 01803 403003 E: brdadmin@paigntonacademy.org

www.paigntonacademy.org

ENGLISHAs you know GCSE examinations are now terminal and will take place at the end of the two-year course in May 2020. During the autumn term we studied a drama text, ‘An Inspector Calls’ by J.B. Priestley, with students completing end of unit assessments on this text. We also studied English Language Paper 1 – Fiction and Imaginative Writing. Students learnt how to address an unseen text looking at how authors use language and structure to create effects, developing their skills of inference, analysis and evaluation. In the spring we will be interleaving our Language and Literature teaching with students spending two lessons a week studying Literature, two studying Language and one lesson studying poetry.Assessments will be conducted at the end of each half-term; these assessments will closely mirror the final examination papers. All exams are now closed book which means students have to know the prescribed texts very well. To enable them to do this it is useful for them to have their own, personal copy of the texts studied. Homework is set regularly on Class Charts and Google classroom. Revision resources and details of revision sessions will be on the school website and learning gateway.If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact the English department.

IMPORTANT DATES

20194th February Exams Week18th-22nd Feb Half Term14th March Parents’ Evening5th April Last Day of Term23rd April First Day of Summer Term

Texts Studied:20th Century – An Inspector Calls by J.B. PriestleyShakespeare – Macbeth by William Shakespeare19th Century Fiction – A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens10P1/10G1 – Ms Reilly’s group will study The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

MEDIA STUDIESAs this new Media Studies curriculum is 70% exam based, this term will see the Year 10 students expanding on their emerging media knowledge, using relevant media keywords and analysing media texts narratively and semiotically.The term will start with the students finalising their mock Non Exam Assessment (NEA – Brief 5) on print adverts for a range of wrist watches. They will analyse their own work as media creators, thinking about what selection, construction and mediation processes they went through to create their finished product. With this practitioner’s viewpoint, we will then revisit the Close Study Products (CSPs) already encountered in order to achieve a deeper understanding of how media language elements conform to codes and create meanings.The rest of the term will concentrate on studying the CSPs for Music Videos with a focus on Media Institutions and Media Audiences; Film Industry with a focus on Media Industries; and Radio with a focus on Media Industries and Media Audiences.

CHILD DEVELOPMENTThe spring term sees the students continue learning and preparing for the exam unit: health and well-being in child development. The main topics covered will be postnatal support and provision, illness and child safety. Towards the end of the term students will start to prepare for their real exam which will be taken in June 2019.

HEALTH & SOCIAL CAREThe spring term sees the students finish their learning for the exam unit, covering laws, safety, security and personal hygiene in care settings. The real exam, which amounts to 25% of their final grade, will be taken in June. Towards the end of the term the students will start their first piece of coursework: communicating with individuals in care settings, which will require them to create a booklet outlining skills and personal qualities.

PSYCHOLOGYThe spring term will start with a new unit about brain development. Students will learn about the structure of the brain and the roles of nature and nurture. There will be lessons on theories of cognitive learning and the effects these have on learning. At the end of the term the students will be studying how to conduct experiments and research ethically in psychology.

GEOGRAPHYDuring the spring term, the Year 10 Geographers will be starting their urban issues work. This involves investigating the patterns of population change across the world and looking at how countries cope with these changes. Case studies in Nigeria and the UK will be used as specific examples.Towards the end of the spring term, we will recap and further investigate the topic of coasts (first introduced in Year 8). We will evaluate the different methods of coastal management and look at long term, sustainable solutions to the global issue of sea level change. This forms an introduction to the students’ first piece of fieldwork, which will take place in the summer term to Dawlish Warren.

HISTORYYear 10 students will begin the study of the Elizabethan era. They will study the ‘Golden Age of Discovery’, class divisions and the political dangers facing Queen Elizabeth throughout her reign. Homework will consist of research tasks and revision for the final exams. Extensive support materials will be published on www.paigntononline.com with weekly revision sessions.

ICTYear 10 students will be continuing the new IT Interactive Media course – looking at digital products like apps, websites, logos and media channels.Students will be looking at the topic of music festivals, investigating current interactive media products, and experimenting with design software to begin to create their own products.Students will continue to experiment with different interactive authoring products like Adobe Photoshop, Audition and Premiere Pro. They will review the use of this software before beginning to focus on the scenario of the music festival. Students will begin planning for the interactive media products they will create to meet the scenario, using their previously completed experimentation to begin selecting the software to use as well as designing.

MATHSMathematics students will continue their study through the scheme of work, with Foundation students working for 3 weeks on the major topic of ratio and proportion, while Higher students will be developing further skills with graphs. All students will then spend a week in preparation for their spring PPE examinations held at the beginning of February.The spring PPE exam will give an indication of students’ progress mid-way through their GCSE course which will influence specific areas of future revision, stretch and challenge and intervention strategies. Topics that will be studied include many that have already been seen in Mathematics: factors & multiples; multiplicative reasoning; transformations; prime factor decomposition; powers & roots; surds; fractions, ratios & percentages; drawing straight line graphs; equations of a straight line; kinematic graphs; linear & quadratic functions; 3D shapes; volume & surface area; probability; Pythagoras & trigonometry and algebra. Areas of study for the term are organised into 2 to 4 week blocks. At the end of each unit of study an assessment is undertaken to determine the student’s level of understanding and skill with the topic. Areas of improvement are identified, and students are given time to both reflect and improve upon these areas through homework or suggested further work.Home learning will be set primarily via Class Charts. If students do not have access to Class Charts, passwords can be issued by their teacher. A major initiative introduced within the Mathematics department is ActiveLearn. This is the Edexcel exam board’s online learning resource. This enables teachers to set home learning and gives all students online access to the electronic version of the text book that is used in class. If students struggle with any areas of the learning, they can immediately access ‘learning aids’ within the resource which then takes them to the relevant area of the text book for reference and learning. Within this are embedded videos which further help to underpin learning. Students may request additional home learning from their teachers.

CAREERSMost great things begin with a plan. Your career should be no different. A plan will give you something to work towards. I will also help you make the most of the opportunities that come your way. Use the ‘Making choices’ and ‘Careers research’ sections of the school website to start planning a career that is right for you.• University of Exeter residential

applications opened• A variety of off-site university/

employer led activities• Participate in a number of employer/

future opportunities assembliesTo help your young person plan for their futures you may find the following website useful:

www.parentadviser.co.uk

PE AT THE ACADEMY During the spring term, core PE activities will include competitive games in ultimate Frisbee, handball, volleyball, football and netball. Some groups will have the opportunity to work on individual fitness plans in the fitness suite or sample individual sports such as badminton, table tennis and even short tennis. It has been fantastic to see an increase in the number of students representing the Academy, especially in rugby. Girls’ rugby in particular has seen an increase in participation levels and the girls have played more competitive games than ever before. The school rugby season will come to a close and the football, basketball and netball seasons will be the main focus for this term. We want to see as many students as possible at training and representing the Academy, so please get involved.

BTEC PEThe Year 10 BTEC Sport cohort will complete the Sports Leadership unit before starting their preparation for the online exam which they will sit this term. A mix of practical and theory lessons will continue to be delivered in order to deepen student knowledge of ‘Fitness for Sport’. The different topics covered have ranged from relating the different components of fitness to different sports and athletes. Homework and revision sessions will become extremely important over the next term in order for students to fulfil their full potential.

CONSTRUCTIONThe spring term will see the Year 10 young builders take the Construction Technology exam. This is one of the core units within the subject and holds a substantial weighting of their final grade. After the exam they will focus on a new unit of Construction and Design where they will begin to understand the benefits of the work of the construction industry in society as well as producing creative sketches of design ideas to suit a client’s needs. This forms the other half of the core units and will therefore be studied in great detail.

COMPUTER SCIENCEStudents will continue the GCSE qualification looking at the computer systems aspect of the syllabus. This section will be a written exam at the end of the course and students will gain a deep understanding into the following areas:• Systems architecture• Network topologies, protocols and

layers• System security• System software• Ethical issuesThis will include looking at different threats and applying threats and preventions to different scenarios. This is obviously a very topical issue and is one that students will gain a deeper knowledge of in terms of how organisations deal with these threats on a daily basis.Alongside this, students will use the programming skills developed in term one - looking at skills like ‘lists’, and ‘reading and writing’ to a file. The challenge after learning the skills in isolation is to independently solve programming challenges using a variety of these skills.Revision guides are available from ParentPay and will help students to revise for end of topic tests and the PPE, as well as the end of topic questions set as homework in the white workbooks.

FRENCHDuring the autumn term, Year 10 have continued to prepare for the new GCSE through the topics of home and local area, customs and festivals, and social issues. In the spring term they will move on to the topic of global issues and environment.

French - How parents can help. We would love you to support your child with their home learning by regularly helping them to learn vocabulary in preparation for their weekly vocabulary tests. Allow them to explore fun ways of learning from home, for example sticking post-its on the fridge or on their back, so you can test them aloud, get them to teach you, rap it, sing it, dance along to it, record it and use the “look, cover, say, write, check” method. There are endless ways to learn and only by experimenting will they discover which method works best for them. Thank you for supporting us with your child’s learning. Merci et Bon Courage!

ETHICSYear 10 will continue with GCSE studies which will conclude at the end of Year 11. The modules they will be working on will be Religion and Life, and Christian and Islamic beliefs. Each module is designed to develop opinion and discussion, allowing students to reconcile their own ideas and the ideas of others. Each module examines the world from both religious and secular perspectives. There will be two assessments per module, each based upon GCSE style questions. In addition, students will regularly attempt GCSE questions during lessons to help develop their writing skills and exam knowledge. There are many complimentary resources on Google Classroom which can be used for revision, home learning tasks and more in-depth study of the topic areas. Students will be given all the material needed for revision to ensure they can enjoy Ethics GCSE success.

PSHEThis academic year will be the first time that all PCSA students from Years 7 to 11 will take part in one Personal Social Health Education lesson a week. For Year 10s this will cover areas such as citizenship, relationship and sex education, healthy lifestyles, life skills, ethical issues, careers and financial studies. Each class will spend half a term with a dedicated teacher. The class will follow a carousel and change teacher and subject after each half term holiday. Students will take part in lessons covering a diverse range of topic areas from contraception and risky sexual practices, to Malcolm X and apartheid, to exploitation, body image and the dangers of drugs, how to get yourself driving and the areas to be aware of with your money, borrowing and saving.

ENGINEERINGWJEC LEVEL 1 / 2 ENGINEERING

This is a new course being offered to our KS4 students. It is a combined level 1 and level 2 course that stretches the ability of a wide range of students who have an interest in engineering as a profession. The course gives students the opportunity to re-engineer an existing product, develop practical skills and gain engineering knowledge and understanding. All course details can be seen on pcsaengineers.uk

FOOD & NUTRITIONWe will be starting a module on nutritional, physical, chemical and sensory properties of foods in storage, preparation and cooking. By the end of the module students should be able to demonstrate scientific awareness and have basic understanding of the nutritional, physical, chemical and sensory properties and characteristics of food in relation to preparation and cooking techniques used in the home: heat transfer, vitamin loss, colloidal systems, denaturation, gelatinisation, thickening, aeration, emulsification, coagulation and caramelisation. An example task would be ‘Eggs form important functions in food preparation and cooking. Explore and produce four dishes which show different uses of eggs.’

DRAMAThis term students studying AQA GCSE Drama will be commence ‘Component 2: Devised’. There will be a written log book alongside the group devised performances; this is worth 40% of the final GCSE grade. Students will also complete a mock ‘Component 3: Text in Performance’ in the first half of the spring term; this will include two key extracts from the play ‘Blood Brothers’. Homework is set weekly and is in preparation for the Unit 1 written exam and devised log books. Support materials can be found at Paignton Online, Google Classroom and GCSE Bite-size for Unit 1, AQA GCSE Drama.There is a theatre trip to see ‘Blood Brothers’ on 2nd April 2019 at the Princess Theatre in Torquay. This will help GCSE drama students to support their understanding of the set play in preparation for the written exam.Auditions will take place during the spring term and rehearsals will commence for the Summer Musical in July – watch this space!

DANCEThe Year 10 Dance students will continue their learning for ‘Component 2: Developing Skills and Techniques in the Performing Arts’ in the first half of the spring term. They will be learning a piece of repertoire from a professional dance work which they will then perform and are assessed on their technical capabilities at this performance. In the second half of the spring term, learning will move on to ‘Component 1: Exploring the Performing Arts’ and learners will begin to analyse and compare different practitioners in the professional world of dance and study a variety of professional dance works. They will apply this learning practically by exploring themes and styles in their dance lessons whilst developing their dance technique further.

MUSICStudents will begin their BTEC First in Music by completing Unit 4: Introducing Music Composition. This unit will see them use and further develop the composition skills built at Key Stage 3. Students will also begin the revision process for Unit 1: The Music Industry’s exam, which is planned to take place at the end of Year 10. The exam date is: Monday 13th May at 1pm. Alongside this, students will be developing their performance skills in preparation for Unit 5. Auditions for the Easter Concert will be held shortly, see Mrs Bidder for details.Don’t forget to encourage your child to attend one of the music clubs offered at lunchtime and after school. Extra-Curricular:Monday break time – Flute and Clarinet ClubTuesday before school – RevisionFriday lunchtime – Choir and Live LoungeFriday after school – Revision and BandPractice rooms are available to book on Monday at break, and Friday lunchtimes.

ARTStudents will continue with the theme ‘Seaside’. They will produce work in response to a variety of artists, designers and craftspeople. Observational drawings will focus on the theme and students will be using a range of different 2D and 3D materials, techniques and processes. Using initial observational drawings, research and visual imagery, students will develop design ideas, experiment with 2D and 3D materials and record the formal elements. Students will be working to a vocational brief and will need to develop outcomes that meet the specification of the brief. After February half term students will be starting a new unit.During this project students use their sketchbooks to develop their ideas, drawings, research and experiments which will be annotated, self-evaluated, group critiqued and marked by the class teacher. Discussions between student and teacher about progress is done on a regular basis and documented in sketchbooks along with targets. Students will be concentrating on all the formal elements and developing work in response to a client brief. Homework for Year 10 is set on a weekly basis, both a continuation of class work and specific coursework tasks. KS4 Art Club runs on a Monday/Friday after school, where students have the opportunity to complete any unfinished coursework. It would be beneficial for students to have art equipment at home to help complete coursework and encourage independent learning.

ADDITIONAL MESSAGE FROM HELEN WILkINSONIn the Autumn letter I stated that we would be identifying the career choices the students were working towards for their future. This was done with huge success, and within the year group there were a staggering 50 different jobs that our students are aspiring to. We have already used this information to send students on careers events that are relevant to what they want to do in the future. Workshops have also been done for those students who are still finding their way regarding career choices.As some of you may already be aware, the old H block at Borough Road has been completely removed and this has enabled Mr O’Connor to show our construction students a live example of demolition!

Best wishesHelen Wilkinson Assistant Head of School