Seniors
April 25, 2022 2022-04-25 14:07Seniors
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Seniors
Key Stage 3
At iBOS, we believe that the curriculum drives the learning experience of all of our students. We have high aspirations for our students to achieve outstanding academic progress by focusing on moulding our pupils into lifelong learners. Key Stage 3 (years 7-9) prepares students for the next stage of their studies when they will take iGCSEs (Key stage 4)
Our online school has a broad and rich curriculum that challenges each student. The curriculum within a range of subjects and courses inspires students to have a love of learning and helps them gain invaluable knowledge, understanding and skills in every aspect of their education. This incorporates British values alongside linguistic, mathematical, scientific, technical, human, social, physical and artistic learning.
1. The Core Subjects English and Mathematics
All students will study English Language, English Literature and Mathematics as part of our Key Stage 3 package, where students will investigate critical themes and improve their areas of understanding.
English will support students in developing their skills to:
- Read easily, fluently and with a good understanding
- Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
- Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
- Appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
- Write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
- Use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
- Are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate
Maths will enable our students to:
- Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
- Reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language
- Solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.
2. Science
Students thoroughly cover all key scientific areas by studying Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
Pupils are supported to:
- Develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
- Develop an understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
- Are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.
3. Modern Foreign Languages
Students will study both Spanish and French, providing a foundation for these popular, widely spoken languages. Students will learn how to:
- Understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic
- sources
- Speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of
- communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking
- questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
- Write at varying lengths, for different purposes and audiences, using a variety of
- grammatical structures that they have learnt
- Discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.
4. Humanities
Students will read both History and Geography to learn how historical and environmental events influence contemporary socio-economic issues.
In Geography, students will extend their locational knowledge and deepen their spatial awareness of the world’s countries using maps of the world to focus on Africa, Russia, Asia (including China and India), and the Middle East, focusing on their environmental regions, including polar and hot deserts, key physical and human characteristics, countries and major cities
In History, Pupils should extend and deepen their chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, so that it provides a well-informed context for wider learning. Pupils should identify significant events, make connections, draw contrasts, and analyse trends within periods and over long arcs of time. They should use historical terms and concepts in increasingly sophisticated ways. They should pursue historically valid enquiries including some they have framed themselves, and create relevant, structured and evidentially supported accounts in response. They should understand how different types of historical sources are used rigorously to make historical claims and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
5. Art and Design
Pupils are taught to develop their creativity and ideas and increase proficiency in their execution. They will develop a critical understanding of artists, architects and designers, expressing reasoned judgements that can inform their own work.
Pupils will be taught:
- To use a range of techniques to record their observations in sketchbooks, journals and other media as a basis for exploring their ideas
- To use a range of techniques and media, including painting
- To increase their proficiency in the handling of different materials
- To analyse and evaluate their own work, and that of others, in order to strengthen the visual impact or applications of their work
- About the history of art, craft, design and architecture, including periods, styles and major movements from ancient times up to the present day.
6. Global Citizenship
Global Citizenship equips pupils with the knowledge, understanding, skills and strategies required to live healthy, safe, productive, responsible, balanced and just lives. It encourages them to be enterprising and supports them in making effective transitions, positive learning and career choices and in achieving economic well-being. A critical component of Global Citizenship is providing opportunities for pupils to reflect on and clarify their own values and attitudes and explore the complex and sometimes conflicting range of values and attitudes they encounter now and in the future.
7. Computer Science
Pupils are taught and encouraged to :
- Understand the fundamental of Computer Science and how they can utilise these in our ever-changing world.
- Develop the skills necessary to champion the use of ICT in every sector.
- Understand the impact technology has on us as individuals and wider society.
Key Stage 4
Upper Secondary School
For Key Stage 4 (years 10-11). There are a wide variety of EBacc subjects for students to choose from for iGCSE courses, all of which follow Pearson’s specification and result in the same certification as received by students attending a physical school. Students pick their options at the end of year 9. Up to a maximum of 10 iGCSE subjects can be selected as part of our upper secondary package, which after 2 years to study are assessed externally by public exam. Students are expected to choose 4 ‘option’ subjects alongside the compulsory ‘core’ subjects.
1. The Core Subjects
All students take the following courses:
English Language
English Literature
Maths
2. Core Science Option
All students will initially study triple-award sciences (Biology, Chemistry and Physics), with the option of taking exams in the separate sciences of Double Science (2 iGCSE equivalent)
3. Core Language Option
Students can also select one language to study as part of the core package, such as French or Spanish. If a student feels that a language is not for them, they can choose a different subject instead.
4. Additional Subjects
Students can choose from the following additional subjects IGCSE to complete their options package (subject to scheduling and availability- courses will only run if there is sufficient interest)
Art and Design
Business Studies
Computer Science
Geography
Global Citizenship
History
Religious Studies
For further details please our Explore our Subjects section.
Subject areas:
Art
This course gives students opportunities to:
- develop and explore ideas
- research primary and contextual sources
- experiment with media, materials, techniques and processes
- present personal response(s) to theme(s) set by the centre.
Students work within one of the following areas:
- Fine Art
- Graphic Communication
- Photography
- Textile Design
- Three-dimensional Design
Students create a personal portfolio of work that demonstrates the knowledge,
understanding and skills for the selected areas, as well as present a personal response(s) to an externally set (by the exam board) broad-based thematic starting point.
Biology
This course covers the following content:
- The nature and variety of living organisms
- Structures and functions in living organisms
- Reproduction and inheritance
- Ecology and the environment
- Use of biological resources
Assessment consists of two exams, Paper 1 (2 hours) and Paper 2 (one 1 hour and 15 minutes). Students taking double science will only take paper 1, students taking Triple sciences will take both.
Chemistry
This course covers the following content:
- Principles of chemistry
- Inorganic chemistry
- Physical chemistry
- Organic chemistry
Assessment consists of two exams, Paper 1 (2 hours) and Paper 2 (one 1 hour and 15 minutes). Students taking double science will only take paper 1, students taking Triple sciences will take both.
Computer Science
The aims and objectives of this course are to enable students to:
- Understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, decomposition, logic, algorithms and data representation
- Analyse problems in computational terms through practical experience of solving such problems, including designing, writing and debugging programs
- Think creatively, innovatively, analytically, logically and critically
- Understand the components that make up digital systems, and how they communicate with one another and with other systems
- Understand the impacts of digital technology to the individual and to wider society
- Apply mathematical skills relevant to computer science
Assessment consists of two exams, Paper 1: Principles of Computer Science (2 hours), and Paper 2: Application of Computational Thinking (3-hour practical exam)
English Language
The aims and objectives of this course are to enable students to:
- Develop skills to analyse how writers use linguistic and structural devices to achieve their effects.
- Explore links and connections between writers’ ideas and perspectives.
- Develop transactional and imaginative writing skills for a variety of purposes and
- audiences and to engage the reader.
- Use spelling, punctuation and grammar accurately.
Assessment consists of one 3-hour exam
English Literature
The aims and objectives of this course are to enable students to:
- Engage with and develop the ability to read, understand and respond to a wide range of literary texts from around the world
- Develop an appreciation of the ways in which writers achieve their literary effects
- to develop the skills needed for literary study
- Explore, through literature, the cultures of their own and other societies
- Find enjoyment in reading literature and understand its influence on individuals and
Societies
The course comprises one mandatory component (Poetry and Modern prose, one 2-hour exam) and an additional component (Modern Drama and Literary Heritage Texts) that can either be assessed by an exam (1 hour 30 minutes) or by a portfolio of coursework.
French
The course is designed for students who are studying French in order to enhance their future education or employment prospects. Achievement is broadly equivalent to Levels A2 and B1 of the CEFR. Students will be expected to communicate formally and informally in a range of contexts, and to understand a wide range of texts and styles. The aim of the course is to test French language competence through realistic and contextualised tasks based on authentic texts.
They will learn about the following topics:
- Home and abroad
- Education and employment
- Personal life and relationships
- The world around us
- Social activities, fitness and health
Assessment consists of 3 exams- Listening (30 minutes), Reading and Writing (1 hour 45 minutes) and speaking (8-10 minutes)
Geography
This course covers the following content:
- River environments
- Coastal environments
- Hazardous environments
- Economic activity and energy
- Rural environments
- Urban environments
Assessment consists of 2 exams- Paper 1 (1 hour 10 minutes) and paper 2 (1 hour and 45 minutes)
History
The aims of this course are to enable students to:
- Develop and extend their knowledge and understanding of specified key events, periods and societies in history; and of the wide diversity of human experience
- Engage in historical enquiry to develop as independent learners and as critical and
reflective thinkers
- Develop the ability to ask relevant questions about the past, to investigate issues critically and to make valid historical claims by using a range of sources in their historical context
- Develop an awareness that different people, events and developments have been
accorded historical significance and how and why different interpretations have been
constructed about them
- Organise and communicate their historical knowledge and understanding in different ways and reach substantiated conclusions
Assessment consists of two exams, Paper 1 and Paper 2 (both 1 hour and 30 minutes)
Mathematics
The aims and objectives of this course are to enable students to:
- develop their knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts and techniques
- acquire a foundation of mathematical skills for further study in the subject or related areas
- enjoy using and applying mathematical techniques and concepts, and become confident in using mathematics to solve problems
- appreciate the importance of mathematics in society, employment and study.
The following topics are covered:
- Number
- Algebra
- Geometry
- Statistics
Assessment is by two 2-hour exams.
Physics
This course covers the following content:
- Forces and motion
- Electricity
- Waves
- Energy resources and energy transfers
- Solids, liquids and gases
- Magnetism and electromagnetism
- Radioactivity and particles
- Astrophysics
Assessment consists of two exams, Paper 1 (2 hours) and Paper 2 (one 1 hour and 15 minutes). Students taking double science will only take paper 1, students taking Triple sciences will take both.
Religious Studies
This course covers the following content:
- The Universe, Creation and the Place of Human Beings
- Life and Death
- Peace and Conflict
- Rights, Equality and Social Justice
- The Origins and their Impact on the Community. Celebration and Pilgrimage and Worship and Practice of a chosen religion
Assessment consists of two exams, Paper 1 (1 hour and 45 minutes) and Paper 2 (one 1 hour and 30 minutes).
Spanish
The course is designed for students who are studying Spanish in order to enhance their future education or employment prospects. Achievement is broadly equivalent to Levels A2 and B1 of the CEFR. Students will be expected to communicate formally and informally in a range of contexts, and to understand a wide range of texts and styles. The aim of the course is to test French language competence through realistic and contextualised tasks based on authentic texts.
They will learn about the following topics:
- Home and abroad
- Education and employment
- Personal life and relationships
- The world around us
- Social activities, fitness and health
- Assessment consists of 3 exams- Listening (30 minutes), Reading and Writing (1 hour 45 minutes) and speaking (8-10 minutes)
