Welcome to the Year 9 guide to Key Stage 4 Specialisms
2024 - 2026
A message to Year 9 about your Specialisms:
We have thought very carefully about our Key Stage 4 (Year 10-11) curriculum and how to offer you the best possible opportunities to build on your learning so far and to prepare for post-16 education and training and your future career. We review our courses and curriculum each year and all of the qualifications that we offer are recognised by colleges, universities and employers.
It is important that you have a broad and balanced curriculum, so most of you will take 9 qualifications, and you will continue to study many of the subjects that you have in Year 7-9. You will take 5 GCSE courses in English, Maths and Science. We encourage you to specialise by choosing a Humanities subject and a Language to continue studying. French and German were the highest performing subjects in the school in 2022, and we want you to continue to build on your language learning so far. Being able to communicate in more than one language is important in a world that is so closely connected, and language learning supports your cognitive development. We do offer a small number of vocational courses for students who decide that a Language GCSE is not the right route for them.
You can then choose 2 further subjects from the 22 courses that we offer – this is an opportunity to pursue your talents and interests. Do things that you enjoy. I strongly suggest that you take at least one practical or creative subject – Art, Design Technology, Drama, Design and Technology (Textiles and Product Design), Food and Nutrition, iMedia, Music, Music Technology, PE or Photography. There are 3 subjects (Triple Science, Psychology and Computer Science) where it is important that you meet the entry requirement. If you want to take a new course that you haven’t studied at Key Stage 3 such as Business Studies, Health and Social Care, Music Technology, Photography or Psychology, make sure you really understand what the course is about.
Don’t worry if you aren’t too sure what you want to do after your GCSEs – we are going to make sure that you continue to study a range of subjects so that you don’t limit your options when you are 16. Don’t stop studying a subject at GCSE that you think you might want to take at A level. However, you will not be required to take a new or vocational subject at GCSE in order to study it later, as some schools may not offer these subjects.
I hope you find this guide a helpful starting point, along with the information on the Specialisms page of our website. This is the start of this process; I look forward to seeing you at our Specialisms Evening in January, and hope that you will find the programme of activities planned for the first half of the spring term useful in making your specialism choices.
Mrs Mellors
Key Dates
Our Subjects
Click the headings below to access subject videos.
For detailed information and plans for each subject across all our year groups, please click the tiles below:
Careers and Post-16 advice
Now is a good time to start thinking about what you may want to do when you finish your GCSE qualifications. This can be helpful when making your choices of which subjects you want to specialise in. Access careers and Post-16 advice using the following links:
