At St. Peter’s we pride ourselves on our challenging curriculum which offers a wide range of subjects to suit many different career and life opportunities.Mr Sharp
“The curriculum is outstanding and fully meets pupils’ needs. -OFSTED
At St. Peter’s we pride ourselves on our challenging curriculum which offers a wide range of subjects to suit many different career and life opportunities. This has enabled our pupils to gain excellent examination success. It is supported by our talented, dedicated and excellent team of teachers whose aim is to inspire all pupils. A variety of differing teaching and learning methods and materials are used in all courses to suit pupils’ different needs.
In accordance with the statutory requirements, the school aims to make the curriculum accessible to all pupils as far as is reasonably practicable. We have an Accessibility Policy and Special Educational Needs Policy which are available to parents on request.
Our curriculum is founded on mutual love and care for the individual. The Faith of the Church underpins all of our activities.
St. Peter’s curriculum is designed to:
It is made up of three distinct parts:
The National Curriculum provides pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge they need to be educated citizens. It introduces pupils to the best that has been thought and said, and helps engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.
It is a statutory framework that all local-authority-maintained school in England must follow. The framework includes the programmes of study for individual subjects at KS3 and 4.
Key Stage 3 | Key Stage 4 | |
|---|---|---|
Age | 11-14 | 14-16 |
Year groups | 7-9 | 10-11 |
English | ||
Mathematics | ||
Science | ||
Foundation subjects | ||
Art and Design | ||
Citizenship | ||
Computing | ||
Design and technology | ||
Languages | ||
Geography | ||
History | ||
Music | ||
Physical Education |
This covers our statutory requirement for curricula provision beyond the national curriculum. This will include subjects such as Religious Education and Relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education.
Religious Education is the “core of the core curriculum” in a Catholic school. The content of Religious Education and how it is assessed is determined by each diocesan bishop for the schools within his diocese. The Religious Education Curriculum Directory requires that 10% of the school’s curriculum time is devoted to the teaching of Religious Education.
ll the non-statutory subjects, courses, and experiences that the school offers.
Our school curriculum can be viewed on our website and the subjects offered at KS4 in our Options Booklet.
Staff are sensitive to the needs of new pupils and ensure they are well supported as they transfer from their primary school to St Peter’s.
At St. Peter’s we deliver the KS3 National Curriculum over three years. The students follow a two-week timetable and attend five 1-hour lessons per day. In years 7-9, all students are taught in mainly mixed attainment groups with a smaller group of students in a supported LAP group. In addition to the National Curriculum all students access one lesson of Performing Arts to help develop their confidence, memory, and oracy skills.
The Department for Education (DfE) does not prescribe the number of hours PE should be taught each week. At St. Peter’s we follow Department for Education’s Healthy Schools rating scheme which requires schools to provide at least 2-hours per week to achieve the Gold Award.
Core Subjects | Lessons per fortnight Y7 | Lessons per fortnight Y8 | Lessons per fortnight Y9 |
|---|---|---|---|
English | 8 | 8 | 8 |
Maths | 8 | 8 | 7 |
Science | 7 | 7 | 8 |
RE | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Foundation Subjects | Lessons per fortnight Y7 | Lessons per fortnight Y8 | Lessons per fortnight Y9 |
|---|---|---|---|
Geography | 4 | 4 | 3 |
History | 3 | 4 | 3 |
Languages (French/Spanish) | 3 | 3 | 4 |
Physical Education | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Music | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Citizenship | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Computing | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Drama | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Art, Design and Technology | 4 | 4 | 4 |
All students at KS3 study either French or Spanish, as these are the languages that are taught predominantly by our feeder primary schools.
At the end of year 9, all students pick 3 option subjects that will be studied for the next two years. The students follow a two-week timetable and attend five 1-hour lessons per day. In years 10-11, students are grouped on ability in English, maths and science.
In year 11 students have an additional period 6 (1 hour) from Monday to Thursday.
Core Subjects | Lessons per fortnight Y10 | Lessons per fortnight Y11 |
|---|---|---|
English | 8 | 8 |
Maths | 8 | 8 |
Science | 9 | 9 |
RE | 5 | 5 |
PE | 4 | 4 |
Citizenship | 1 | 1 |
Options Subjects | Lessons per fortnight Y10 | Lessons per fortnight Y11 |
|---|---|---|
Option 1 | 5 | 5 |
Option 2 | 5 | 5 |
Option 3 | 5 | 5 |
Students start the options process in year 9, where they are expected to pick three options to go alongside their core subjects – our core offering takes up 35 out of 50 periods. At St. Peter’s we do not force any of our students to follow particular a pathway, however, we do expect all students to study a language or a humanities subject to enable a broad and balanced curriculum. We do encourage all of our students to follow the EBacc route*
*To achieve the EBacc students must study at least seven GCSEs in the five areas: English language, English literature, maths, double science or biology, chemistry and physics, history or geography and a language.
For further details contact school at office@stpetershigh.com or telephone 0161248 1550.
For more specific enquiries contact heads of faculty on the email addresses shown on the contact page.
Entry to all programmes of study is based on academic suitability and appropriateness, regardless of sex, race, disability, religion or belief.
Find out about the courses we offer at KS4 including examination and enrichment courses.
“Subject leaders have crafted a curriculum which enables pupils to build on their prior knowledge.” OFSTED 2022
