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The information below gives an overview of each subject at St Ivo, including exam board links for Key Stage 4 and post 16 courses. Parents and carers may be particularly interested to access the curriculum maps for each subject.

To find out more about the curriculum offered at St Ivo Academy, please contact the relevant Head of Department. Contact details can be found on the contact us page.

English 

Curriculum Map
Suggested reading: 50 books to read before you are 11, before you are 14, before you are 16 and before you are 18.

Year 7 knowledge organisers: Oliver Twist, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Poetry, Ancient Tales

Year 8 knowledge organisers: Sherlock Holmes, The Tempest, Animal Farm, Rhetoric

Year 9 knowledge organisers: Jane Eyre, Romeo and Juliet, Poetry Comparison, Blood Brothers

Key Stage 4: we offer, for all students, double entry GCSE English Language and English Literature. We use AQA – specifications available here.

Key Stage 4 knowledge organisers: Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, An Inspector Calls and Language papers 1 and 2.

Post 16: we offer A Level English Literature with OCR – details available here. We also offer a one-year GCSE re-take course with an option for a November re-sit.

Maths     

Curriculum Map

Key Stage 3: Year 7 half term 1 and half term 2 knowledge organisers; Year 8 knowledge organisers.

Key Stage 4: students study GCSE Maths with Edexcel – details available here. Knowledge organisers: core knowledge, higher and foundation.

Post 16: we offer A Level Mathematics with Edexcel – details available here. In Year 12, students complete pure AS content and applied statistics and mechanics. In Year 13, this content continues to build, covering further pure work and more statistics and mechanics. There are 3 exams at the end of Year 13, all weighted the same, 2 pure and 1 incorporating statistics and mechanics. Those students wishing to broaden and deepen their knowledge can study A Level Further Mathematics with AQA alongside A Level Mathematics – details can be found here. The content includes further pure, more statistics and discrete maths. Knowledge organisers for A Level: Pure, Mechanics and Statistics.

Art and Design     

Curriculum Map
Year 7 knowledge organisers: colour, day of the dead and jungle.

Year 8 knowledge organisers: environment, pattern and perspective.

Year 9 knowledge organisers: consume, myself, portraits and sculpture.

Key Stage 4: we offer titles from the GCSE Art & Design specification with Pearson Edexcel – details can be found here. Students choose from Fine Art (Drawing and Painting) 1FA0 or Textiles 1TE0.

Post 16: we offer A Level Art & Design with Pearson Edexcel – details available here. Students opt from the following pathways:

  • Fine Art 9FA0
  • Textiles 9TE0 (not running in Year 12 2023-24)
  • Photography 9PY0

Business and Economics     

Curriculum Map

Post 16: we currently run the following courses:

  • A Level Economics with AQA – details available here
  • A Level Business Studies with AQA – details can be found here

Computing     

Curriculum Map

Key Stage 4: we offer the following optional courses:

  • GCSE Computer Science with OCR – details available here. Students cover the following units over two components: Component 01 Unit 1 Systems Architecture, Unit 2 Wired and Wireless Networking, Unit 3 System Software and Security, Unit 4 Ethical Legal, Cultural and Environmental Issues. Component 02 Unit 5 Algorithms, Unit 6 Programming, Unit 7 Logic and Languages, Unit 8 Data Representation. Both these components are worth 50% each, making up the total course. Students will also undertake a non-assessed programming project.

Post 16: we offer the following courses:

  • A Level Computer Science with OCR (not running in Year 12 2024-25) – details available here.

Dance     

Curriculum Map
Year 7, 8 and 9: knowledge organisers.

Key Stage 4: we offer BTEC Level 2 Technical Award, Performing Arts: Dance. Full details are available here and knowledge organisers here. Students study component 1 (Exploring the Performing Arts), component 2 (Developing Skills and Techniques in the Performing Arts) and component 3 (Performing to a Brief).

Post 16: we offer the BTEC Level 3 National Certificate in Performing Arts: Dance in Year 12 and the National Extended Certificate in Year 13. Details are available here. In Year 12 students study unit 1 (Investigating Practitioners’ Work) and unit 2 (Developing Skills and Techniques for Live Performance). In Year 13 they study unit 3 (Group Performance Workshop) and unit 22 (Movement in Performance). Level 3 dance is not running in 2024-25.

Further information: students have a wide variety of extra-curricular clubs, workshops, trips and the annual Ivolution dance show to participate in. Dance clubs can be found on the clubs page.

You can follow the Dance department on Instagram @StIvoDance (private account).

Design and Technology     

Curriculum Map

Key Stage 3: knowledge organisers – Year 7 jitter, Year 8 modelling, Year 8 storage, Year 9 clock, Year 9 tealight and June assessments.

Key Stage 4: we run the following courses:

  • GCSE Design and Technology (Art and Design specification) with Pearson Edexcel – details can be found here. Students will be studying Three-Dimensional Design – Product Design.

Post 16: we offer the following courses:

  • A Level Design and Technology (Art and Design Specification) with Pearson Edexcel (not running in Year 12 2024-25) – details available here.  Students will be studying Three-Dimensional Design – Product Design.

Drama     

Curriculum Map
Key Stage 3: student guide.

Key Stage 4: we offer GCSE Drama with AQA – details can be found here. Knowledge organisers are available here.

Post 16: we offer A Level Drama and Theatre Studies with AQA – details of the course can be found here (not running in Year 12 2023-24).

Extended Project Qualification

Post 16: in Year 12, students have the option to undertake the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) with AQA – details of the course can be found here. They will research a topic of their own choosing, and produce either a 5,000 word report, or an artefact such as a short story, musical instrument or business model. This qualification will help prepare them for university-level study, and can result in lower entry requirements for many degrees.

Film & Media Studies     

Curriculum Map
Key Stage 4: we offer GCSE Film Studies with Eduqas – details available here, and GCSE Media Studies with Eduqas (not offered in Year 10 2023-24)  – details can be found here.

GCSE Film Studies knowledge organisers: component 1 Ferris, Rebel and component 2 Attack the Block, Slumdog, Tsotsi.

Post 16: we offer A Level Film Studies with Eduqas – details available here, and A Level Media Studies with Eduqas (Year 13 2023-24 only) – details can be found here.

Food and Health     

Curriculum Map

Key Stage 4: we offer the following courses:

Post 16: we offer the following courses:

  • Cambridge Technical in Health & Social Care Extended Certificate – details available here (not running in Year 12 2024-25).
  • Food Science and Nutrition Level 3 Diploma with WJEC – details can be found here.

Geography     

Curriculum Map

Key Stage 4: students follow GCSE Geography with AQA – details can be found here.

Post 16: we offer A Level Geography with OCR – details can be found here. Students have a residential fieldtrip to Snowdonia as well as a day visit to the London Docklands to meet the requirements of the fieldwork component of the course. Towards the end of Year 12, students will also start to plan and undertake an independent investigation which is a compulsory component of the A Level course.

KS4 and KS5 students can also find additional lesson, revision and exam practice materials on their dedicated Microsoft Teams sites.

History     

Curriculum Map
Year 7 knowledge organisers: Anglo-Saxon EnglandNorman Conquest, islamic civilisationsMansa Musa and medieval Malimedieval life, monarchy, St Ivo, church and government, the renaissance, the Tudors and James I.

Year 8 knowledge organisers: English Civil War, Cromwell and the restoration, slavery and empire, Georgian period,  industrial revolution, the French Revolution, Napoleon and the rise of democracy in Great Britain.

Year 9 knowledge organisers: World War I, 1920s USA, Russia, Nazi Germany, World War II and post 1945 Britain.

Key Stage 4: students follow GCSE History with Edexcel – details can be found here. Students study option B4 (Early Elizabethan England 1558 – 88), option 26/7 (Superpower relations and the Cold War 1941 – 91), option 33 (The USA 1954 – 1975 Conflict at Home and Abroad) and option 11 (Medicine in Britain, 1250 – present with a depth study, The British Sector 1914-18 Treatments and Injuries). To support this study we offer a trip to the Western Front in Belgium during Year 10, typically the spring term.

Knowledge organisers for GCSE: Elizabeth challenges at home and abroad, queen, church and government, society and exploration, Cold War origins, crisis, detente and end, USA development of civil rights, protest and radicalism, Vietnam 1, Vietnam 2, Medicine medieval, renaissance, 1700-1900, 1900-present and Western Front.

Post 16: Our sixth form historians complete A Level History with OCR – details available here. We study units Y110, Y223, Y316 and Y100 which cover British political History in the Age of Pitt to Peel, the Cold War in Europe and Britain and Ireland 1791-1921.  There is a piece of coursework of approximately 4,000 words which is started at the end of Year 12.  This is worth 20% of the History A Level grade.

Languages     

Curriculum Map
Year 7 knowledge organisers: French la rentrée, en classe, mon temps libre, ma vie de famille and en ville.

Year 8 knowledge organisers: French vive les vacances, j’adore les fêtes, À loisir, le monde est petit and le sport en direct.

Year 9 knowledge organisers: French qui suis-je, le temps des loisirs and jours ordinaires et jours de fête.

Key Stage 4: we offer the following courses:

  • From Year 10 2024/25 new specification GCSEs with AQA – details for French are available here, and German here
  • Year 11 2024/25 only GCSEs with AQA – details for French are available here, and German here

French knowledge organisers: foundation modules 5 and 6. Higher modules 5, 6, 7 and 8. Please note modules 4, 5 and 6 and taught in Year 10, followed by modules 7 and 8 in Year 11.

German knowledge organisers: foundation modules 5, 6, 7 and 8. Higher modules 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Please note modules 4, 5 and 6 and taught in Year 10, followed by modules 7 and 8 in Year 11.

Post 16: we offer the following courses:

  • A Level French with AQA – details available here (not running in Year 12 2023-24)
  • A Level German with AQA – details can be found here (not running in 2024-25)

Law

Curriculum Map
Post 16: we offer A Level Law with AQA in Year 13 2023-24 only – details available here.

Music     

Curriculum Map
Year 7 knowledge organisers: composition skills, ensemble skills and keyboard skills.

Year 8 knowledge organisers: get behind the scenes, get down with the groove and get in the band.

Year 9 knowledge organisers: innovations, power and words.

Key Stage 4: we offer GCSE Music with OCR – details can be found here. Knowledge organisers: concerto through time, conventions of pop, film and video game, rhythms of the world, musical elements.

Post 16: we offer A Level Music with Eduqas – details available here (not running in 2024-25).

PE     

Curriculum Map
Year 7, 8 and 9 knowledge organisers: athletics, badminton, basketball, cricket, fitness, football, hockey, netball, rounders, rugby, short tennis, swimming, table tennis, tennis and trampolining.
Winter revision: Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9.

Key Stage 4: we currently run the following courses:

Post 16: we offer the following courses:

  • A Level PE with AQA – details are available here.
  • Cambridge Technical Sport (double award) – details can be found here (not running in Year 12 2024-25). In Year 12 students study units 1, 2, 3, 5 and 18, followed by units 4, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 17 in Year 13.

Further information: the PE department offers a wide range of extra-curricular clubs, see the clubs timetable for details of clubs which are running this term. Sports teams participate in the wide variety of fixtures, see the sports fixtures page for details of our sporting successes and a list of upcoming fixtures.

Politics     

Curriculum Map
Post 16: we offer A Level Politics with Edexcel – details can be found here.

Psychology     

Curriculum Map
Post 16: we offer A Level Psychology with AQA – details available here.

Religion, Philosophy & Ethics     

Curriculum Map
Year 7 knowledge organisers: term 1, term 2 and term 3.

Year 8 knowledge organisers: term 1, term 2 and term 3.

Year 9 knowledge organisers: term 1, term 2 and term 3.

Key Stage 4: we offer GCSE Religious Studies with AQA Syllabus A – details available here. This includes topics such as: Abortion, Euthanasia, How the world was made, Peace and War, Just war theory, Forgiveness, Relationships, Marriage, Divorce, Sex, Same sex marriage, Christianity, Crime and Punishment, Capital punishment, Crime, Prisons, Suffering, and Islam.

Knowledge organisers: Year 10 term 1, term 2, term 3, Year 11 term 1, term 2 and term 3.

Post 16: students study A Level Religious Studies with OCR – details can be found here (not running in Year 12 2024-25). This includes topics such as Gender issues, Secularism, Science Versus Religion, Morality. Philosophy of Religion which includes topics such as; Can you prove that God exists? Why is there evil in the world? Ancient Philosophy and classical thinkers; Ethical Theories for example Kantian Ethics, Situation Ethics and Utilitarianism. One religion is studied. We chose Christianity as this complements both the Philosophy of Religion and Religion and Ethics course. This was chosen by the students.

Science     

Key Stage 3: students in Years 7 and 8 follow schemes based on Kerboodle and will progress to AQA trilogy or AQA separate sciences.

Key Stage 4: students in Years 9 and 10 follow the GCSE Combined Science Trilogy course with AQA, with a small group of students following the 9-1 Separate Sciences programme with AQA. Details of all GCSE courses can be found here: https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/science/gcse

Students in Year 11 follow the 9-1 Combined Science GCSE with Edexcel, with a small group of students following the 9-1 Separate Sciences programme with Edexcel. Details of all GCSE courses can be found here.

Post 16: we offer A-Level Biology, Chemistry and Physics with AQA – details available here.

Sociology

Post 16: we offer A Level Sociology with AQA – details available here.