Curriculum

Gumley House offers a rich and extensive curriculum

Our Curriculum Intent
At Gumley House School FCJ, we have a curriculum which aims to enable our students (all students) to achieve personal and academic excellence within a caring Christian community.  As a Catholic school, the curriculum at Gumley House is inspired by the teachings of the Gospel and Religious Education is at the heart of our curriculum.  This intention is central to the FCJ vision of education, motivating and enabling our students to make progress from one stage of their education to the next whilst also developing an awareness of the world in which they live.  This focus on keeping our curriculum relevant, broad and as balanced is a key feature of our school Mission Statement.  To this end we intend to develop the potential of every student, particularly disadvantaged and students with SEND (ensuring that our curriculum is fully accessible for all, regardless of need) .

Coupled with our intention of providing academic excellence, our curriculum seeks to allow girls to develop their individual strengths, talents and passions. We regularly review and update our curriculum to meet the evolving needs of our pupils and Sixth Form students.

The FCJ model of personal and academic excellence encourages us to consider our curriculum regularly to ensure we are serving the needs of the students to, not only successfully progress into further education, training or employment, but to also give them a broad understanding of the world and the key issues which, we believe, make them into well-informed, well-grounded adults.  Our fundamental belief is that all students are entitled to an individually tailored and holistic education.

Our Curriculum Leaders seek to create an ambitious and aspirational curriculum which uses the National Curriculum as a minimum expectation, ensuring their content is well-sequenced and is built on prior learning.  Accompanying our ‘timetabled’ curriculum is a varied extra-curricular enrichment offer to provide a rounded learning experience.  This gives Gumley House a unique curriculum offer which we are very proud of, which prepares our students to be the best they can be in school, as citizens in their community and in their future.

As such, we seek to provide a curriculum which:

• is ambitious, broad, balanced and coherent within and across subjects
• is coherently planned and sequenced
• focuses on the national curriculum and places importance on students gaining the English Baccalaureate (Ebacc) 
• ensures that all pupils build their character and develops socially, morally and mentally as Catholics while also understanding fundamental British values, appreciating the breadth of cultural diversity and values within Britain.
• is enriching and engaging for all students so that they achieve regardless of their background or prior attainment
• ensures that all pupils are prepared for higher education and the world of work, so that every pupil leaves Gumley House school with a clear plan and strategy for their progression
• prepares students for future learning and employment, including the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life
• equips our students to be active citizens within the local and international community in order to overcome social disadvantage.

Curriculum Allocation
You will find below further details of our curriculum structure across each year group.  Please refer to our subjects page for content delivered in each of the subjects studied.  
Curriculum allocation for Key Stage 3 and 4 (2022-2023)

Year 7 and 8 Curriculum

Gumley's KS3 and KS4 curriculum is designed as a 5 year spiral curriculum where key concepts are presented repeatedly through the curriculum but with deepening layers of complexity.  The National Curriculum content is carefully tracked to ensure that students have covered all required content as a minimum. 
The curriculum is delivered in 50 minute slots, and there are 30 periods in the taught week.

For an overview of what is studied across each term within subjects, please visit our subjects page.

Year 9 Curriculum

A Transitional Curriculum

Year 9 is an important year as pupils finish their KS3 studies and begin to prepare for the demands of GCSE.  Pupils are taught in mixed ability groups for most subjects.  In Maths pupils continue to be taught in sets.  Pupils also have the opportunity to choose one subject to study in a little more depth, choosing from Drama, Design and Technology, Computer Science and a second Modern Foreign Language.  In Science, pupils begin to study GCSEs in three separate sciences.

Students begin to explore their option subjects in year 9, with this year serving as a foundation to GCSE/BTEC.  Acquiring the learning skills and attributes to become an independent learner underpins the curriculum experience for study in Key Stage 4.  Lessons prepare for outstanding success at GCSE and for the demands of the further studies in The Sixth.  This gateway year allows a curriculum that is rich and one which focuses on building up the acquisition of skills and love of learning the subject.

Year 9 Curriculum Subjects (and lessons allocated)

For an overview of what is studied across each term within subjects, please visit our subjects page.

Year 10 and 11 Curriculum

In 10 and 11 we provide an even more personalised curriculum, with all students studying Religious Studies, English Language and Literature, Mathematics, Science and core Physical Education.  Options are structured in such a way to allow students a free choice.  This ensures equity of delivery, with all students having equal access to subjects. 

Students are offered a mixture of practical and academic subjects from different accreditation routes (including academic and vocational options) aiming to maximise the outcomes achieved by each individual.  

A choice of option subjects is offered including Art, Business Studies, Computer Science, Food & Nutrition, Geography, Health and Social Care, History, MFL (Chinese, French, Italian and Spanish), Music, Photography, Physical Education, Textile Technology and Triple Science.  

Our Key Stage 4 is also geared towards students’ individual aptitudes and skills, and some students have the opportunity to study additional subjects such as Latin and Statistics.

For an overview of what is studied across each term in your daughter's subjects, please visit our subjects page.

Year 12 & 13 Curriculum

We have three established pathways in our Sixth Form which aims to prepare our students for the transition from school to university or further study of choice.  Our bespoke pathways offer a wide range of A Level and BTEC courses which last two years.  In year 12 students select at least three subjects plus a selection of enrichment courses, therefore affording breadth of study whilst also ensuring they benefit from the new linear specifications, which now allow more time for specific subject skill development.  Individual students may be advised to select four A Levels, or follow an EPQ as part of our Scholars Programme, owing to their academic achievement at GCSE and their ambitions to pursue highly competitive courses at university. (e.g. Oxbridge courses).  

In Year 13 all students will continue with at least three full A Level subjects plus a selection of enrichment courses, with some students continuing to study four A Levels if taken in Year 12.

We also invite guest speakers to enrich our students' experience of Sixth Form life.  Our students are privileged to welcome key speakers from industry, politics and key public services amongst others.

For 2022/23, students have also been able to experience enrichment lessons from a range of options.