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Knowledge – Skills – Opportunity
The BSG Curriculum is the foundation of our school that ensures all our students leave with knowledge and skills for the next step in their educational journey.
Mr. Osborne oversees the curriculum and its development at BSG. This includes the options processes in Year 9 and Year 11 (for our Sixth Form), timetabling and exams.
“At BSG we want all our students to Be Ambitious, but it is our job as a school to enable this.
The strength of our curriculum plan and its delivery by our excellent staff has enabled thousands of young women to go into the world of higher education or work and have successful futures.
Unlike some other schools, we see our curriculum as the whole student learning experience, not just what is in ‘normal’ taught lessons. We highly value and support our extra-curricular provision, with over 50 clubs and activities that take place during lunchtimes every week.
Between our clubs and our taught lessons, we fulfil our curriculum’s core aims by providing: breadth of knowledge, development of skills and wealth of opportunity.”
Our School Day
Students at BSG have 5 taught periods a day. We run a two-week timetable which means lesson order alternates between a ‘Week 1’ and a ‘Week 2’.
A typical school day has the following timings:
| Time | School Period | Activities |
|---|---|---|
| 8:30am | Pre-registration | Students arrive at Form Room |
| 8:35-8:45am | Registration | Checking pupils have arrived, equipment check. |
| 8:45-9:00am | Assembly or Tutor Time | On assembly days, students will have a 15 minute assembly on the themes of the week. Otherwise, students will be completing Head of House directed activities with their tutor group in their Form Rooms. |
| 9:00-9:05am | Transition | Movement between lessons |
| 9:05-10:05am | Period 1 | Lesson 1 |
| 10:05-10:10am | Transition | Movement between lessons |
| 10:10-11:10am | Period 2 | Lesson 2 |
| 11:10-11:30am | Interval | Break-time for students |
| 11:30am-12:30pm | Period 3 | Lesson 3 |
| 12:30-1:30pm | Lunchtime | Students can eat their lunch. This is the time when most extra-curricular activities are run. |
| 1:30-2:30pm | Period 4 | Lesson 4 |
| 2:30-2:35pm | Transition | Movement between lessons |
| 2:35-3:35pm | Period 5 | Lesson 5 |
| 3:35pm | End of School Day | Most students go home, there are a few after school extra-curricular activities that some students may attend. |
Our Curriculum’s Core Aims
Curriculum Intent
Our curriculum has three core aims:
We ensure all our students follow the national curriculum in lessons at Key Stage 3 (Y7-9) and Key Stage 4 (Y10-11). At Key Stage 3 we provide a broad and balanced curriculum for all students, with no GCSE options starting until Year 10, this provides a sufficient foundation for further Key Stage 4 study in whatever route is chosen.
Though we require all our subject departments to fulfil our curriculum core aims, we give them autonomy in how this is managed and delivered. We recognise that subject disciplines vary in how they are taught and so we trust our Heads of Department in the delivery of their curricula.
This does not only maximise academic success across subjects, but has also provides a range of different type of experiences in subjects studied by our students in their lessons.
We encourage our staff to also provide extra-curricular opportunity where possible, this has resulted over many years in the development of a huge array of clubs and activities which are run completely voluntarily by our staffing body. From music to sport, STEM to debating club, we cater for a wide range of interests and passions of our students to help their school experience develop them as well rounded individuals.
We also want our students to feel confident and enjoy their time with us.
Our Curriculum Plan
Curriculum Implementation
Key Stage 3
The girls at BSG have been selected because of their high academic ability. It is not felt necessary to divide them further into groups according to their ability although in years 8, 9, 10 and 11 they are allocated to sets for Mathematics according to their pace of learning in this subject.
We follow the National Curriculum for Key Stage 3, with students studying all Core and Foundation Subjects as well as Drama. This provides our students with a broad range of subjects which they can then take on to GCSE. Starting with just one modern foreign language in Year 7 (French), students broaden to a second language in Year 8 (German).
See the lessons per fortnight cycle below for each Key Stage 3 year group.
| Subject | Year 7 | Year 8 | Year 9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Maths | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| Science | 6 | 6 | 7 |
| French | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| German | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Geography | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| History | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Computer Science | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Technology (Rotation between Product Design, Textiles and Food Technology) | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Art | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Music | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Physical Education (PE) | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Personal, Social & Health Education (PSHE) | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Drama | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Religious Studies (RS) | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Key Stage 4
In Year 9, students get the opportunity to choose their GCSE Options which they begin studying in Year 10.
Like all schools we provide a core curriculum, all students study the following GCSE qualifications: English Language; English Literature; Mathematics; Separate Sciences (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) and Religious Studies. The core curriculum also includes Personal & Social Education (covering Citizenship, Careers, Relationships, Health and Keeping Safe) alongside Core PE lessons and provide opportunity to work on fitness.
Students study a further three option GCSEs.
We believe that the curriculum of the school should be driven by the students’ own ambitions, and therefore we give our Year 9 students a free choice of any three GCSEs and best fit that into our school timetable, ensuring 98.5% of students (in 2022) got all of their GCSE choices, no matter the combination they chose.
We recommend students study a humanities and a modern foreign language. All subjects studied at Key Stage 3 (except PSHE) can be taken forward to Key Stage 4 and studied as GCSE qualifications. In addition Spanish GCSE can also be taken an option (but is not offered at Key Stage 3).
The lessons per fortnight for Key Stage 4 students are as follows:
| Subject | Year 10 | Year 11 | GCSE Qualifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | 7 | 7 | 2 |
| Maths | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| Biology | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Chemistry | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Physics | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Religious Studies (RS) | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Option A | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Option B | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Option C | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| PSHE | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Core PE | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| Learning Curve | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Key Stage 5
As an 11-18 school we also have a Sixth Form where most of our Year 11 students choose to continue their studies. We also welcome a substantial number of external students from other local schools who start in Year 12.
We provide an extensive offer in our Sixth Form, with students studying between 3 and 4 A Levels each, alongside extra-curricular activities, a regular Personal Development program delivered by Tutors and some opt for an additional Level 3 qualification in EPQ, Core Maths or Gold CREST Award.
A typical student choosing 4 A Levels and EPQ in the Sixth Form would have the following lessons per fortnight.
| Subject | Year 12 | Year 13 |
|---|---|---|
| A Level Option 1 (Block A) | 9 | 9 |
| A Level Option 2 (Block B) | 9 | 9 |
| A Level Option 3 (Block C) | 9 | 9 |
| A Level Option 4 (Block D) | 9 | 9 |
| Level 3 Option (Block E, EPQ or Core Maths) | 4 | 0 |
| Personal and Social Development | 2 | 2 |
| Study Skills | 2 | 2 |
| Independent Study | 6 | 6 |
To note, the choice of subjects on offer broadens further at A Level with the following courses offered in addition to all subjects offered at GCSE (Excluding Food & Nutrition): Politics, Psychology, Business Studies, Economics, Further Mathematics and Sociology.
Form Time/ Registration
We also deliver a structured Form Time during registration everyday (for 25 minutes) to all Year Groups (Year 7-13). This is based on weekly themes including personal development, current affairs, charity, British Values, citizenship and religious festivals.
Each week students will typically have two assemblies (A Key Stage Assembly and a House Assembly) delivered by our Senior Leadership Team, Heads of House or Heads of Department (During periods of exams this may be reduced to one assembly due to the hall being used). These assemblies are based around the weekly theme and assembly rota developed by our Head of RS: Mr. Ian Harris.
Each year each Form Group gets the opportunity to deliver at least one assembly to their peers, helping build a community willing to present their ideas to others.
Curriculum Schedules 2022/2023
Our departments plan out their topics each year to ensure students build up their knowledge and skills in a logical order to enable them to access the next stage in their educational journey.
To see the current Topic Schedule for this academic plan, click here.
Special Educational Needs
We consider all our pupils to have individual needs and seek through our pastoral system to give support to them so that they may all fulfil their potential. Where a pupil experiences particular difficulties, all teaching staff are alerted at the beginning of the school year, the pupil’s progress is monitored carefully and a programme of support is arranged in conjunction with parents and the pupil. We also work closely with our feeder primary schools to ensure continuity of provision where difficulties have already been identified.
As well as expertise within school, we are also able to draw on the support of other professionals, including our School Counsellor, the School Nurse, the School Doctor, the Educational Welfare Service and the Educational Psychologist.
A copy of the school’s Special Needs Policy is available here. If you have any queries regarding provision for your daughter, please do not hesitate to contact the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator: Ms Anna Collins.
Homework
Pupils in Years 7 to 9 have a homework timetable stating for each day of the week the subjects for which homework is to be set and the amount of time which should be spent on it.
Girls have a Pupil Planner in which homework should be noted. Parents are asked to sign this weekly. Parents are also asked to inform their daughter’s Head of House if they feel that too much or too little time is being spent on homework.
Year 10 and 11 pupils are expected to organise their own private study time so as to meet their homework deadlines.
We ask that parents provide a quiet area for doing homework in, that they help their daughter to get organised and encourage her to do the work. However, we would ask them not to do it for her!