Upper School – Years 9, 10 & 11

Students at Heartlands specialise in their GCSE subjects from Year 9. This allows them the time to develop the depth of knowledge and mastery needed for them to be successful in their GCSE Examinations. However, students do not sit examinations early. We use Year 9 as a ‘Preparation Year’ to ensure that students are GCSE ready by the time they embark on the ‘Examination Stage’ in Year 10. The vast majority of our students (approximately 75%) study for the English Baccalaureate which involves achieving a good pass in English, Maths, Science, Humanities and a Language. This ensures that students have a broad, academic curriculum with high status subjects which will enable them to progress to the best university or an equivalent alternative, such as Apprenticeship. In addition to these subjects, students can select two other options from a wide range including Art, Music, Drama, Design Technology, Physical Education, Computing and Engineering. A small proportion of our students follow the Extended Pathway, which means they study a tenth GCSE after school on two days of the week. Extended options include: Economics, Further Maths and Classics.

If students need additional support in English or Maths, we offer additional Literacy and Numeracy intervention and support. This enables some students to study a reduced number of subjects (7–8 in total) so that they can concentrate on achieving higher results overall. This curriculum structure has proved very effective and students at Heartlands make exceptional progress. Our Progress 8 Score in 2016 places us in the top 11% of schools in the country for pupil progress.

In addition to the main curriculum, students have two hours of Physical Education each week and study Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship education through as series of drop days, or SEARCH days, throughout the year.  We also run a comprehensive programme of Enrichment aimed at Upper School students including Duke of Edinburgh, Sports Societies, Coding Club, Open Art Studio and many more.

Years 9. 10 & 11 Upper School Curriculum Booklet