Curriculum Evening: Key Stage 4

Following on from Parents Evening last week, we would like to invite you to our Key Stage 4 Curriculum Evening on Thursday 1st February 2024. The evening will start with a talk at 6.00 pm about the Key Stage 4 Curriculum that will be on offer to your child in Years 10 and 11.

Whilst many subjects remain compulsory at Key Stage 4, there is the opportunity for your child to choose subjects that they would like to study as well. The system for making those choices will be explained and the Key Stage 4 Curriculum Booklet will be distributed during the evening.

Between 6.30pm and 7.30pm, there will be an opportunity for you and your child to talk to subject leaders about the subjects that can be studied during Key Stage 4 and gain information about each subject by visiting the “stalls” that will be set up in the Mall.

This evening forms a vital part of the advice and guidance that we have put in place to support your child as they make their Key Stage 4 choices. We very much hope that you will be able to join us so that we can continue to work in partnership to provide your child with all the support they need to make informed choices.

For each year group we make curriculum changes to ensure that our planned curriculum best suits our students. When we plan the curriculum, we need to ensure that when our students leave, they have both the personal qualities and the qualifications to best prepare them for moving on to further education, or training such as an Apprenticeship, or employment.

Your children are going to be facing the reformed GCSEs’ where the grades run from grade 1 to a grade 9. These GCSEs have all the exams at the end of the course, with longer written answers. Subjects such as English, Mathematics and Science are 100% exam based and students will need to memorise much more, as less help is provided within the exams. It is, therefore, even more important that students make the best possible choices so they are best placed to achieve well in years 10 and 11.

The Curriculum Choices Process is explained below.

1. KS4 Curriculum Choices Student Assembly - Tuesday 30th January:

• Students will be introduced to the Years 10 and 11 curriculum offer at ALNS and where they
  may have some choices over subjects they study

2. Curriculum Evening – 1st February 2024:

• The evening will start with a talk about the Key Stage 4 curriculum that will be on offer to
  your child in Years 10 and 11.
• Whilst many subjects remain compulsory at Key Stage 4, there is the opportunity for your
  child to choose subjects that they would like to study as well. The system for making those
  choices will also be explained and the Key Stage 4 Curriculum Booklet will be distributed to
  parents during the evening.

3. Option choice electronic link sent to parent by email- Friday 2nd February 2024

4. Careers and Aspirations Personal Development Day – Friday 9th February 2024:

• Students will be looking at careers and options for their future during this day in addition they will also experience some taster sessions in a range of different option subjects to give students a better understanding of the new subjects available to them.

5. Mentoring Day - 22nd February 2024:

• A chance for parents, students and the tutor to discuss what sort of subjects best suit the student’s interests and what they want to do in the future.
• We have also invited representatives from local Colleges, Universities and Apprenticeship providers so there will be opportunities to visit their stalls and discuss how choices made now may affect future pathways, too.

6. Deadline - 4th March 2024:

• Deadline for online form to be completed.