SECONDARY
ENHANCED CURRICULUM
Tag rugby refers to games derived from rugby football in which players do not tackle each other but instead they pull Velcro belts from their opponents.
It is an all-inclusive game, which does not discriminate against age, size or experience, meaning that girls and boys can play the sport together.
Tag rugby can be played anywhere, it is great for beginners and, as there is no tackling involved, it is much safer (though a good introduction to) Rugby Union.
Apart from being great fun, bouncing on a trampoline brings a number of very real health and wellbeing benefits including:
Balance – trying to bounce in one place on a trampoline means you have to develop a keen sense of balance.
Coordination – closely related to balance is the need to coordinate arm and leg actions, as well as many fast-twitch muscle groups, necessary to form the different shapes and perform the various somersaults and twists.
Bilateral motor skills – the action of bouncing whilst trying to maintain balance and coordinate bodily extremities calls on both sides of the body and brain.
Rhythm – again closely related but distinct is the need to bounce in tune with the trampoline to achieve optimum height for least effort.
Self-confidence – even those least confident with sports will find it possible to make some progress on the relatively forgiving surface of a trampoline and this progress will help boost confidence.
Cardiovascular fitness – bouncing on a trampoline increases the pulse rate and strengthens muscle groups essential for a healthy cardiovascular system.
The Eco Club project is based around the driving question “Why is it important to be more environmentally conscious?”.
The children will learn about the importance of bees and other insects and protecting wildlife. They will then use natural materials, collected from around school, to build a bug hotel to encourage biodiversity at school & home.
The children will also learn about the impact of plastic in our oceans and the importance of recycling and will begin to look at climate change and how our human activity can help prevent it.
These are some basic skills over and above the usual academic studies which we believe all young people should have. For that reason, we are including these Life Skills activities.
Pupils can learn how to re-wire a plug and sew on a button. They can learn about how to iron clothing, make scrabbled egg and professional etiquette, specifically in relation to what is expected at an interview. Young people need to learn how to manage their finances, so there can also be a lesson on money management.
Exploring how best to cope with success and failure and survival skills will also be topic options.
We want to support our children put their gaming experience and imagination into action, ending up with an original creation that they can take home, play and show to family and friends.
The fundamentals covered in the Game Design topic are a great first step into the world of coding. Students are introduced to object-oriented programming, and a behaviour-based logic system – applying behaviours and attributions, testing, debugging and fine-tuning products – that comprises a core component of computer science and is familiar to any programmer.
The students will be offered close guidance and are encouraged to move at the pace that best suits them while developing their games.
This is one of our pupils’ favourite Enhanced Curriculum topics and as such is being included again. The children will be learning to make Catapults, Bridges and Crash Test Cars.
Taking part in these projects will teach our students to follow an engineer’s approach as they identify problems, brainstorm solutions, design, plan, build, test, refine and produce a product or solution.
Making catapults will provide the children with hours of fun as well as being a brilliant engineering and design project. There are many different catapults designs we will be learning and designing as part of this project.
When making Catapults children will learn about how and when catapults were invented and how they harness physical and/or mechanical energy to launch projectiles. They will learn also about the history of catapults and looking at a variety of designs, each created with a different purpose. Furthermore, the children will learn about Energy, Gravity and Newton’s Laws of Motion.
Another theme the students will be learning as part of our Crazy Science is designing Bridges. In this engineering activity the students will design and make bridges out of folded pieces of paper, and test how much weight they can hold with pennies. How does the shape of a bridge affect its strength?
As part of these lessons the students will also be looking at how the material a bridge is made out of can change its strength, have discussions about how a bridge’s shape can make it stronger and of course perform tests to compare different bridge designs and determine which one can support more weight.
Another project planned for our Crazy Science is building Crash Test Cars! Designing crash test cars will enable the students to explore how the mass affects momentum in a head-on collision.
The students will be challenged to design or improve an existing passenger compartment design/feature so that it better withstands front-end collisions. protecting riders from injury and resulting in minimal vehicle structural damage.
Boxercise is an exercise concept based on the training methods used by boxers. The sessions will typically involve hitting focus pads not hitting an opponent. It is a fun, challenging and safe workout.
Boxercise is also great for those children not engaged with traditional sports as it is essentially a fitness class based on fun.
Benefits of Boxercise:
- Boxercise is fun
- Students are encouraged to work as a team
- Boxercise is one of the most easily accessible and recognisable forms of exercise that student can continue even after school
- Boxercise is a great stress buster
- Excellent for motivating disaffected children
- Flexible – competitive or non-competitive class styles students can choose
- Good for hand eye co-ordination
Y7 - Y10 ENHANCED CURRICULUM BROCHURE 2022-2023
Download the Curriculum Brochure