key stage 4 overview
On entering Years 10 and 11 pupils join the Upper School and what is known nationally as Key Stage 4 (KS4). We aim to build on the knowledge and understanding the pupils have developed over the first 3 years at St Joseph’s.
What makes us different?
There are numerous features of our school that make this stage of a pupils education stand out at St Joseph’s Catholic School:
At this point the pupils have undertaken the personalised curriculum (options) process and focus on the key subjects they have chosen to take at GCSE level.
- English Language
- English Literature
- Mathematics
- Religious Education
- Combined Science
- Physical Education (Core) (Non examined subject)
- Personal Social, Health & Education (PSHE) (Non examined subject)
Pupils then choose up to three further courses to study. Recently, choices have included:
- Art
- BTEC Creative Media Production
- Computing
- Dance
- Drama
- Food Preparation & Nutrition
- French
- Geography
- History
- Music
- NCFE Health & Fitness
- PE (GCSE)
- Engineering Design
- Sociology
- Spanish
- Triple Science
We use the national examining bodies for our subjects including AQA, OCR, WJEC and Edexcel. Some of these courses include modular work and may have milestone examinations through the 2 years. Controlled Assessment, coursework and examination results account for differing percentages of the overall GCSE or Btec, depending on the subject.