Bellemoor School | Southampton

The curriculum is designed to be broad, balanced and relevant to the needs of every individual Bellemoor pupil. It also promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical activities of every boy. The aim is to fully prepare pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life. Pupils are required to be responsible for their own learning and behaviour.

The National Curriculum is currently under review and greater flexibility of subject choice will be allowed, including some vocational subjects, and extended Work Experience opportunities for senior pupils.

The school is in the forefront of these developments as always, provided the interests of the boys are safeguarded. We are determined to maintain the best courses and curriculum for our boys. However, we now offer a wider range of courses, including Engineering, Critical Thinking, Business Studies, and Leisure and Tourism.

We collaborate with Tauntons City College and Regents Park in offering these subjects. The school has developed its own testing and reporting system. Parents are assured of frequent reports as well as full Records of Achievement and an annual Parents' Evening to receive reports on the annual exam

(a) Years Seven, Eight & Nine

The school believes in offering every boy the opportunity to progress academically to his full potential. Boys are taught in two broad bands. Setting begins in some subjects in year 8. All boys are taught in specialist accommodation and are treated as individuals. Subjects taken by all pupils in the first three years in theschool are:

English                                                    PSCHE and Citzenship

English Literature                                     German*+

Geography                                             

PE                                                          Mathematics

Art                                                          History

Religious Education                                 Spanish or French

Information Technology                             Design & Technology

Science (Intergrated)                                Music

Food Technology                                     Drama

Social, Personal and Careers Education

*Selected Pupils Only

+Not Year 7

b) Preparation for Year Ten & Year Eleven

In Years 7, 8 and 9, boys have the opportunity to study a wide variety of subjects in order to provide for individual needs, and also to provide a basis for choice of subjects in the tenth year. Some vocational subjects are now available.The choice of subjects for study is clearly important.

Boys are prepared for this choice by talks from staff, and parents are given full information about the options available. Individual interviews are then conducted by the Tutors, Year Head, or a senior member of staff following the pupils' initial choices.

This process takes full account of pupils' wishes, career intentions (if any at that time), parents' views and the progress report given by subject staff. Final decisions are then made and pupils are allocated to courses under the guidance of the Year Head and Deputy Head. Exceptionally able boys are advised to take triple science, and/or a critical thinking and are given more challenging work. Choices should be made so as to suit individual interests, as well as leaving open as many doors as possible.

In year 10 pupils begin their GCSE examination courses.

It is school policy to enter as many boys as possible for GCSE examinations.s.

c) Years Ten and Eleven

All pupils take:

English & English Literature

Mathematics

Science ( Double Award)

Religious Education

Physical Education

Four option subjects are also taken from the following list:

German/Latin/French/Spanish                   Engineering

History                                                    Leisure & Tourism

Geography                                               ASDAN

Physical Education                                  Food Technology

Information Communication                       Music

Technology (ICT)                                      Vocational Access Course

Resistant Materials                                  Graphic Products

Business Studies                                     Religious Studies

Art & Design                                            Drama

All subjects are taught separately.

Tutor Groups, Teaching Groups & Banding Groups:

Tutor Groups

Tutor groups are created to form a well-balanced social and academic mix.

Teaching Groups

Teaching groups are sorted into ranges of academic ability based on teacher assessment levels at the end of year 6. More able pupils are taught in a group called red; less able boys are taught in a group called blue.Others are sorted into green or white groups. Boys are taught in these groups for all lessons except technology and PE where thet are taught in tutor groups.

In years 8 to 11, it is possible to set boys within individual subjects.