Ridgewood School
Curriculum Subjects
Our academic curriculum aims to offer students of all abilities and talents an opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills across a wide variety of subjects.
We are committed to providing a curriculum which is challenging yet accessible, and which fosters a love of learning, as well as enabling students to achieve success in exams and assessments. Students follow a two-week timetable in order to maximise learning time. We regularly review our curriculum, to ensure that the needs of all our students are being met, and the details below offer a brief outline of the current pattern of subjects at KS3, 4 and 5.
Year 7
All students study English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, Drama, RE, Technology, a modern foreign language, Art and Design, IT, Music and PE. PSHCE is taught in dedicated lessons.
A detailed breakdown of what Year 7 students will learn in each subject can be found on KS3 Learning Maps page of our website.
Year 8
All students study English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, Drama, RE, Technology, a modern foreign language, Art and Design, IT, Music and PE. PSHCE is taught in dedicated lessons.
A detailed breakdown of what Year 8 students will learn in each subject can be found on KS3 Learning Maps page of our website.
Year 9
All students study English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, Drama, RE, Technology, a modern foreign language, Art and Design, IT, Music and PE. PSHCE is taught in dedicated lessons.
Students also get the opportunity to learn more about the new subjects available to them at GCSE and will receive guidance on those most suitable to them.
A detailed breakdown of what Year 9 students will learn in each subject can be found on KS3 Learning Maps page of our website.
Year 10
All students study English Language and English Literature (2 separate GCSEs), Mathematics and Science. They then complete their remaining subject allocations from a range of other courses, some of which may include the traditional subjects they have studied throughout KS3, and some of which may be new.
Students will cover course content in Y10, to prepare them for successful completion of both exams and coursework. Some vocational public examinations are taken at the end of Y10, with the details of these being communicated to the relevant students and parents/carers.
The table below details the current subjects that our students study at KS4:
| Eduqas GCSE English Language |
| AQA GCSE English Literature |
| OCR GCSE Maths |
| AQA GCSE Triple Science |
| AQA GCSE Spanish or AQA GCSE French |
| Edexcel GCSE History |
| AQA GCSE Geography |
| OCR GCSE Computing |
| AQA GCSE Art |
| AQA GCSE Music |
| AQA GCSE RE |
| OCR Cambridge National in Enterprise and Marketing |
| BTEC L1/L2 Award in Construction |
| OCR Cambridge National in Engineering Design |
| WJEC L1/L2 Award in Hospitality and Catering |
| OCR Cambridge National in iMedia |
| NCFE L2 Award in Music Technology |
| BTEC L1/L2 Award in Performing Arts |
| BTEC L1/L2 Award in Health and Social Care |
| OCR Cambridge National in Sport Science |
Year 11
Students continue with the subjects they started studying in Year 10, taking examinations and submitting any coursework or controlled assessments at the end of the summer term.
Post 16
For admission to the post-16 programmes of study, please visit the Entry Requirements page of our Sixth Form website. If students have the grades to take specific subjects, but have a grade 3 in English or Mathematics or both, resit classes will be available.
For students successful in gaining a place in our Sixth Form community, a wide range of courses are available including A levels in English Literature, Politics, Physics, History and many more. Please visit the Sixth Form Courses page of on our website for more information.
Please note: The entry requirements listed are accurate at the time of publication. They remain subject to revision as further information is provided by the Department for Education regarding the structure and assessment of curriculum and qualifications. Ridgewood School reserves the right to review and amend these entry requirements and to consider the entry requirement for each student on an individual basis. All courses listed are subject to sufficient student numbers in order to make it possible to run them and courses may need to be withdrawn if the numbers of students wishing to undertake the course means it is not viable.