Mathematics
Head of Department and Prep 8 teacher – Mr. Jamie Nish
Prep 8 teacher – Mrs. Sian Dawson
Michaelmas Term
C.E past paper questions & Weekly Mental Maths Practice.
Calculation: Prime factorisation, LCM & HCF. Negative numbers, BIDMAS, Speed, Distance, Time with converting time units. Ratio and proportion. Rounding using decimals and significant figures.
Geometry: Angles in polygons, internal/external angles. Angle properties with parallel lines, missing angle problems, bearings and scale.
Fractions, Decimals and %: 4 rules with mixed numbers, Fractions, Decimals and Percentage conversions. Profit and loss. X as a Percent of Y. Percent of an amount.
Algebra: Simplifying expressions, substitution, using formula and sequences.
Data Handling: Scatter graphs, correlation, pie charts and bar charts.
Lent Term
Regular CE past papers & CE Mental Maths practice.
Work is based on the needs of the cohort. From Lent term, the focus is practice papers and revision. All content has been taught by this stage.
Trinity Term
Regular CE past papers and CE Mental Maths practice.
Further revision and paper practice.
English
Head of Department – Mr. Jon Bowen
Prep 8 teacher – Mr. Jon Bowen
English in Prep 8 is the second of the two year Common Entrance curriculum. The set text that the pupils will initially study is Woman in Black . This will be supplemented with other classic and contemporary texts as the year progresses.
Michaelmas Term
Speaking & Listening: Use more formal spoken language. Take prayers, read in assembly, give a vote of thanks. Greet and welcome visitors. Debate and discuss issues important to them and their role in wider world. Presentation of chosen subject.
Reading: Read wider variety of literature and “The Classics”. Read solely for enjoyment. Study The Woman in Black set text in detail. Read and extract meaning beyond the literal.
Spelling: Revise all rules and keep skills ongoing.
Writing: C.E. and scholarship papers. Revise and extend all comprehension skills. Revise all parts of speech and tenses. All grammar rules are extended to free writing. Creative writing; learn the techniques required to create Vignettes, speeches, arguments, found poetry and short stories.
Lent Term
Speaking & Listening: Use of formal English. Take prayers, read in chapel, propose votes of thanks. Use gesture and intonation appropriately. Debate an issue from current affairs.
Reading: Read from a selection of children’s classics. Look at the characteristic features of different types of text. Shakespeare and his plays. Set Text: Lord of the Flies. Detailed examination of the text.
Spelling Revision of all previously acquired knowledge.
Writing: C.E. and Scholarship papers. Writing in different genre for different purposes. Parts of speech and comprehension skills.
Trinity Term
Speaking & Listening: Use formal English in a variety of situations.
Reading: Continue to read classical novels for enjoyment. Study advertisement texts in detail to extract intent, meaning and messages beyond the literal. Revision and examination of chracters from their set texts. Examination technique.
Spelling: Revision of all rules known and acquired to date.
Writing All parts of English to be revised and utilised in free writing. Advanced comprehension skills using relevant texts and personal experience.
Suggested Reading List:
Basilisk by N.B Browne
Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Wind on Fire Trilogy by William Nicholson
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Walking Naked by Alyssa Brugman
Carwash by Lesley Howarth
Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Face by Benjamin Zephaniah
I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing by Maya Angelou
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by A. Conan Doyle
King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Walkabout by J Vance Marshall
Looking Glass War by Frank Beddor
Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer
Eragon the Eldest by Chris Paolini
Amulet of Samarkend by Jonathan Stroud
Dead Gorgeous by Malorie Blackman
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Boy Soldier by Andy McNab
Fergus MacPhail: The Boy the Legend by David McRoberts
Divided City by Theresa Breslin
Skullcrack by Ben Bo
Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick
The Aldous Lexicon by Michael Lawrence
Hex Trilogy by Rhiannon Lassiter
Dangerous Dare by Malorie Blackman
Thank you for your Application by John Kirkbridge
Bindi Babes Bollywood Babes by Narinder Dhami
Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding
For Scholarship candidates:
Animal Farm by George Orwell
1984 by George Orwell
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
All the pretty horse by Cormac McCarthy
Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Emma by Jane Austin
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Science
Head of Department and Prep 8 teacher – Mr. James McConnell
Science in Prep 8 will continue to be broken up into a 2 week rolling programme of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. This will allow for early review and consolidation throughout the year.
In this, their final year of Science at Hatherop, the pupils will complete the course content for the Common Entrance 13+ syllabus. Topics from previous years will be revisited to fully prepare the pupils for their forthcoming examinations. In addition to this, the children will be set topic-specific examination style questions so as to familiarise them with the style of questioning in the Common Entrance papers. The topics studied this year, with additions, will be as follows:
Michaelmas Term
Reproduction
Cellular Respiration
Chemical Reactions (Combustion and the Greenhouse Effect)
Pollution
Pressure and Density
Ecosystem Relationships
Chemical Reactions (Reactivity Series)
Sound Waves & Hearing
Lent Term
Variation, Classification & Inheritance
Chemical Reactions (Metal ores & Acids and Alkalis)
Light Waves
Circuits and Current
Chemical Reactions (Properties of Oxides and the Effects of Acids in the Environment)
Electromagnetism
Trinity Term
Space Physics
REVISION
CE Examinations
Project Work
Modern Foreign Languages - French
Head of Department - Mr. Allan Hempsted
Prep 8 Teachers – Mr. Allan Hempsted & Mrs. Gabriel Thomas
The second and final year of the Common Entrance 13+ Curriculum will see pupils in Prep 8 complete the syllabus and identify areas in which they need support and extension. In the pursuit of creating independent learners of our Prep 8s, we offer the pupils some control over content they would like to re-visit in the lesson guiding their own learning and ensuring optimal learning and progression. Even though there is a strong focus on exam technique during this year, lessons remain very much interactive and engaging. There is also opportunity to joins us on The French Trip in the Lent Term. Several ‘smaller’ topics will be covered primarily in the Michaelmas Term to help provide a more rounded understanding – an example of which is illnesses , pocket money and clothes.
It is expected that our language pupils are using revision guides and various other resources at their disposal throughout the academic year to ensure that they are consolidating and strengthening their understanding ready for the assessments. Guidance is given and can always be sought should a pupil need it – our doors are always open.
Our primary focus in the CE years will be strengthening the pupils’ abilities in French, however in our ever-increasing global community we will provide opportunities for our Prep 8 pupils to have taster weeks in Japanese and Italian across the year.
Michaelmas & Lent Terms
Pupils will be asked to reflect on their learning so far and identify areas of content or grammar on which they would like to work.
It is during this term that we will ensure that our pupils have a sound understanding in all the following areas and the ability to express themselves in each:
• Personal description, Family, Friends & Pets.
• Life and Work at School
• Free Time and Holiday Activities
• House, Home and Daily Routine
Even though this is the final year of study, we strongly encourage a revisiting of the basics as well as the present, perfect and near future tenses, adjectival agreement, masculine and feminine nouns, prepositions and numbers will also be re-visited in a variety of engaging ways to ensure confident linguists.
Trinity Term
Focus on revision and preparation for the upcoming CE examinations. Particular attention will be paid to tenses and grammar, exam technique, role play and prepared and non-prepared topic practice for the Speaking exam. Once the exams are done, we look to starting projects such as Google Translate Fail videos and various French-speaking cultural research.
History
Head of Department and Prep 8 Teacher - Mr. Nick Williams
Throughout Prep 7 and 8 children will be studying English History 1066 to 1485 – a unit of work know as Medieval Times in the ISEB CE syllabus. Our work will take a modular format, with units of study lasting between 6 and 8 lessons with a focused piece of assessed work at the end of each unit. The assessed piece will vary from unit to unit, each helping children develop specific learning skills. Assessed work could include presentations, evidence analysis, debate, narrative essay writing or discursive essay writing. Our units of study will be:
Michaelmas Term
The Normans – with a discursive essay as the assessed work.
The Origins of Parliament – with a group debate as the assessed work.
Lent Term
Murder in the Cathedral – with a newspaper front page as the assessed work.
Medieval Monarchs – with a discursive essay as the assessed work.
Trinity Term
The Black Death – with an historical fiction essay as the assessed work.
The Peasants Revolts – with an analysis essay as the assessed work.
Geography
Head of Department and Prep 8 teacher – Mr. Nick Williams
Michaelmas Term
Transport and Industry: the value of transport routes to industry; advantages and disadvantages of differing transport routes; sectors of industry; how economic activities operate in developed and developing countries.
INDUSTRY CASE STUDY: Nike
TRANSPORT CASE STUDY: High Speed 2
Lent Term
Studies will continue with Coastal Processes including the forming of bays, headlands, beaches and spits, and learn how erosion, transportation and deposition creates these features. Coastal management
CASE STUDY on Spurn Head Spit and the Foreland Dorset.
Trinity Term
The Environment: Sustainability, understanding the importance of making important decisions about the longevity of a feature and/or design.
Case Study: National Parks
Theology, Philosophy and Ethics
Head of Department and Prep 8 Teacher – Mr. Nick Williams
Michaelmas Term
Social Justice: The children will explore the issues of injustice within society considering aspects such as discrimination and poverty. This will be supported by considering how religious people react to these issues.
Lent Term
Philosophy – An introduction to the subject, including the concepts of truth claims, validity, soundness and how to analyse an argument. This will be explored through philosophers including Stuart Mill, Plato and David Hume.
Trinity Term
In the Trinity Term, the children will explore the ethical issues surrounding the environment.
Art
Head of Department and Prep 8 teacher – Mrs. Sally Easterbrook
Michaelmas Term
Drawing/Painting
Looking at the artist Yayoi Kuamas and create a large group piece.
Printing
Create a harbour montage using mixed media
Experiment whether to use black and white or colour to create the image
Create an image in response to the work of Stephen Wiltshire
Develop block printing
Collage
Collective and individual pieces using waste plastic
Create a colour board comprising of different shapes and shades of colour
Building up the design to one large piece.
Lent Term
Drawing
Draw a natural object from the beach – shell, driftwood, pebbles
Develop an understanding of tonal value
Study of hands
Textiles
Produce either a group or individual image inspired by nature
Plan work logically and build up layers
Use a variety of materials and textures
Trinity Term
3D work
Create a tile of individual designs inspired by Margaret Licha
Make the relief image be part of the background
Adapt and modify work
Add colour with care and procession
Painting
Response to the work of Leonid Afremov
Look at contrasting images – subtle monochrome
Ability to mix shades
Multi layered images
Computing (STEAM)
Head of Department – Mr. Gavin James
This year sees the introduction of Computing as a discrete subject. Although many of the skills will be integrated and applied in Technology lessons, pupils will also have a chance to focus on developing their computing skills and knowledge in a separate lesson.
The aim of the Computing Department is to prepare boys and girls for the future. It is without question that they will be entering a workplace where IT skills are essential, no matter which career they choose to follow.
Being a confident and competent user is important but we also aim to inspire the children to look ‘under the bonnet’ of technology, understanding what it is they are using and how it works. Programming has always been part of the curriculum and helps to develop many skills including creativity, logic, patience and the ability to solve problems to name but a few.
This year pupils will continue to study E-Safety using the ‘Web We Want’ book;
Programming skills will continue through the use of Kodu, which involves them developing their own computer games;
Pupils will also work on a Dragon’s Den project which incorporates using Wix.com and creating their own business website.
Throughout the year, pupils are also actively involved in collecting and preparing materials for their Leavers' Book.
Music
Head of Department and Prep 8 teacher – Mr. Chris Page
In the course of Prep 8, the children follow the course of study outlined. A greater emphasis is now placed on individual composition work.
Michaelmas Term
Keyboards: revise note-names and keyboard notation, chord function, rhythm settings, tempo and style functions.Largely individual work, though paired when necessary.
Song Compositions: build on chord and melody ideas, but now adapt compositional technique to a style appropriate to their chosen words. Look at how accompaniment is built up from a chord sequence. Individual composition at keyboard.
Christmas music: learning songs for various events.
Lent Term
Music of the Classical period: using tuned percussion and other instrument, the class will learn a simple section of a Haydn symphony alongside exploring some of the characteristics of music in the late 18th century.
Jazz Music: looking at the main developments in jazz music over the last 50 years, especially the use of trumpet, drums, guitar and piano.
Trinity Term
Rondos and recurring structures: revise ternary form, then explore rondo form and recurring patterns in music. Maintain individual parts in both group and class pieces based on Poulenc’s Carillon. Explore and develop composing ideas, showing understanding of repetition, contrast, balance and proportion.
Drama
Teacher – Mr. Chris Page
Prep 8 will complete a term and a half of Drama lessons which will be used almost exclusively for working towards two productions. In the Michaelmas term, these lessons will be used to support them in their rehearsals for the Christmas Pantomime. In the Lent term, they will have the opportunity, joined by Prep 7, to lead a drama performance
P.E and Games
Director of Sport – Mr. Nigel Bailey
Head of Girls’ Games – Mrs Kathryn Donovan
Michaelmas Term
Boys – Rugby. Whole game approach. Positional play, tactics, teamwork and individual skills. Football – competitive match play, tactics, reinforce passing, control, dribbling.
Girls – Hockey. Development of all aspects of the game including ball control, passing, receiving and game play. Tactics of attack and defence/ set plays in respect to penalty corners and long corners.
Health Related Fitness: Effects of exercise on the body, HR rate, max and minimum. Fitness testing.
Lent Term
Boys - Hockey. Development of all aspects of the game including ball control, passing, receiving and game play. Tactics of attack and defence/ set plays. Rules for 7/11 a side games.
Girls - Netball. Advanced passing and receiving. Developing positional play and more tactical/set plays. Advanced stages of defence and attack. Football: skill development, tactics, develop knowledge of the game. Implementing a variety of skills during match play.
Trinity Term
Athletics: Track and Field progression. Development of technique. Track- 50m, 75m, 100m, 200m, 800m, 1500m & relays. Field disciplines, shot, javelin, discus, long jump, high jump.
Boys – Cricket: - Batting, bowling, fielding. Positions - play and roles. Full sided games.
Girls – Cricket: Advanced skills of batting, bowling and fielding. Tactics during games. Full game development. (Development of hardball cricket) Introduction to Lacrosse. Senior school staff specialist games coaching sessions.
Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHEE)
Head of Department – Mrs. Sian Dawson
PSHEE lessons happen every Friday. We follow the Jigsaw curriculum which is a mindful approach to Personal, Social, Health Education, emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development. Each unit is taught by the class teacher.
Michaelmas Term
- Being in My World
- Celebrating Difference
Lent Term
- Dreams and Goals
- Healthy Me
Trinity Term
- Relationships
- Changing Me
Further information about the core units which make up ‘Relationship Education’ will be sent by Mrs. Sian Dawson separately.
Our Hatherop Values
Happiness: All members of our community should act and behave so we all can be happy.
Adventure: We play and learn with a sense of adventure
Teamwork: We work and play collaboratively and understand that we can excel and achieve more when we work as a team.
Honesty: We learn from making mistakes and we want all members of our community to show honesty towards each other.
Encouragement: We actively encourage everyone to strive for excellence in work and play.
Respect: Every member of the Hatherop community is treated with respect and kindness.
Opportunity: We make the most of every opportunity.
Perseverance: We do not give up when we find something hard or challenging.