Curriculum

At St John’s we offer a broad curriculum with the depth to engage and challenge learners at each level. We also aim to provide a curriculum that will equip learners with skills, knowledge and qualifications that will give them the broadest range of opportunities when it is time for them to move on from St John’s.

We currently offer a two-year Key Stage 3 suite of courses. In Year 7 & 8 all learners experience the full range of National Curriculum subjects with strong balance in curriculum time between each subject with the greatest weighing going to English, Maths, Science and RE. Follow the link to Key Stage 3 Curriculum for a full breakdown of the courses on offer and details about their curriculum time and programmes of study.  From September 2021, we will be offering a 3 year Key Stage 3 with students in year 9 continuing to study the full range of National Curriculum subjects until the end of that academic year.

There is a core of subjects which learners will study from Year 7 to Year 11. These are Religious Studies, English Language and Literature, Maths and Sciences.  From September 2021, students at St John’s make option choices during Year 9. Given that they will continue with the fore-mentioned subjects, the vast majority of students are then asked to continue with at least one of the ‘English Baccalaureate’ subjects (French, Spanish, History, Geography or Computing) with a free choice of two other subjects from a broad range of GCSE or vocational qualifications. Depending on an individual’s interests and abilities, students will receive pastoral guidance on how to use their free choices. For example, a student with aspirations to study ‘A levels’ will be encouraged to choose a further ‘Ebacc’ subject as one of their two free choices. A student aspiring to move onto apprenticeship or level 3 vocational studies might well be encouraged to choose at least one of the wide range of vocational qualifications on offer from Year 10.

From Year 10 to Year 11 the majority of learners will study 9 GCSEs (or equivalent). Most students will study the 'Combined Science' double award GCSE with a small number of students studying the the three separate Sciences instead.  For more information about Key Stage 4 and details about each of the courses on offer, please follow the Key Stage 4 Curriculum link.

If you would like to find out any more information about the curriculum offered please feel free to contact the head of department or head of year.

Year 7

Year 8

Year 9

Year 10

Year 11