Curriculum Offer

Our curriculum aims to produce the following: 

1. A broad and balanced curriculum which reflects the changing world.
2. Ambitious, independent and resilient young people.
3. Life learners with clear pathways in place after they leave George Mitchell School through our Careers Programme.
4. A love for learning which builds on cultural knowledge and provokes learners to have a curiosity about the world in which they live in.
5. A curriculum which respects and reflects the diversity, different backgrounds and experiences of our pupils.

Curriculum Offer

Primary Phase:

• In Nursery and Reception, our pupils follow a theme-based approach to the curriculum. They have discrete phonics, writing, maths and PE lessons. Our planning and teaching is flexible to follow children’s interests and next steps.

• In Years 1-6, pupils are taught through discrete curriculum subjects. Mathematics and English are taught daily; other curriculum subjects, including PSHE, are taught weekly, or in half-termly blocks. In Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6), pupils begin to learn French.

Secondary Phase:

• We operate a one-week timetable in the Secondary Phase.
• Each day has 5x one-hour lessons (Mon-Thurs) and 5x 50min lessons (Friday).
• Tutor time is in the morning, daily for all students. 
• Tutor time is an essential part of our PSHE and RSE programmes and we dedicate a good proportion of our mornings to getting our pupils ready for their day. 
• In all year groups there are mixed ability tutor groups. The majority of lessons are taught in mixed ability groups.
• Year 11 students have additional intervention sessions afterschool during the week.

All students follow a three-year Key Stage 3 programme and a two-year Key Stage 4 GCSE programme.  Students choose their GCSE option subjects in March of Year 9. We have four option lines to enable a broad range of choices.

PHSE/RSE is delivered during form time, as part of the RE/Citizenship curriculum and via a programme of workshops throughout the year.

Extra-curricular:

• There are a range of enrichment clubs for all year groups, such as Duke of Edinburgh, music clubs and instrumental lessons, gardening clubs, technology clubs, sports clubs, homework clubs, chess clubs, coding clubs, drama clubs and an excellent choir. More information can be found here.

Homework:

• Primary – homework is set on Class Dojo or Tapestry. More information can be found here.
• Secondary – every half-term, all students receive a homework booklet for all subjects and additional work is set on Google Classroom. Homework is used to rehearse core knowledge. More information can be found here.

Further information

Further information about our curriculum can be found on the pages under the ‘Curriculum’ website tab. To request any additional information about our curriculum, please email Ms Kathleen Smith (Secondary Office Manager) at Kathleen.Smith@georgemitchellschool.co.uk.