In year 9 students have 25 lessons a week.
Below is a general overview of the topics students are taught throughout the year in each subject.
For a more in depth outline of each subject please click on the link (in each drop down) to view the full subject page.
If you would like to speak to us about any aspect of our curriculum please get in touch.
Baseline and introduction to creative careers
Autumn term
• Introducing Python – developing skills in Python programming language.
• Digital graphics – design a digital graphic using Photoshop etc for a client.
Spring term
• Python Turtle – using Python to find solutions to challenges.
• Digital animation – developing an animation to advertise a new product coming to market.
Summer term
• Hardware and software – computer science focused unit introducing the difference between hardware and software.
• Digital video – design, shoot and edit a trailer for a new horror film.
Technology rotation
Product design – mobile phone holder: students will work with plastic to create personalised mobile phone holders.
Visit our product design page for more information
Food and nutrition – health and safety and an introduction to cultural foods and tastes along with key skills such as boiling, sautéeing and simmering.
Visit our food and nutrition page for more information
Textiles – creative textiles.
Visit our creative textiles page for more information
Photography
Visit our photography page for more information
Graphic communication – mini skateboard design: students design and then apply effective design to a mini structure.
Autumn term
DNA scripted
Spring term
John Godber (playwright)
Summer term
Devising/stimulus
Autumn term
Half term 1: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Rationale: Students explore Steinbeck’s powerful portrayal of friendship, dreams, and inequality, deepening their understanding of themes such as race, gender, and disability. They develop their own voices through persuasive writing, expressing thoughtful viewpoints on social issues.
Key knowledge:
Key vocabulary:
Key skills:
Autumn term
Half term 2: Media unit with a focus on Jurassic
Rationale: Students develop essential media literacy by exploring how film and media techniques shape meaning and influence audiences. This engaging unit offers a thrilling taste of GCSE Media Studies while strengthening analytical and interpretive skills used across English. Key knowledge:
Key knowledge:
Key vocabulary:
Key skills:
Spring term
The Black Flamingo
Rationale: Students explore themes linked to protected characteristics (race, identity, sexual orientation) through a powerful and inspiring contemporary text that celebrates individuality and self-expression. They refine analytical skills through close reading and build confidence in spoken language, preparing for the GCSE endorsement while finding their own authentic voice.
Key knowledge:
Key vocabulary:
Key skills:
Summer term
Disasters and events.
Rationale: Students explore powerful poetry, fiction, and non-fiction inspired by real-world tragedies and historical moments such as the Titanic, Chernobyl, and the World Wars. They examine how writers use language and structure to express emotion and resilience, while developing their own descriptive and narrative writing to bring past events vividly to life.
Key knowledge:
Key vocabulary:
Key skills:
Autumn term
Thematic contexts: My personal world
Spring term
Thematic Contexts: My personal world
Summer term
Thematic contexts: Lifestyle and wellbeing
Year 9 topic order:
Autumn term
WW1
• What was the Alliance system?
• What was the Arms Race?
• Why did war break out?
• What was life like in the trenches?
• What was there a Christmas Truce?
• Who were conscientious objectors?
• What role did women have in the war?
• Why did war end?
• What was the Treaty of Versailles?
America in the 1920s and 30s
• Why did people migrate to the USA?
• Why did America have an economic boom?
• What was prohibition?
• Al Capone
• Why did prohibition fail?
• Why was the KKK powerful?
• The Wall Street Crash
Spring term
The Rise of the Dictators
• Creating a dictatorship
• Dictatorship vs democracy
• Communism and fascism
• The USSR
• Italy and Mussolini
• The Rise of Hitler
• Appeasement
• How democracy is lost
WW2
• Blame for WW2
• Dunkirk
• Battle of Britain
• The Blitz spirit
• The Home Front
• WW2 and Hollywood
• Dresden
• The Atomic Bomb
• Churchill
Summer term
The Holocaust
• Jewish persecution in Nazi Germany
• Roots of Anti-Semitism
• Anti-Semitism over time
• Warsaw Ghetto
• Oskar Schindler
• The death camps
• Stories of the Holocaust
• Justice for the Holocaust
• Remembering the Holocaust
The Cold War
• The Origins of the Cold War
• Soviet expansion
• The Berlin Airlift
• The Hungarian uprising
• The Berlin Wall
• The Cuban Missile Crisis
• The Vietnam War
Autumn term
Equations and angles
Spring term
Graphs, Pythagoras and trigonometry
Summer term
Probability
Autumn term
Ukulele
Pop music
Spring term
Reggae
Hooks and riffs
Summer term
DJ-ing and dance music
Song choice
Autumn term
Wellbeing and law and order
Spring term
Sexual relationships GCSE options (RE curriculum)
Summer term
Looking after myself and others human rights
Students study the same activities in years 7 to 9 as this gives them the opportunity to show a greater level of progression in their tactical awareness, knowledge of the rules and skill level in each of the activities.
| Girls | Boys |
| Trampolining | Football |
| Table tennis | Rugby |
| Dance | Handball |
| Handball | Boxercise |
| Boxercise | Trampolining |
| Netball | Table tennis |
| Rounders | Rounders |
| Athletics | Athletics |
| Fitness | Fitness |
| Football | Cricket |
| Tag rugby | Softball |
| Frisbee |
Exploring commercial photography through 3 specific skills:
Students will create 3 adverts: 1 drinks advert, 1 fragrance advert and 1 food advert.
In year 9, all pupils begin to study the AQA religious education GCSE long course. This consists of three modules which they study over a three-year period.
These are detailed below.
Component 1 – The study of Religion: beliefs, teachings and practices.
In this module students’ study two religions: Christianity and Islam. Throughout year 9, 10 and 11, students will look in depth at the beliefs, practices and festivals associated with these two world religions and apply these to modern day issues.
Component 2: Thematic Studies
Alongside the religious element of the course, students are expected to have an in depth understanding of the world around them and modern-day issues. To ensure this, pupils are expected to be aware of and discuss different religious, non-religious and ethic perspectives such as Humanism and atheism.
Students will be aware of contrasting beliefs on the following issues:
Relationships and Families
Religion and Life
Religion, peace and conflict
Crime and punishment
Human rights and social justice
Autumn term
Spring term
Summer term
