Year 7 students spent the day getting a taste of what their future GCSE lessons will look like having chosen five options subjects to try as part of their Options Experience Day. Students begin their GCSE courses in Year 9, but the process of selecting options subjects begins formally in Year 8 meaning students will need to start giving consideration to their Key Stage 4 choices soon.
Students selected five taster lessons from 18 options subjects and enjoyed a variety of lessons. In Dance taster lessons students took part in ‘Dance by Chance’ a spontaneous choreography challenge whilst those students interested in taking the PE GCSE course spent their lesson looking at performance enhancing drugs (PEDS). Students taking part in the Photography taster sessions were tasked with capturing a number of images from a list of topics including ‘perspective’, ‘close-up’, 'angles', 'closeup' and ‘viewpoint’ and over in Art classrooms students were creating their own bug drawings using the artist Poul Beckman for inspiration.
Over in Spanish students were using school subjects as the topic of their taster session, whilst in Computer Science lessons the classes looked at programming and sorting algorithms. In Food and Nutrition, students addressed the function of ingredients when baking cakes and in Design and Technology plastic bags were being recycled to create items with use such as storage containers. In Music lessons, students were challenged with a commercial music brief whilst in Health and Social Care classes focused on communication methods and students played a range of games focusing on this theme to help develop their understanding of communication and other directly related key terms.
Over in Geography students were using the game top trumps to discover more about weather hazards whilst in history classes found out more about the four main units which make up the history: Trench Warfare, Norman England, History of Medicine and 1920’s- 1970’s America.
These were just some of the lessons provided by teaching staff to help students make informed decisions about their Key Stage 4 courses.
Year 7 Rufus said: “I’ve found the taster day interesting and fun. There have been some lessons which have surprised me in a good way because they have been different to what I was expecting.”
Year 7 Sarah said: “Today has helped me to feel more confident about the choices I’ll be making next year.”
Year 7 Daniel said: “All the lessons have been good so although I think I know what subjects I want to pick it’s not going to be easy.”
Year 7 Isabella said: “The activities in today’s lessons have been different and exciting and they’ve all helped me to make my decisions.”
Assistant Headteacher Ms Hilton- Peet said: “Year 7 have gained a lot from this year’s Options Experience Day. Staff have put on a variety of lessons giving students a greater understanding of what they can expect from the courses of most interest to them. I hope the experience has given our Year 7 students lots to think about and left them looking forward to making the right choices for them.”
options taster day 2019
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