Curriculum

At Mark Rutherford School we have built a curriculum that is ambitious and designed to give all pupils the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.

Across Key Stage three the National Curriculum is followed so that we ensure students experience a broad and varied curriculum offer from Year 7 to Year 9.  Students enjoy an offer of all three performance subjects, Music, Drama and Dance taught by specialists.  We offer a carousel of Design and Technology at Key Stage 3.  Students have opportunity to work in smaller groups and rotate around the specialisms.  Languages play an important role within our curriculum; our Key Stage 3 students are taught one of three languages that we offer from French, Italian and Spanish.  Building on language learning at Key Stage 2 in our feeder primary schools, students continue with French in Year 7 to support students in deepening their knowledge and skills.  At Key Stage 3 students are taught in a combination of mixed ability tutor groups with tiered grouping for Maths and Languages following October half term.

Students begin to study their Key Stage 4 options at the start of Year 10.  At this stage students move into their option choices and core subjects are taught in ability tiers.  Key Stage 4 students enjoy one lesson of Ethics and Philosophy per fortnight enabling them to articulate view points and see life through the lens of other religions and world views to prepare them well for adulthood.  Students also enjoy one lesson of core Computing per fortnight to ensure our students move on to destinations post-16 with the ICT proficiency required within the modern world.

At Key Stage 5 our Sixth Form students study a minimum of three subjects at A Level or the equivalent at BTEC.  Students use their independent study time to further develop their knowledge of their subjects, using the resources within our specialist Sixth Form facilities.  Additionally, all students participate in a fortnightly speakers' assembly and volunteering is encouraged.

The school timetable operates over a two-week cycle (week A and week B) from Monday to Friday, with five compulsory periods per day, each lasting 60 minutes.  Each day starts with students attending a tutor period before moving to their first lesson.  There is also an additional tutor period at the end of the day.  Students in all years are allocated to a tutor group and are overseen by their Form Tutor and Head of Year.