Curriculum Overview

Key Stage 3

The school timetable consists of 45 periods per week, each period lasts 35mins.

At Key Stage 3 (Years 8 - 10), the school provides a broad and balanced curriculum including Learning for Life & Work (LLW) (incorporating Home Economics, Personal Development, Local & Global Citizenship and Education for Employability), Skills & Capabilities (incorporating Communication, Using Mathematics, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Thinking Skills & Personal Capabilities alongside the other traditional Learning Areas.

Where appropriate, pupils will study 2 languages.  Those pupils who do not study both languages receive extra allocations within English and Maths.

Year 10 pupils receive one period per week of Careers Education to assist with the options process for study at Key Stage 4.

PSE is delivered in 1 period per week, ‘Period 0’ on a Monday.

Key Stage 4

At Key Stage 4 (Years 11-12), there is greater flexibility and the school provides a wide range of courses. English and Mathematics are compulsory for all pupils alongside Learning for Life & Work, Religious Education (RE) and Physical Education (PE) as required by the Education Order 2006. Beyond that, the arrangements give freedom in terms of subject combinations and number of GCSEs taken. Pupils are able to make informed and appropriate choices from 3 individual pathways which best suit their interests, abilities and ambitions for further study at Key Stage 5 or the world of work.  The KS4 curriculum prepares pupils to access further and higher education courses leading to the world of work in their chosen career path.

Key Stage 5

The school provides a wide range of courses at Post 16. Pupils will normally study 3 or 4 GCE AS subjects in Year 13 and 3 A2 subjects in Year 14.  A small number of pupils may, with the Principal’s agreement, take 4 subjects to A2.

Strabane Academy works in collaboration with the Derg Mourne Learning Community and links with South West College allowing pupils to access a wide and varied range of courses suited to their future career plans. The Derg Mourne Learning Community is an area-based learning community where resources and expertise are shared amongst the following schools:

• Strabane Academy
• Castlederg High School
• Holy Cross College
• Knockavoe Resource Centre

Collaboration exists between the schools on some Post 16 courses to allow pupils to have access to the widest range of courses available to them to ensure that they have choice and flexibility and to assist with the demands of meeting the requirements of the Entitlement Framework.

All subjects are allocated 8 timetabled periods per week at AS and 9 periods per week at A2.  The collaboration courses and link courses operate on 2 afternoons per week.

• A careers class is timetabled for all students in Year 13 and 14.
• When pupils have no timetabled class they are required to be in the supervised sixth form centre for personal study. This is compulsory.
• Visiting speakers are invited to address sixth form on a variety of issues throughout the year.

Subjects are chosen from the following list: Art, Biology, Chemistry, Drama & Theatre Studies #, English Literature, French, German, Geography, Media Studies/Journalism #, History, Technology, Maths, Music, PE, Physics, RE, Applied Business Studies, Applied ICT, Applied Health & Social Care (Single or Double award), Applied Science, *Engineering – Mechanical/Electrical, *Construction, *Children’s Care & Learning Development,  *Media Production, *Hospitality, *Agriculture & Rural Studies, *Leisure & Tourism, *Computer Games.

• # course delivered in collaboration with Derg Mourne Learning Community
• * link course with the South West College