Year 6 to 7 – Transition

The English team is passionate about our subject and we hope to encourage a love of language and literature in our students. Our year 7 syllabus is varied and interesting, covering a different topic each half term. We study Jekyll and Hyde, Myths and Legends and a modern novel (from JK Rowling, Darren Shan or John Boyne) as well as teaching a variety of writing styles and techniques in our thematic curriculum. Year 7 students are also very welcome to join our popular creative writing club which runs weekly after school.

Each English class will have a library lesson once a fortnight where students will be encouraged to read independently. Many students choose their own books, with guidance from our experienced librarians but we also hold guided reading sessions like the ones they will have experienced at primary school. Students complete reading files where they record the books they have read, write reviews and collect stickers for each novel they complete. To bring literature to life, we often have visits and workshops from authors.

As we consider reading for pleasure to be the key to good literacy, we would like each student to complete a project, based on their wider reading, over the summer holidays before starting at Finham Park.
We look forward to welcoming your child to the English department.

In the MFL Department we teach French and Spanish to A level and Mandarin to Pre-U level. Year 7 students will be allocated to one of these languages. When you complete the paperwork for your child's transition to Finham Park please let us know if you have a particular preference for a language and let us know the reasons behind this. We will do our best to accommodate your preference. In addition, we are now part of the Mandarin Excellence Programme which means your child in Year 7 can choose to sign up to a fast track Mandarin learning programme.  Information evenings are provided in the May/June time should you require further details.

Students study a language in years 7 to 9, and the majority of students continue with their language to GCSE level as part of the EBacc. You can help your child at home with memorisation of new vocabulary and practice for assessment - it doesn't matter if you don't speak the language: we issue vocabulary sheets for each unit of work!

We consider experiencing real life in France, Spain and China to be an important part of language learning and we offer residential visits subject to staffing. We use our links with our partner schools to support these visits.

We are also one of a small number of schools in Coventry to offer Mandarin Chinese to Pre-U level. All year 7 and 8 students take 2 enrichment modules in Mandarin with an option to continue in year 9 as part of the option process. They then have the option to take GCSE in years 10 and 11.
Your child may like to use the following websites to prepare for language learning at Finham Park:

http://www.languagesonline.org.uk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/

The Library is a very busy place at Finham Park and all Yr7 students are shown how to best use it within days of starting school. They can start borrowing library books straight away and can come into the library before school, at break and lunch times, and after school.

As well as using the library during breaks and lunch for meeting up with friends or quietly reading, the library also has a range of games to play e.g. chess, draughts, scrabble. During class time, Year 7 students will use the library for regular English reading lessons and may have research lessons with other subjects e.g. Geography.

The Library has a wonderful range of fiction and fact books, and friendly library staff encourage students to read for pleasure and can also help with any research tasks students may have. There are 15 computers for student use with printing facilities and a silent study area with individual study spaces.

This year, a brand new and exciting Year 7 curriculum has been introduced. Students have been taught a diverse range of topics which aim to create a passion for and lifelong love of Geography alongside the growth of key Geographical skills.

Year 7 Geographers start by exploring "Our city" and then move on to investigating the "wild and wonderful weather" that influences different parts of the globe. In the spring term we examine the relationship that the UK has with the European Union and then travel in our studies to the exciting world of ecosystems. The final term is spent studying the continent of Africa and then the geographical processes associated with "Raging Rivers".

As you can see the year is crammed packed with exciting opportunities to ignite true enthusiasm for the subject.

Students coming to Finham Park School can look forward to an exciting curriculum in History which covers a range of different time periods. We start with a unit of work on the skills you need to become a great historian for your time at Finham where you will get to become an archaeologist and solve a mystery about bones! We will then put your skills into action when we look at the Norman Conquest and life in Medieval Britain, which includes a study of the gruesome Black Death!
Following this we complete an investigation on the Medieval King John to work out whether or not he was as bad as History has made him out to be. In the Spring Term we study the hair-raising reign of the Tudors before looking at the Industrial Revolution and slavery using the case studies on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the use of child labour in the factories of Victorian Britain. We hope you'll agree that these are all exciting opportunities and that you'll be as enthusiastic for
history at Finham as we are!

Key Stage 3 students are taught in group sets of approximately 20 and we teach a modular system. This means that in Years 7 students experience all areas of Design and Technology by completing a carousel within the department, experiencing a different specialism each term. Three modules will be completed over the first year. We have a range of facilities and rooms within the school and the projects are organised to allow students to experience as many of these throughout their key stage 3 projects so as to prepare them for taking the subject at Key Stage 4 should they wish to do so. Areas covered within Design and Technology at Finham Park School are:

  • Food Technology
  • Textile Products
  • Resistant Materials
  • Graphic Products
  • Electronic Products
  • Product Design and Engineering
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