Key Stage 4 Core Curriculum and Option Subjects
Dear Parents/ Carers
Key Stage 4 is an important time in your child’s life. It is when they make important choices which will shape their future. Our curriculum is designed to ensure that all students can succeed whatever their abilities and strengths. We have worked hard to develop a series of bespoke pathways that are based on your child’s prior attainment to ensure that they have available to them a series of subject options that give them a breadth of study and choice and allow them to succeed at GCSE and beyond. In Year 9, students will remain in J and L bands for core subjects, but these will not always be the same bands as in Years 7 and 8 as they will depend on their options.
All Year 8 students will be offered a series of options to continue at GCSE/Level 2 vocational study. Option subject choices offered to students will be based on their Key Stage 2 attainment predictions, CAT4 tests along with their progress during Key Stage 3 and their mock exam and assessment results in Year 7 and Year 8. You can be assured that the Academy will place your child on the most appropriate pathway for them to succeed. Therefore, not all students have access to all subjects, however all students have a good range of options to select from.
All pathways follow a core curriculum including English Language, English Literature, Maths and Science GCSEs as well as compulsory PE. In addition, they have a variety of optional subjects in which students have an ability, talent and interest. As an Academy we expect students will study at least one humanities subject (Geography, History and/or Religious Studies). It is Academy policy that some students will be expected to study French alongside their options and this will be indicated on their personalised options form. The importance of humanities and languages to provide breadth across the curriculum is enormous and will make your child a better learner and have a more attractive set of qualifications to colleges, universities and future employers. We pride ourselves on the breadth and value of the curriculum we provide and, with each student having between 3 and 5 open options, this means that all students have control over their future curriculum.
Over the coming weeks, we would like you to discuss optional subjects with your child as it is important they make informed choices as it may be difficult to make changes once all students have chosen due to set sizes, staffing and timetable restrictions. To support this process staff have placed key information in this booklet, detailed subject information on our website and detailed videos, resources and assessment materials on the Academy SharePoint. Moreover, students will have subject assemblies for those subjects that are new to their curriculum and have the opportunity to discuss further with relevant faculties/subjects as indicated in this booklet.
Good reasons for making option choices are:
- Students enjoy studying that subject
- Students achieve well in that subject area
- It will support their future career choice
- It provides a broad and balanced curriculum including artistic and creative subjects as well as written, academic subjects
It is also recommended that the options chosen provide a balanced range of subjects in order to provide choice in their future study. It is important that a subject is not chosen because a child likes their current teacher as they may be with a different teacher next year. Choosing a subject to follow friends is also not a good idea as they may be in a different class and this may not be relevant to their own career pathways.
In addition to the subjects above all students will follow PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic). This programme is designed to support students by covering the topics of Work Related Learning, Careers, Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE), Enterprise, Personal Finance and Citizenship. Some students will study a Functional Skills based vocational course and/or an ASDAN course in Personal and Social Effectiveness. More details of these courses will be provided to those students on these pathways.
Subjects shown in purple are the core curriculum and will be studied by all students. These are the subjects that are essential for students when entering further/higher education or employment later in their lives.
We offer both GCSE and vocational subjects as options to suit a range of learning styles. Where the subject is vocational, this may be a BTEC Level 2 or Technical Award. The vast majority of students studying a vocational qualification will be working towards achieving a level 2 qualification, equivalent to a GCSE.
Please note, we may change course specifications (see current information on subjects) during the duration of a programme of study, where there is a specification change imposed by the board and/or we feel it is in the best interests of the students on the course to change the specification to enhance their progress and attainment.
On the personalised options’ form, which will be provided to your child just prior to the parents evening on Thursday 5th March 2026, students should indicate their choices against the subjects in order of preference. We will endeavour to ensure that students get their choices, but this is not always possible as some subjects have limited places, some subjects may not be viable (numbers and staffing) and so students have been asked to order in preference more options than they will have selected, to ensure that we can pick from these the subjects that best suit the student’s needs. Subjects that are listed with an asterix (*) will have entry requirements to limit the numbers on these courses, so will not be accessible to all students.
Some subject combinations are not advisable options such as choosing two subjects with very similar subject content and skills such as the combinations below. Therefore, in these areas only one from each of these can be chosen:
- Art and Design GCSE or Art and Design BTEC;
- Design Technology or Textiles
Over the coming weeks prior to the Options form being issued on March 5th, it is important that students find out about the courses, how they are assessed/examined and gather information to make informed choices.
In order to do this, students should:
- speak with their teachers, form tutors and year staff
- speak to parents
- listen to subject presentations carefully and read about the subjects on SharePoint and in this booklet
- refer to the website and subject specification websites for courses
- use the Library Resource Centre to gather information
- engage with their careers booklets and information given in form time Careers presentations
Please encourage your child to find out as much as they can about a course before they choose their options.
Options forms are due to be submitted on Friday 13th March 2026. After this date we will start to allocate students to subject areas. You will receive a letter in the summer term notifying you of the subjects that your child has been allocated. It is not always easy to change options thereafter, and especially after they have started the course in September, for a variety of reasons, so it is important to make the right choices. Changes will only be made in exceptional circumstances and students will be expected to catch up on all the work missed.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding option choices or pathways available, please do come to the parents evening on Thursday 5th March to discuss with subject teachers or if you are unable to do so, please do not hesitate to contact us through KS4Options@josephleckieacademy.co.uk and we will ensure that you will be contacted or your child can speak with Mr Greaves, Vice Principal or Mrs Price, Assistant Principal. Mr Greaves and Mrs Price will be available from 4.30pm on the Parents evening to answer any further questions.
Options forms will need to be returned by Friday 13th March 2026 at the latest to Ms N Murray (in the Data Office in the Art Block).