The Year 8 course aims to help students master and develop English skills learned in Year 7. It particularly focuses on refining and mastering both reading and writing. Year 8 students are exposed to a wider range of texts of greater challenge than in Year 7 such as through reading an international novel or a Shakespeare play to studying the features of spoken language and how this differs to written forms of communication. Year 8 students are also explicitly taught the skills of grammar, spelling and punctuation across all five units. Year 8 students have five English lessons per week.
Reading at KS3
Reading is an important part of the English curriculum and we encourage all students to be a member of the local library in order to extend their selection. To help develop both their reading and writing skills, we recommend that all Year 8 students read a range of fiction and non-fiction texts across the year. Our reading clubs aim to supplement and extend work in the classroom with clubs for advanced readers, as well as our more reluctant readers. Students will be encouraged to join, or if we feel they would benefit from extra support, they will be invited to attend. There is the opportunity to become involved in shadowing the Carnegie award in the summer term.
Literacy Focus
As well as developing all aspects of literacy throughout the year, each unit in English has a particular focus, such as spelling or punctuation. Exercises and strategies for improving in this area are interwoven with the content of the course. Students will be encouraged to self-mark against a Literacy Checklist for all extended pieces of writing.
Useful Resources for Home
CGP Books – revision guides on general themes and specific texts such as Macbeth– available online and from bookstores’ education departments ( http://www.cgpbooks.co.uk/index.asp
).
BBC Bitesize website – materials based around skills needed for both KS3 and GCSE English Language and Literature
( http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ ).
Key Stage 3 English: a useful guide to some of the reading and writing skills taught at Key Stage 3 http://www.collinseducation.com/titles/61661/complete-key-stage-3-english-9781844192380
How to help your child
When checking your child’s work, only point out mistakes rather than correcting them, so that she/ he has the opportunity to think about why they are incorrect.
Encourage your child to read for pleasure. All types of books are valuable for fostering an interest in this area. Rather than stressing fiction over non-fiction, encourage your child to read to challenge themselves. If a child likes a particular author, for example, Anthony Horowitz or Jacqueline Wilson, help them choose similar authors or books in the same genre, as opposed to something completely different, like the classics, which they may find daunting.

Literary non-fiction, historical and biographical works are as useful for expanding vocabulary and horizons as
‘literature’.
Remind your child that handwriting and presentation are important, so that her/ his reader, teachers, future examiners can understand what she/ he means, but remember that typing and word-processing skills are vitally important and an area in which many students are lacking. Touch-typing skills will benefit all students, especially those for whom handwriting is a barrier to learning.
Stress to your child that Internet sources are not authoritative and ought always to be corroborated against other works. Show them how to use paper and electronic dictionaries/ spellcheckers and encyclopaedia with speed and discretion. Make sure that your child is aware of the concept of intellectual property, plagiarism and the potential consequences of passing off others’ work as one’s own.
Help your child develop routines for work, so that homework is able to be handed in on time and receive the necessary feedback. A homework timetable is excellent preparation for a revision schedule in the future.
Glossary of terms
Below are some useful terms that students use in KS3. To access higher levels, students need to use a range of literary terms with confidence in their analysis and apply the skills in their writing:

Alliteration – Words that begin with the same letter used close together. E.g. The ragged rascal ran.

Connotation – The associations that a word has. E.g. Apple has connotations of technology, health…

Context – Something that affects the meaning outside of the text, such as its time period, or country.

Figurative/Literal – Literal means exactly what it says, whereas figurative language is exaggerated.

Foreshadowing – Where a writer hints at what is to come later on in the text.

Genre – Categories of books, such as horror, romance, or fantasy.

Half-rhyme – Words that sound similar at the end. E.g. Might, mote.

Hyperbole – Exaggeration for effect. E.g. I’ve told you a thousand times.

Imagery – Very descriptive words that build an image, or picture, in the reader’s mind.

Juxtaposition – Where two ideas are put together to show a contrast.

Metaphor – When an image is created by referring to something as something else. E.g. You’re a star.

Onomatopoeia – Words that sound like their meaning. E.g. Crash, pow, bang.

Oxymoron – Two opposites happening at the same time. E.g. It was brightly dark.

Pathetic Fallacy – When the weather reflects the feelings of the characters or speaker.

Personification – When an object is given human characteristics. E.g. The moon smiled down.

Repetition – Words or phrases that are repeated for effect.

Rhyme – Words that have the same sound at the end rhyme. E.g. Might, fight.

Rhythm – The beat of a poem.

Quotation – When you refer to the exact words, phrases or sentences from a text.

Symbolism – When an item symbolises, or represents, something else. E.g. a heart symbolises love

Simile – A simile compares something to something else using like or as. E.g. As big as a house

Tone – Tone is the emotion or feelings that a text creates.

Voice/Speaker – The person that is speaking in a text. This could be a character, or the writer.
Year 8 is an important year in the Mathematics curriculum, as during this year we develop the basic skills from Year 7 and move them into more abstract understanding such as ratio and proportion. The understanding of these areas is fundamental to achieving a good level at GCSE and being confident using mathematics in everyday life.

The Mathematics and Computing department’s aims and values are:

To create a balanced and supportive culture in which students are confident to work collaboratively, to apply logic and reasoning to mathematical problems and to apply methods that are efficient and reliable without engendering a fear of failure or derision. Through this students are able to see the connections between different areas of Mathematics and the relevance of their skills to the world and their future life.

To make mathematics enjoyable, exciting and interesting for all students, regardless of their ability, gender or ethnicity.

To promote interest in science, engineering and other careers and to help students set high expectations for their future achievements.

To enable students to appreciate that mathematics is more than "sums”, so that they consider its omnipresence and aesthetic qualities as well as raise their own expectations about their learning. Students are encouraged to work collaboratively and to appreciate that vital learning takes place throughout the problem solving process and not just in the solution.

To enhance the teaching and learning of Mathematics through Media and Technology, engaging students’ understanding through moving image, animation and interactive technologies.
The Mathematics curriculum is designed to effectively prepare students for entry to the iGCSE, GCSE and IB courses with the fundamental skills, knowledge and understanding to be successful. The Mathematics faculty uses a mixture of teaching methods to create a varied and exciting environment for students, helping them develop their communication and team working skills, as well as independent working skills.
If you would like a more detailed breakdown, please get in touch.
Grouping
At Key Stage 3 the average class size is 30. When students arrive in Year 7 they are taught in mixed ability tutor groups.
During Year 8 students are split into 4 groups. There is a spread of ability in each class, maintaining a mixed ability ethos. Groups are arranged to suit the needs of the students and may have a greater or lesser ability range dependent on each year group’s situation. This arrangement remains throughout the rest of years 8 and 9. Changes are carried out when required to place students in the class which will give them the best opportunity to succeed.
Other information and resources
There is no set textbook used within the Mathematics and Computing faculty however there are plenty of good Key
Stage Three revision guides available which can be used. There are also lots of good online resources that we use, and the students can use at home for revision or extra practice.
• www.mymaths.co.uk
uses interactive animation to review core subjects, including questions that give immediate feedback on the answer (school user is parkcam, password rhombus)
• www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize interactive revision material from year 1 through to A level
• www.cgpbooks.co.uk
offers a range of revision guides and workbooks for sale at all levels
Our teachers offer various clubs such as STEM club, Game makers’ club and Homework club.
How to help your child in Year 8
You may feel unsure about helping your child with maths, when it may seem that we aren’t teaching maths in the same way that you were taught. However, the methods are the same but we teach using a child-centred approach that draws on their own understanding of maths. We then use discussion and sharing to create a method or methods that we can all use. This means that there may be more than one way to solve a problem. The most important thing for us is that the children understand the methods that they are using and why they work.

Talk to them about how they work in their maths classes. By doing this you could help them to help themselves by encouraging them to:

Show working out. This will give them something to look at to remind them of the methods they need.

Check their work and make sure that their answers make sense to them. This helps them to develop their
problem solving skills and raise their confidence.

During lessons, discuss the maths work with others at their table. This will help to develop a positive
atmosphere in the classroom where students are happy to talk and support each other.

Ask the teacher/ teaching assistant to go over the methods and reasons with them.

Talk to teaching assistants in the learning centre who can also go over the methods and reasons as well.

Go online to www.mymaths.co.uk where they will find notes and questions on all the topics we study.
To help them solve problems, you could:

Ask them to tell you about the method that they’ve used in class.

Get them to explain why it works and what they did in class when learning about it. The detail that they will
be able to give you will help you to identify how much they did or didn’t understand.

Discuss any methods that you know with your child, explaining why it works. If this method is different to the
one they did in class, it won’t matter as long as they understand it.

Work through the revision materials that are available online with your child. See the section above on revision
materials for further guidance.
Glossary of terms
Mathematics is taught using a problem-solving approach. As part of this, we use exploration so that students discover mathematics for themselves. As a result, it would be counter-productive to give definitions of all the terms that will be covered during year 7. However, these are terms that your child should be familiar with but may not be totally sure of their meaning.

Calculate – work out an answer to (not necessarily with a calculator) e.g. calculate the value of 15 + 9

Consecutive – Following on from e.g. 5,6,7,8 are consecutive whole numbers

Denominator – The lower part of a fraction. This is the number of equal parts you need to divide the object into.

Difference – The amount between two numbers, calculated by subtracting the smaller number from the larger.

Factors – A number that divides into another a whole number of times e.g. 2 is a factor of 20

Fraction – Part of a whole. This is defined by dividing each whole object into parts, the denominator, and then choosing a certain number of them, the numerator.

Inverse – Opposite operation – e.g. the inverse of adding is subtracting

Mathematics – The study of patterns arising from structure, change or space – to be distinguished from
Numeracy

Multiple – a Number in the times table of another number e.g. 10 is a multiple of 2

Numeracy – The handling of numbers and their basic operations

Numerator – The upper part of a fraction. This is the number of equal parts that you need.

Operation – a process done to numbers or other mathematical objects e.g. addition, subtraction, etc…

Parallel – When two lines never cross.

Percentage – Part of an amount, using 100 as the unit base.

Perpendicular – Where two lines cross at a Right Angle.

Prime – A number with exactly two factors e.g. 7 is a prime number since only 7 and 1 are factors of 7

Probability – How likely something is to happen.


Square – When you multiply a number by itself. This is denoted using a superscript 2, e.g. 4².
The nature of the animate and inanimate world and the Earth’s place in the Universe are the source of limitless questions for students. While fostering this curiosity the Science and Environmental Studies Faculty aim to:




Create a stimulating and supportive culture in which students are confident to ask questions, work collaboratively, learn practical skills and share ideas with confidence.
Encourage students to set high expectations for themselves and take on challenges that they are given.
Provide students with a solid body of knowledge in preparation for GCSE and iGCSE courses.
Help students see that science is relevant to everyone’s life and that it can open up opportunities for further study and widen career choices.
Rotations
Each week KS3 students have four science lessons and two technology lessons. Each teacher runs a course and at the end of the course students rotate round to the next member of staff so that by the end of the year all students have studied all the topics. The system of rotations will be advantageous to the students, as they will receive specialist teaching in each topic.
Resources
There is no set textbook for students to work from although the following all provide an excellent introduction to
KS3 Science:
Biology for You ISBN 1408509202
Chemistry for You ISBN 0748762345
Physics for You. ISBN 1408509229
How to help your child in Year 8

When checking your child’s work, please only point out mistakes rather than correcting them, so that they has the opportunity to think about why they are incorrect.

Encourage your child to read around the subject and to watch science-based documentary programmes.


Help your child to learn the spellings of key scientific words as they come across them.
Remind your child that handwriting and presentation are important, so that their teachers and examiners can understand what they mean.

Stress to your child that internet sources are not authoritative and ought always to be corroborated against other works. Show them how to use paper and electronic dictionaries/ spellcheckers and encyclopaedia with speed and discretion. Make sure that your child is aware of the concept of intellectual property, plagiarism and the potential consequences of passing off others’ work as one’s own.


Aid your child’s revision by testing them on key concepts and ideas for each unit. Use their revision guide to pose questions.

Help your child develop routines for work, so that homework is able to be handed in on time and receive the necessary feedback. A homework timetable is excellent preparation for a revision schedule in the future.
Revision materials to use for the examination
BBC Bitesize website www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/
The BBC website has detailed, well presented and course-specific materials.
Skoool revision website http://e2bn.skoool.co.uk/index.aspx
This website is fun with interactive lessons, tutorials and games
Glossary of terms
Science introduces many new words to a student’s vocabulary. Glossaries of unit-specific words are found at the back of the textbooks used in class. We recommend that students record the spelling and meaning of any new words in the back of their exercise books as they encounter them. Some words are found across every unit in every year group. The words below are related to experimenting, testing ideas and analysing data.
Correlation – the relationship between the dependent and independent variable.
Independent Variable – the thing that you change, eg the height you drop a ball from.
Dependent Variable – the thing that changes, e.g. time taken for the ball to drop.
Cause – an action that makes something else happen.
Planning – deciding on a strategy to test an idea.
Method – the instructions that are followed to carry out an experiment.
Predict – use your scientific knowledge to make a sensible suggestion of what the results will be.
Reliable – results are reliable when an experiment is repeated and produces similar results.
Valid – a fair test is carried out to produce valid results.
Fair Test – when only one variable is altered.
Line of best fit – the line on a graph that shows the pattern.
Evaluation – a discussion of how reliable or successful your experiment was.
Conclusion – a simple statement saying what your experiment shows.
Variable – factors that could be changed, e.g. length or weight or colour.
Accuracy - taking a measurement in as much detail as your instrument allows.
Many scientific terms have word roots that help us to understand the science behind them. Students should be familiar with prefixes and suffixes from their work at KS2. The prefixes and suffixes below can help students to understand the meanings of words and identify new words.

aer - oxygen ante- before bi (bio-, -biotic, -be) life chlor green di- two endo- inside graph write
allel different anti- against bi- cyt dia- gam gyn two cell across mating female hydr water
- lys break down myc fungus
-ose a carbohydrate sapr decay sym-, syn- together with troph feeding xyl wood
Iso- the same macro- large
-oid resembling peri- around spir therm heat vas zoo breathe vessel animal amphi- both arthr joint cardi heart derm skin ecto- outside ge earth haem blood lign wood micro- small phot - light stoma - mouth trans- across vor feeding
Books and texts used this year

The Year 8 course is supported by the new text book Studio 2. All books have resources, assessment packs
and listening materials.

Students also have access to bilingual French-English dictionaries within lessons. Extension materials are available for the most able linguists and differentiated tasks are available to those who need them.

Revision materials to use for the assessments and independent study

The Faculty provides students with revision materials for each assessment.

In addition to this, they may wish to use the following useful websites.

Linguascope – a site subscribed to by the Faculty offering interactive vocabulary activities. (Username and
Password provided by class teacher) www.linguascope.com

Royal Grammar School High Wycombe – a fine range of vocabulary and grammar exercises offered by this school on the ‘Languages Online’ section of the site. www.rgshw.com

Word Reference – an online dictionary that should only be used to look up individual words.

www.wordreference.com
How to help your child in Year 8
• Draw your child’s attention to the guidelines in the front of his/her exercise book and encourage him/her to abide by its rules. These form the basis of how his/her work should be presented.
• Help your child to revise for bi-weekly vocabulary assessments by testing him/her orally and in written form.
Look – cover – write – check is a useful technique.
• Ask your child the oral questions that he/she is learning in class in order to improve his/her spoken French.
• Encourage your child to be a perfectionist with regard to written French. Written accuracy is vital for higher levels. Encourage him/her to check written work thoroughly for inaccurate spellings, accents and verb forms. Also guide him/her to use correct models to aid accuracy.
•
• Recite verb paradigms with your child to help him/her to commit conjugations to memory.
• Stress to your child the perils of internet translators. They should be used only for looking up individual words and never for whole sentences.
Help your child to revise the different tenses that he/she meets. They are vital for achieving higher grades.
Glossary of Terms

Accent – a symbol used to show that a letter may have a different sound – é (acute accent), è (grave accent),
ê (circumflex), ç (cedilla), ë (diaerisis)

Adjectival agreement – the adding of letters to an adjective depending on the described object’s gender and number.

Comparative – the comparison of two things or qualities.

Conditional – to describe what could or would be the case under a certain set of circumstances, e.g. ‘Were I rich, I would go to the Caribbean.’

Conjugation – the way in which a verb changes according to the person it describes – ‘I, you, he/she, we, you, they’

Definite article – the three words for ‘the’ – le, la, les.

Demonstrative adjectives – the words for ‘this / these.’

Direct object pronoun – a word used to replace a direct object, e.g. ‘me, him, us, it.’

Futur proche – the future tense formed with the present tense of aller plus the infinitive.

Futur simple – the future tense.

Gender – whether a noun is masculine or feminine.

Imperfect – the tense used to describe a situation in the past, a habitual past activity or an activity that lasted for a period of time in the past, e.g. ‘It was raining.’ ‘I used to play football.’ ‘I was watching television when …’

Impersonal pronoun – the word for ‘one’, as in ‘one goes to the cinema’.

Indefinite article – the words for ‘a, an, some’ – un, une, des

Indirect object pronoun – a word used to replace an indirect object. ‘I gave the present to him – je lui ai donné le cadeau.’

Infinitive – the part of the verb found in a dictionary which forms the root of all other conjugations – to go : aller


Negation – how to make a sentence negative using ne … pas.

Number – whether a noun is singular or plural.

Paradigm – the six parts of a verb’s conjugation.

Passé composé – also known as ‘the perfect tense’, the tense used to describe activities in the past.

Possessive adjectives – words such as ‘my, your, his, our, their’.

Prepositions – words which describe where something is in relation to another thing – ‘to, of, with.’

Superlative – stating the highest degree of a quality, e.g. ‘the biggest, smallest, worst.’

In Year 8, Individuals and Societies’ students will be studying a thematic approach to Geography, History, Religious
Studies and PSHE/Citizenship. Students are assessed using National Curriculum levels.
Information and resources
Students will be supported in their learning through a range of activities and resources, all of which will be made available via Edmodo.
While there is no particularly textbook that can be used, should you wish to discuss how your child can make progress, please do not hesitate to contact either your child’s I&S teacher or Mark Turner (Head of I&S Department, Parkside) on mturner@parksidefederation.org.uk
or Matt Blayney (Head of I&S Department, Coleridge) on mblayney@parksidefederation.org.uk
.
How to help your child in Year 8




For Geography, encourage your child to take an interest in geographical issues happening in the news and to use web sites and books to research the topics.

For Religious Studies, encourage your child to take an interest in debating and discussing social, moral and religious issues and to reflect on different viewpoints

For History, encourage your child to take an interest in current affairs, what issues happening in the news and encourage them to read around the subject with any historical time-periods that they are interested in e.g.
Horrible History books.

For PSHE, talk to your child about the issues covered in the course. Topics such as sex education and what they want to be in the future can generate strong emotions and deeply held beliefs which it may be appropriate for you to discuss further with your child at home.

Check the guide sheets for the assessment tasks as these tell the student how to prepare for it, where to find information, how to structure the task and how it will be assessed.
Read through work before it is handed in to check for spelling and punctuation.
Encourage them to use a dictionary to correct spelling mistakes.
Check Edmodo for Individuals and Societies homework and ensure that they understand the task before they start.
Glossary of terms
As students are introduced to new terms, they will be asked to make a note of them in their books. This list acts as a starting point that will be expanded upon throughout the year:

 compare - outline the similarities or differences conflict - an argument or difference of opinion

 describe - outline the main features or characteristics
 distribution - the spread throughout a country or region
 economic - to do with money and wages
 explain - give reasons
 hierarchy - a list in order of size or importance
 identify - point out and name
 illustrate - give an example of
 justify - give a good reason for
 outline - describe the main features or characteristics
 rank - put in order of size
 relationships – links
 state - name or give
 suggest - put forward ideas or give an opinion
 technique - a way of collecting or processing information
 reliable- a piece of evidence you can trust to be accurate.
 chronological order - the order that events occurred in from the earliest to the most recent.
 cause - the reason why an event happened.
 consequence - things that happen as a result of an earlier event
 primary evidence - first hand evidence that comes from the time a historian is studying
 secondary source - second hand evidence gathered by historians who were not there at the time of the event
 miracle - something which seems to break a law of science and makes you think only God could have done it
 agnosticism - not being sure whether God exists
 atheism - believing that God does not exist
 moral evil - actions done by humans which cause suffering
 natural evil - things which cause suffering
 equality - the state of everyone having equal rights regardless of gender/race/class
In Year 8 students are timetabled one double lesson of Physical Education. The Sport department runs a wide range of extra-curricular activities before and after school. All students irrespective of their ability are encouraged to attend.
Programme of study
In Year 8 students continue to follow the IMYC covering five units throughout the year. Activities follow a seasonal programme. Students will be taught in mixed gender groups banded by ability. Students can expect indoor and outdoor lessons.
Equipment used this year
Students will need a full Parkside federation sports kit, which is made up of shorts/tracksuit bottoms and a royal blue polo shirt, both with the Sport logo from SWI. Students may also purchase the school striker sweatshirt through
Sportswear International which may be used for outdoor activities.
The following items are also needed for indoor and outdoor lessons:

Football boots/Astro Trainers (Rugby and football sessions)

Indoor trainers (non-marking, separate to school trainers)

Football socks (Navy Blue)

Gum shield (Rugby/Hockey)


Shin Pads (Rugby/Football – must be worn for competitive fixtures)

Sports Bag with a plastic bag/boot bag for muddy footwear

Under shirt or sports thermal if no sweatshirt is purchased for wet weather/winter lessons
Useful references for Sport in Year 8
Websites: www.thefa.com
- FA Football information website www.skysports.com
- News, Results and Fixtures www.cambridgessp.com
- Cambridge School Sports Partnership www.rfu.com
- Rugby information website http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/academy/default.stm
- BBC Sports Academy
How to help your child in Year 8

Ensure your child brings kit to all timetabled Sport lessons with the appropriate equipment for the current sports module.

Encourage your child to take part in the many after-school activities, which include football, rugby, badminton, basketball, cricket, dance, rounders, athletics, netball, rugby, ultimate Frisbee, fitness, softball, golf, hockey and tennis. Most clubs are run by sports staff and/or professional coaches and incur no cost.

Attempt to contact local clubs if your child shows an interest in a specific sport. Contact school sports staff for information on club links and initiatives.

Support your child in attending competitive fixtures between local schools, and district competitions.
Glossary of terms
Aerobic Exercise – exercise which uses oxygen to break down glycogen and fat for energy
Analysis – the results of observation and the identification of critical points
Agility – The ability to change direction at speed with control and balance
Astro-Turf – Synthetic grass all weather 3 rd generation floodlit sports facility at Coleridge site. Form of realistic grass simulator for game-play and training with football boots.
Evaluation – a measurement of the degree of success or accomplishment
Feedback (extrinsic) – information received from outside the student/performer, e.g teacher, students, and rewards
Feedback (Intrinsic) – Information generated by the student/performer in relation to performance
Flexibility – Range of movement around a joint/joints
Skill – The learned ability to bring about a predetermined result within a pressured situation with minimum time and effort
Skort – Modern sports skirt for girls with attached internal cycling shorts to conceal underwear
Tag Rugby – Adapted non-contact rugby training game to increase speed and develop confidence for all students

Technique – being able to perform an action with skill
Video Analysis – Using professional software to break down skills and techniques to develop more complex understanding and quality of perform
Revision topics for the examinations
Creating tone, value and texture using pencils is a useful area to research and practice at home.
Revision materials to use for the examination
There will be a ‘How To’ guide made available for students to access.
How to help your child in Year 8
Encourage your child to keep a sketchbook and practice regular drawing either from observation or imagination and take it on holiday to draw local views. Try doing pencil portraits e.g. a friend or someone in the family.
Buy your child art materials for birthday and Christmas presents e.g. sets of pencils, small watercolour sets, a set of good brushes, acrylic paints etc.
Take your child to local art galleries. These include the Fitzwilliam Museum in Trumpington Street, Kettle’s Yard
Gallery on Castle Hill and the CCA Gallery on Trinity Street.
To get inspiration for the Carnival Project, visit the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology which has wonderful examples of masks. Help them research paintings by other artists of people wearing masks / hats and see if you can help them find appropriate materials to personalise their Carnival mask. Both of these are homework tasks.
Encourage your child to draw from life. Get them to practise by drawing everyday objects around the house: glasses, vases, flowers, cutlery and so forth.
Glossary of Terms
The Formal Elements - these are the “building blocks” of art and include the following:

Line – different lines, thin lines, thick lines, outlines, straight and wavy lines.

Shape – the outline shape of things

Tone – light and shade, pencil shading.

Texture – describing how things feel.

Pattern – repeated shapes e.g. stripes, squares, spots etc.

Composition – the way all the different parts of a picture are assembled.
Additional terms:
Research - making an investigation using a variety of sources including the Internet
Mixed media - use and application of a wide range of both 2D and 3D materials
Relief printing – a print made from creating a pattern in relief from the base support.
Sgraffito – a surface scratched into
Wax resist – use of water based paint over (which resists) a waxy drawing

Card relief – building up of card layers to create depth and texture
Bas relief – a carving which is in slight relief from the base support
Sculpture - making a piece of artwork which occupies space
Throughout KS3 Dance, students have the opportunity to perform, compose and appreciate dance through a creative and holistic approach.
How to help your child in Year 8
Encourage students to rehearse at home and to practice in front of an audience or a mirror to allow feedback and refinement. Please ensure that your child is properly equipped for their Dance lessons – full PE kit must be worn and long hair needs to be tied back. In the case of injury or lack of kit, a letter is required from you to explain the special circumstances.
Take your child to see any live performance – either Dance or Musical Theatre. Alternatively, programmes, such as
‘Strictly Come Dancing’, ‘Let’s Dance’ and ‘Got to Dance’ will help to inspire them further.
The music that we use in class is available to buy or download and this would enable your child to rehearse even more successfully at home.
Encourage research into different dance styles and choreographers on the internet; key topics in year 8 are Pop Dance,
Rock ‘n’ Roll, the Jive, the Jitterbug, Lindy Hop, Carnivals and their history, Capoeira. There are some excellent examples of choreography on YouTube. Students could watch some examples of these to inspire their own work.
Glossary of terms
Isolation - Moving one or two body parts
Rhythm – A regular or recurrent pattern in the music or in the dance steps
Spotting – Focusing on a fixed point when turning
6 Basic Body actions – Jump, Turn, Travel, Gesture, Stillness, Transference of Weight
Retrograde – To reverse the movement order
Projection – Extending the inner feeling of an action clearly, with appropriate energy
Musicality – Awareness of the qualities of the music and projecting them clearly
Focus – Use of eyes looking at other dancers, the audience, or at a particular body part
Stimulus – Starting point for a dance idea
Unison – Two or more dancers performing the same movements at the same time
Canon – Two or more dancers perform movements one after the other

Question and Answer – One or more dancers perform a movement as in a ‘question’ and one or more dancers respond with a movement as in an ‘answer’
Motif – A key position or phrase of movement that is repeated and developed throughout the dance
Formations – Different patterns of dancers on stage
Pathways – The way the dancer moves throughout the space – e.g. diagonally, forwards, in a circle, side-to-side etc.
Climax – The highlight or most important moment in the dance
Dynamics – The quality of movement – e.g. slow or fast, sudden or sustained, free or restricted, light or heavy
How to help your child in Year 8
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Encourage students to research at home and, particularly for the module on Evacuees, interview people who have war time experiences.
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For work on “The City”, it is useful if students have a good general knowledge of Cambridge and its context as a world famous centre of education and a tourist destination.
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For the module on “Commedia dell’ Arte” students might research circus performance, particularly clowning and silent film, particularly those of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton etc.
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For the “Samantha Robinson” module it is useful for students to have an experience of news programmes and the way in which they are presented and, if possible, have watched an edition of “Crimewatch”.
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Students are encouraged to join the Compass Youth Theatre which meets weekly at Coleridge Campus to give them an experience of performance to a wider audience.
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It is extremely valuable for students to visit the theatre at every opportunity to develop a wide understanding and appreciation of plays and performances. Suitable performances can be seen at The Arts
Theatre, The junction and The Corn Exchange.
Glossary of Terms
Role or character - a figure in a piece of Drama
Hot seating – Putting a student in the “hot seat” involves them being questioned and answering in role or adopting a certain point of view. It helps us to discover more about a character or helps an actor develop more understanding of the role he or she is playing. The questioners can be in role too.
Soundscape – a collection of sounds which evoke a particular time, incident or event.
Co-operative Drawing – A group sharing ideas and producing a commonly held view of a place
Back story – a history of a character which might involve name, age family, life experiences, opinions etc.
Prepared (or Planned) improvisation – A piece of drama that the actors have made up but have planned and rehearsed before its performance.

Slow motion – the deliberate slowing down of action to create a Dramatic effect.
Commedia dell’ Arte – a specific type of theatre originally formulated in Italy in 15th and 16 th centuries which contains stock characters often delineated by mime and movement.
Ginger-breading – a co-operative drawing of a character; inside the shape of the figure are written attributes of the character; outside the figure are written opinions of how people view the character.
Flashback – a piece of Drama depicting a time in the past before the main action of the play.
Puppetry – mirrored mime.
Throughout KS3 Music, students have the opportunity to explore essential music skills as such as performing, listening and composing music through both practical and theoretical application. Students study music from a variety of cultural, historical and stylistic stand points in a way that also supports the development of essential social skills such as team building, delegation and leadership. All learning in Year 8 builds upon the foundations set in place for Year 7.
How to help your child in Year 8
Many students are learning to play an instrument outside of school and we encourage students to bring their instruments to certain Music modules throughout KS3 in order to develop understanding in a useful and personal way.
If your child already plays an instrument, encourage them to practice and use their instrument as much as possible.
There are many opportunities for year 8 students to receive instrumental lessons at school. Please contact rlewis@parksidefederation.org.uk if you require further information.
There are many extra-curricular Music clubs across the Federation and data suggests that those students who attend
Music clubs achieve higher levels throughout KS3 and 4. Please encourage your child to attend any clubs that are of interest to him/her. Band Skills, Funk Band, Choir, Junior Orchestra, PFO, African Drumming Club and STOMP Club are all extra-curricular activities that have strong links with the year 8 course outline.
Encourage your child to listen to as much music as possible from a wide variety of genres. Many students have great knowledge about current trends in music, but they can also draw inspiration from other genres, such as classical, world or jazz music. Students can develop their listening skills by being exposed to music on Radio 2 or 3, or Classic FM. You could work with your child to identify different instruments or genres of music. You can access good sources of information about music and current events from the websites of the above mentioned radio stations.
Live music is immediate and accessible to students and is readily available – in many cases for free – in Cambridge.
Take your child to see a live performance of music, whether a formal concert, or a gig, or even standing watching

buskers in the town centre. Live music can be really inspiring for students and help to develop ideas for their own music.
Glossary of terms
Below is essential musical vocabulary which students will be using throughout the year in each module.
Accent – placing emphasis on a note
Accented backbeat – strong emphasis on beats 2 and 4 on the snare drum
Articulation – how a sound is begun / produced
Call and Response – a musical phrase (question) is stated by the leader and the ensemble musicians respond with a related musical phrase (answer).
Chord – two or more notes played simultaneously
Chorus – the refrain of a song, which contrasts with the verses
Commercial – non-classical music
Dynamics – how loud or quiet the music in question is
Ensemble – group performance
Fill – a musical moment which helps to break up tension and / or introduce the next section.
Hook - a small riff, passage or pattern that is used frequently to ‘catch the ear of the listener’
Improvisation – Making up a rhythm or melody spontaneously instrument or element of a new recording
Instrumentation - groups of instruments and the roles they play.
Mainstream – generally accepted / recognized
Melody – the tune, often sung
Motif – a small pattern of notes that is used as the basis for a piece of music. It is often repeated and perhaps manipulated
Notation – a way of writing music down
Ostinato – a repeated musical pattern
Pitch – how high or low a note is
Polyrhythms – a number of different rhythms played at the same time
Primary Chords – chords I, IV and V

Pulse – the beat
Rap – loosely - talking in rhythm
Repetition – a single idea played over and over again
Riff – a short rhythmic or melodic pattern.
Sampling - the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it
Sequencing – a software or hardware designed to create and manage electronic music
Strophic Structure – a sectional way of structuring a piece of music – i.e. verse, chorus, verse
Structure – the way music is pieced together
Swung Rhythms – Rhythms have a lilting feel as in pairs of notes the first is long and the
Syncopation – rhythms that emphasise the ‘off beat’
Timbre – the quality or colour of a sound. Every instrument has its own unique timbre – i.e. when listening to music how do we tell the difference between a trumpet and a saxophone?
Unconventional – meaning ‘out of the ordinary’. We use this term in STOMP to refer to the ‘unconventional instruments’ that we use, i.e. a dust bin is an unconventional instrument.
Unison – the same
Verse – the section of the song where the story is told