Key Stage 4
Welcome to President Kennedy School’s Key Stage 4 page!
Below you will find useful information from our Key Stage 4 teams as well as revision support and guidance to help students prepare for mock examinations throughout the course and their final GCSE examinations.
If you are looking for subject-specific support, please click here: https://www.pks.coventry.sch.uk/page/?title=Subject+Curriculum+Overview&pid=163
Our curriculum offer at KS4 is aspirational, broad and balanced. It allows students to explore areas of study that they have found interesting at Key Stage 3 and includes subjects they can study for the very first time, such as the Social Sciences Psychology and Sociology. Students study Maths, English Language, English Literature, Science – and keen scientists can sit GCSEs in all three sciences – History or Geography, and a selection from Spanish, RE, Sport, Business, Psychology, Sociology, Music, IT, Health & Social Care, Media Studies, Art, Photography, Resistant Materials or Textiles.
Relationships, Sex Health Education (RSHE) is threaded through subject curricula and through the Tutor Curriculum. Students explore how they Live in the Wider World, how they Keep Safe & Healthy, and how they can provide Leadership and Service as part of each of their subjects and throughout the tutor curriculum. We regularly invite external speakers to support our students, and there is a strong careers focus throughout the two years of study.
This rigorous approach, having high expectations and providing high support, provides a wrap-around provision for our students as part of our school ethos of Students First, It’s About Learning and No Barriers. We believe that consistent high-quality first-wave teaching is the minimum our students deserve, and this is then complemented by mentoring for targeted students and a bespoke intervention programme to support students in achieving their full potential.
Parents can expect regular contact throughout KS4, including progress reports which clearly identify whether students are on-track to achieve their highly-aspirational potential in each subject.
KS4 Revision Skills
Preparation for GCSEs can be challenging; in order for students to be successful they need to make sure they are spacing out their revision and using strategies that involve testing their memory. This will support with not only ensuring that revision is effective, but also in ensuring students have a healthy work-life balance.
Below you will find some useful resources to support your students in how to revise. There is an introductory video on key revision strategies across all subjects, including why spaced practice and testing memory is important. You will find some more specific guidance for each subject by clicking on the linked pages for each subject below, including a summary sheet and some videos to support with revision strategies.