Subject Information

Everyone interacts regularly with businesses, whether as a customer, an employee, or an owner/entrepreneur. Studying Business and Enterprise is therefore essential preparation for the world, giving students the analytical skills to understand market dynamics and the commercial acumen to make an impact. We explore the complexities of establishing, managing, and scaling an organisation in an environment defined by rapid change and digital transformation.

Our curriculum integrates the core functions and strategic decisions central to business and enterprise:

• Enterprise and Entrepreneurship: Understanding the nature of business activity, identifying market opportunities, generating business ideas, and developing a business plan and pitch to secure resources.
• Business Operations and Decisions: Studying how and why businesses are set up (legal structures, ownership), and exploring decision-making across all scales, from start-ups to multinational corporations. This includes market mapping, competitive environments, capacity utilisation, and financial planning.
• The Business Environment: Analysing the external factors that influence a firm's strategy, including the impact of economic conditions (Inflation, exchange rates), technological change (digital disruption), legal frameworks, and the imperative for sustainability and ethical practice.

Key Functional Areas and Decision-Making: We examine the four core areas: 

• Human Resources (HR): Workforce planning, recruitment, selection, training, motivation theories (Taylor, Mayo, Herzberg), and the employer/employee relationship.
• Financial Performance (Finance): Analysing and interpreting financial statements, including profitability and liquidity ratios (e.g., ROCE), sources of finance, and calculating cash flow and break-even analysis.
• Marketing: Developing a marketing mix (4Ps/7Ps), conducting market research, understanding the product life cycle, and the role of digital marketing.
• Production / Operations: Efficiency, quality management (TQM, Kaizen), stock control (Just-In-Time), and process flow design.

The approach we take is both pragmatic and ethical. Students sharpen their literacy and numeracy skills by interpreting data and financial ratios. They develop the ability to apply acquired subject knowledge to solving business problems and crafting strategic decisions (A-Level focus). Students are encouraged to understand issues from the perspective of different stakeholder groups (internal and external) and evaluate the trade-offs inherent in business decisions.

Bishopshalt teaches a range of different courses within the business area, including A-Level Business Edexcel, GCSE Business AQA, Cambridge Technical in Business Level 3, and Cambridge National Enterprise and Marketing. This gives our students a choice of being assessed in the way that is most suitable for them as learners (e.g., exam-focused vs. coursework-based units). It is an extremely popular subject, and many of our students go on to study related disciplines at university or college.

Business-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan.pdf

Cambridge-National-Enterprise-and-Marketing-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan.pdf

Cambridge-Technical-Key-Stage-5-Business-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan.pdf

The ideas, stories, culture, and languages of the Classical world have influenced and shaped societies for centuries. At Bishopshalt we aim to give pupils an introduction to the extraordinary literature, philosophy and history of the ancient world, and explore why they are still relevant today.

Pupils study the myths, drama and epics that have inspired art from Shakespeare’s plays to Hollywood blockbusters, debate key concepts such as democracy and the nature of knowledge, and investigate the history, architecture and institutions that still shape our world. In doing so, they gain the skills and powerful knowledge to successfully articulate their opinions and persuade others, leading to the opportunities and bright futures traditionally enjoyed by those attending elite private schools.

In KS4 students may choose Classical Civilisation GCSE, a well-rounded and varied introduction to Greek and Roman mythology and beliefs, literature, art and architecture, including iconic buildings such as the Parthenon and the Colosseum.

In KS5, we offer Classical Civilisation AS Level as an enrichment option to be studied alongside the three main A Level choices. Students will explore the world of Homer’s Odyssey, and the origins of tragedy and comedy through the timeless plays of Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. This qualification opens the door to a wide range of university courses relating to Classics and the ancient world.

Classics curriculum overview and plan   

Computer Science officers students Computational Thinking, Computing Unplugged, Physical Computing and Information Technology. Computer Science is an in-depth course and deals with data, the hardware of computers, networks, the internet and programming. Whereas, Information Technology deals with using computers to acquire and use knowledge as applied in the business world.

We provide quality Computing education, which gradually builds up students digital literacy.The curriculum is grounded in the fundamental principles of computing and prepares our students to apply these principles creatively and responsibly. Students gain a clear understanding of the ethical, legal and safety issues in computer science. Rather than a discrete topic, E-safety and being a responsible digital citizen is interleaved and reinforced throughout. 

Throughout computing students learn to become creators, rather than consumers of computer systems. The sequencing allows students to use various text-based coding platforms, providing greater opportunities for creativity and flair. They are then able to move to increasingly complex programming constructs across a range of simulated, real or physical platforms. This challenging curriculum ensures that students show resilience and build character. 

Physical computing adds value and relevance. Rather than just  being theoretical, our students are taught to use "computational thinking and creativity to change the world" in relation to both natural and artificial systems. 

The study of data representation provides another aspect of understanding and how binary (or in the future Quantum computing technology) allows storage, transmission and creativity with data. We know we are preparing students for a technological future that we can’t imagine. In teaching students these powerful building blocks, we equip them for bright futures.  

Fore more details of the topics covered, please see the curriculum maps below:

Computer-Science-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan-

We offer a range of subjects in the creative arts.  For more details, please click on the subject vision statements and curriculum maps listed under the subject areas below:

Art

We study Art and Design through a range of disciplines allowing us to teach students to express themselves and to observe and make sense of the world and its cultural histories. All students are regarded as creative individuals whose creativity is further stimulated by a diverse and exciting curriculum.

Art-and-Design-Vision-.pdf

Art-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan.pdf

Photography and Creative Media

We aim to inspire a love of learning, a wealth of creativity and a passion for the subject. Instilling transferable skills that will prepare students for a diverse range of A Level subjects, degree courses, career opportunities and the ever changing world of Digital Media. 

Photog-Creative-Digital-Media-Vision.pdf

Photography-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan.pdf

Design and Technology

Design and Technology is about developing the ability to creatively and practically solve problems through the use of both modern and traditional manufacturing processes. Students learn how to design and make products that solve relevant problems within different contexts, which address the needs of different users. Students studying D&T apply knowledge and skills from a broad range of subjects such as Mathematics, Science, Computing and Art. 

DTechnology-Vision-Statement.pdf

Design and Technology Long Term Plan 2023

Food Technology

The Food and Nutrition curriculum helps students learn about healthy eating and nutrition while also encouraging a love of cooking. Lessons are mostly practical, helping students work confidently and independently so they can become self-sufficient and understand how their diet affects their health.

Students prepare healthy meals using a variety of ingredients, mainly making savoury dishes, and learn to cook, handle, and store food safely. The curriculum also links to literacy, numeracy, and science, for example when following recipes or learning about nutrients in food.

As students progress through the curriculum, they explore a wider range of cuisines, use a broader variety of ingredients, and develop increasingly complex practical skills. This allows them to deepen their understanding of food from different cultures while becoming more capable, adaptable young cooks.

Students also discover the science of cooking, including how different methods change the taste and nutritional value of food. The overall goal is for students to become confident, independent cooks who can safely prepare a wide range of healthy meals at home.

Food-Nutirition-KS3-Vision.pdf - see Design and Technology curriculum map for details.

At Bishopshalt, the Economics curriculum provides students with opportunities to develop a sound understanding of some of the biggest challenges that face society today. As global citizens, we want all our students to benefit from having a deeper understanding of the world they live in, how it operates and how the world’s resources can be allocated. We are ambitious for our students and optimistic that several of them will be able to make a contribution to solving the challenges we all face for the greater good. The aim is for students to develop a deep and confident understanding of:

• Microeconomics: how markets work, decisions faced by firms and consumers and sources of market failure
• Macroeconomics: how the economy works at country level as well as globally
• How the two are connected and how to apply their understanding to address problems

Economics is a popular A level subject and a large proportion of our students go on to study it further at university. For more details of the topics covered on our syllabus, please see the curriculum plan below:

Economics A level Long Term Curriculum Plan

English

Our English curriculum empowers students by unlocking their ability to fully access all other subjects and the world beyond school, because Bishopshalt students become highly literate and develop their academic register. Through the study of English, we encourage our students to ask questions, to challenge and be inquisitive, so that they find their voice and have bright futures.  Full details of our vision and curriculum for English can be found in the documents below:

English-Vision-.pdf

English-Key-Stage-3-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan.pdf

English-Key-Stage-4-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan.pdf

English-Key-Stage-5-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan.pdf

At Bishopshalt School, we aim to provide a Geography curriculum which ensures that students appreciate Geography as a dynamic subject. We aim to interconnect key concepts of Human and Physical Geography to stimulate curiosity and gain deeper understanding about the world around them. Our aim is that students will develop a love and appreciation of Geography by:

• Equipping students with the knowledge and skills about their world and the challenges it faces to be future decision makers.
• Being able to problem solve by developing an argument or justification based on a Geographic challenge.
• Applying their knowledge to a variety of contexts and synoptically linking Geographical ideas together.

Geography is a broad and interdependent subject that requires repeated revisiting and linking of topics to lead to progressively deeper understanding of the underlying principles. This process of regular and repeated practice of challenging and ambitious topics requires perseverance and resilience. In turn, this enables students to develop their understanding, apply their knowledge and develop their curiosity about the world we live in.

More details of the topics covered in our Geography syllabuses can be found in the curriculum plan below:

Geography-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan.pdf

In order to be an active and engaged global citizen it is important that our students understand how society has evolved and developed. Students learn how both men and women fought across hundreds of years to gain suffrage to highlight the importance of democracy. Students learn the history of the British Empire to explain cultural development in our society. For us, history is all about people, and in order to Love Learning, students learn powerful stories which help them to understand the world and how they have a significant role to play in its future. By learning how humans have not always treated each other with respect, students can Show Kindness in empathising with the past and learning from it.

History is not only about the fascinating stories of our ancestors but also the valuable skills it develops so that our students can seek Brighter Futures. The department has designed a powerful and ambitious curriculum which provides students with opportunities to learn about their own past, while also providing windows onto the past of those less familiar to them, who have equally shaped their world. We aim to use historical second order concepts of cause, consequence, change, continuity, similarity and difference to create not only well- rounded historians but also curious citizens, challenging them to Build Character by engaging with the big questions regarding how the world has come to be. In a world of controversy and political debate, it has never been more important to develop interdisciplinary skills like analysis, debate and reason which help our students to Chase Brilliance. Our department has a love of history at its core, and we endeavour to foster that love of learning and engagement in our students to ensure they take history beyond the classroom.

Our aim is that our students “think like a historian, talk like a historian and write like a historian” to gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. We want to inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Our teaching equips pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement as history helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

History Long Term Plan

We have a clear and ambitious vision for our students. The MFL (Modern Foreign Languages) curriculum is designed to empower students with the ability and desire to communicate confidently in another language. Our aim is to provide students with a lifelong skill in language learning and to instil a sense of global citizenship.

We recognise that this is a fundamental skill to help them compete globally and achieve ‘bright futures’. We want learners to strive to improve their knowledge, to reflect on their learning and to enjoy the challenges they face when learning a new language. 

Topics and skills are coherently sequenced to build on vocabulary and key grammatical structures from Year 7 to Year 13.

French long term plan

Spanish long term plan

The mathematics department at Bishopshalt strives to provide students with the confidence, enjoyment and challenge when learning mathematics, irrespective of prior attainment. Our pupils will develop independent thinking and logical problem solving skills, equipping them with the mathematical skills essential for everyday life. Our ambitious curriculum ensures success through mathematical fluency, reasoning and problem solving.

Our curriculum is sequenced in six strands; Number, Algebra, Geometry & Measure, Ratio & Proportion, Probability and Statistics, with all strands coherently interlinked. Wherever you look in the world there is maths and we prepare students with the knowledge and, more importantly, the skills to enjoy bright futures in a world where mathematical ability is highly valued.

Mathematics-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan-1.pdf

Media

As the media plays a central role in contemporary society, the Media Studies curriculum at Bishopshalt offers a balanced, engaging and ambitious course of study.

Media Studies enables learners to acquire powerful knowledge through the engaging topics studied. Media Studies students learn:

• to demonstrate skills of enquiry, critical thinking, decision-making analysis and construction
• to acquire knowledge and understanding of a range of important media issues and controversies
• ask big questions and develop an appreciation and critical understanding of the media and their role both historically and in society currently
• to enable students to become media literate in an increasingly digital age and make sense of the media and how meaning is communicated
• understand and apply the theoretical framework and subject-specific terminology to analyse media products, to make informed judgements and draw conclusions
• to develop practical skills to empower and inspire students to express themselves through construction of creative and original media products

This approach is part of the whole-school’s emphasis on ‘Bright Futures’ providing students with a foundation for understanding the impact of the global media and ‘creative industries’.

Media-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan.pdf

We offer a range of subjects in these areas.  For more details, please click on the vision statements and curriculum maps listed under the subject areas below:

Dance

At Bishopshalt School we aspire to provide a Dance curriculum which is inclusive and encourages students to engage imaginatively and intellectually with their own and others’ dance works. 

Our aim is that students will develop physical activity, creativity and a lifelong interest in the arts by:

• Developing physical and technical skills to perform challenging movement material
• Being able to create expressive work and communicate ideas to an audience
• Experiencing professional work and  appreciating dances created by professionals and their peers.

The curriculum is sequenced to develop the technical execution of dance material through progressively challenging repertoire. Proficiency in choreography develops through structured compositions that offer increasing levels of autonomy. All lessons demand an expectation of performance quality and awareness of the audience which builds to communication of artistic intent. 

Dance is taught as a separate subject throughout Key Stage 3, with learners getting one hour a week dedicated to Dance in Year 7, 8 and 9. Students can study Dance through to GCSE and A Level.  There is an extensive extra-curricular Dance programme.

This belief underpins our approach to Dance education at Bishopshalt — that through the   discipline, creativity and joy of movement, students can develop confidence, resilience and a lasting appreciation of the arts.

“Dance is vital, an activity both exhilarating and liberating to watch or do. The instinct to dance is fundamentally joyous and no matter how hard you try you can’t get away from that for long. It can also be a huge force for good, effectively drawing people together and levelling everyone through sheer hard work. It can speed up your heart rate, it can enliven your being, it can change your life.”
 — Richard Alston CBE, Dance UK

Dance Long Term Plan 2025

Drama

We provide a Drama curriculum which is ambitious and encourages students to engage imaginatively, socially and intellectually with their own and others’ drama work. Students learn through exploring influential practitioners and key movements in theatre.

Drama-vision-statement.

Drama-Long-Term-Plan.

Music

At Bishopshalt we provide a Music curriculum which embraces inclusivity, equality and the perseverance for self improvement. Our aim is that students develop the emotional, intellectual and critical thinking skills necessary to become successful inside and outside of the classroom. 

Music-Vision.pdf

Music-Long-Term-Planning.pdf

Physical Education - PE

Our Physical Education curriculum is designed to be enriching, rigorous, and coherently sequenced, empowering every student to thrive physically, mentally, and socially. 

We want every student to enjoy being active, feel confident in what they can do, and discover sports and activities they’ll love for life. 

We aim to make PE ambitious in the best way - helping students to push themselves, try new things, and realise what they’re capable of. Our curriculum develops life-long learners as each year they will build on what was learned in the previous years.

Students will learn how to develop their skills, work as a team and use tactics and strategies across a wide range of sports. The culmination of this is applying what they have learned in Key Stage 3 to GCSE and A Level specification.

Most importantly, we want PE to be a place where students feel included, supported, and inspired. A place where students can succeed in their own way and feel proud of it.

In our PE department, everyone belongs. Everyone can achieve. And everyone can enjoy being active for life.

Physical-Education-Long-Term-Planning.pdf

Politics

The Bishopshalt politics curriculum offered at KS5, aims to equip students with the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding for the evaluation of key ideas of society, state, economy, and human nature that make up modern politics. The course is designed to give our students the academic vocabulary and political awareness so that they can understand, analyse and communicate viewpoints within the subject and across their lives. The Edexcel syllabus that students will follow is designed to enable students to evaluate political participation and government systems in both the UK and the USA. Students will be equipped with a clear understanding of the political ideologies which shape political discourse in twenty-first century Britain and wider. Students will explain or analyse similarities and differences between UK and US political systems using comparative theories, further equipping them for future critical analysis of politics.

In Year 12 students examine the government of the United Kingdom, ideologies such as liberalism and conservatism and political participation in the United Kingdom. In Year 13 students study the politics and government of the United States of America and complete a comparative study of the United States and the United Kingdom.

Vision

Politics Long Term Plan

Tutor Time Programme and PHSCE Curriculum Intent

At Bishopshalt, PHSCE (Personal, Social, Health, and Economic Education) is delivered by form tutors two mornings a week during Tutor Time Programme.

This aims to equip and inform students to make informed decisions in order for them to have bright futures. The TTP supports character development through learning about relationship education, health education and sex education. Our curriculum tackles challenging subject matter and is responsive to the needs of our students, school, local community and worldwide issues. The topics covered empower our students, helping them to build character, gain powerful knowledge whilst becoming empathetic, tolerant, knowledgeable and kind members of society.  

Curriculum and long term plan

Psychology

Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behaviour, exploring everything from memory and sleep to aggression and social influence. Drawing on disciplines such as biology, sociology, philosophy and statistics, it promotes critical, objective and evidence-based thinking.

At Bishopshalt School, our Psychology curriculum offers a stimulating and ambitious programme that:

• Explores key areas of psychology shaping society and policy today.
• Develops skills to analyse theories, data and research methods.
• Encourages curiosity about the big questions and debates in social science.
• Promotes scepticism towards unreliable information and the application of evidence to real life.
• Inspires students to foster positive, pro-social attitudes within their communities.

Our approach reflects Bishopshalt’s core values — loving learning, showing kindness, building character and chasing brilliance — preparing students for bright and fulfilling futures.

Psychology-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan.pdf

In Religious Studies, we want to help students understand the diverse and fascinating world they live in. We explore a range of religious and non-religious worldviews, alongside important ideas in philosophy and ethics. Our lessons are designed to be engaging, challenging and relevant, encouraging students to think about real questions that shape people’s lives.

Our curriculum focuses on three key areas:

• What People Believe (Substantive Knowledge): Students learn about different religions and worldviews in depth. They explore how beliefs developed over time, how they are lived today and how they influence people’s choices, values and communities. By taking time to look closely at each tradition, students gain a meaningful and accurate understanding of the world.

• How We Study Beliefs (Ways of Knowing): We teach students how to investigate religion, philosophy and ethics in thoughtful and informed ways. They learn how to ask good questions, analyse ideas, use evidence and understand the different methods used to study belief systems. This helps them think critically and clearly.

• Thinking for Ourselves (Personal Knowledge): Students are encouraged to reflect on big questions about life, purpose and values. They consider their own viewpoints, explore the ideas of others and develop the confidence to express themselves respectfully and honestly.

Our aim is to help students grow into kind, open-minded and well-informed members of a diverse society. By exploring a wide range of beliefs and perspectives, they gain a deeper understanding of others and greater confidence in themselves.

Religious-Studies-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan.pdf

We study science to give a better understanding of the world we live in, enabling students to enquire and make critiqued and informed decisions throughout their lives, by applying their knowledge and understanding to the real world, so that they love learning. Its reach is total - from the outer reaches of the universe to the inner workings of cells.

Using laboratory work, we both investigate scientific rationale and invite students into the world of scientific method and enquiry. We equip learners with the confidence and competence to pursue careers that build on and apply their scientific knowledge and understanding.

Studying science enables students to be informed on a whole host of concepts, from the natural world where trees turn sunlight into stored energy creating the oxygen we need to survive to the workings of the mobile phone, to the basis of the chemicals we use to make everyday products. This fascinating world of science allows them to positively contribute to their communities and help ensure bright futures for themselves and society.

Science-Key-Stage-3-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan.pdf

Science-Key-Stage-4-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan-.pdf

Science-Key-Stage-5-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan.pdf

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society — the intricate relationships between individuals, groups, and institutions that shape our everyday lives. At its heart, it is about people: understanding how we interact, why we behave as we do, and how our collective actions create and transform the world around us.

At Bishopshalt School, our Sociology curriculum offers a stimulating and ambitious programme that:

• Nurtures progressive, critical and ambitious thinkers 
• Create a classroom culture of discussion, debate and respect 
• Promote analytic skills with real world experiences 
• Mould students to be thoughtful, informed and compassionate individuals

Our approach reflects Bishopshalt’s core values — loving learning, showing kindness, building character and chasing brilliance — preparing students for bright and fulfilling futures.

-Sociology-Long-Term-Curriculum-Plan.pdf