Class Seven

For Choice in Education

Class Seven

In Class Seven the pupils are often confronted with a range of developmental challenges that can push them to their limits and beyond. The experience of powerlessness and injustice can be overpowering, prompting responses from self-harm, inner emigration, eating disorders, aggression towards self and others, challenges to all forms of authority. At the same time new levels of sensitivity, empathy, identification can open young people to others and to the world. They can respond to social injustice in the present and past with deeply felt concern.

Class Seven Curriculum Guide

Child development and leitmotif for this class

In Class 7, new levels of sensitivity, empathy, and identification can open young people to others and to the world. They can respond to social injustice in the present and past with deeply felt concern.

In this class a major theme is meeting the other, finding commonality in difference and discovering that people can find solutions together based on empirical evidence combined with imagination. In order to be able to do this they have to direct their gaze and attention to details in the world, away from their own emotional responses. One very rich field of life experience is the outdoor world of nature and activities such as hiking, climbing, bivouacking, that involve extremes of effort, technical skills, companionship as well as more reflective activities such as tracking and bird watching that bring the pupils into close encounters with nature. Teachers are required who can be role models of cooperation with good listening skills and sensitivity, self-humour and honesty who mediate the feeling - life is complex and sometimes bad, but together we can make a difference.

Key themes include the clash of cultures through European colonisation and biographical consequences for people around the world, creative writing is an important outlet for personal expression that also has the explicit aim of reaching others, chemical processes mirror alchemical/psychological processes, economic geography shows how the world of trade works and the forms of justice and injustice that accompany these processes, making shoes and clothes blends aesthetics, practical needs and skills and understanding of economic processes, and questions of nutrition.

Curriculum Themes

Narrative Themes

Youth literature, historical fiction from the Middle Ages to the 19th Century

Musical Themes

Qualities:

Any key, any rhythm, simple polyphony but NOT rounds, as they are hard for changing voices to pitch.
Simple three part songs, with lower part suited to boys voices.
Fairly narrow range in all parts, don’t pitch too high.

Topics:

Geography & travel influencing music (in preparation for fusion): Songs that have travelled (to USA, from USA, Appalachian and Cajun songs, songs from South America).
Songs expressing contrasting emotions. Songs that tell a story – ballads.
Songs from Renaissance – madrigals may be a little too hard as yet

Artistic Themes

Drawing and painting – perspective and shadow, colour landscapes

Modelling gesture and movement

Materials: watercolour paints and inks, clay, Caran d’ache pencils, charcoal sticks/pencils, graphite pencils, gouache

Physical Themes

Library

Who are Refugees and Migrants? Michael Rosen and Annemarie Young (Wayland, 2019)

Other Words for Home, Jasmine Warga (BalzerBray, 2020)

Wake: The Hidden History of Women-led Slave Revolts, Rebecca Hall (Penguin, 2021)

The Sea in Winter, Christine Day (Heartdrum, 2021)

Race to the Frozen North: The Matthew Henson Story, Catherine Johnson (Barrington Stoke, 2018)

Hell and High Water, Tanya Landman (Walker Books, 2015)

Cane Warriors, Alex Wheatle (Andersen Digital, 2020)

Passing for White, Tanya Landman (Barrington Stoke, 2019)

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

Divergent Trilogy, Veronica Roth

The Inheritance Cycle, Christopher Paolini

Artemis Fowl Series, Eoin Colfe

Septimus Heap Series, Angie Sage

This Land is My Land, George Littlechild (Children’s Book Press, 2003)

Apple in the Middle, Dawn Quigley (North Dakota State University Press, 2020)

Mrs Lincoln’s Dressmaker, A Novel, Jennifer Chiaverini (Plume, 2013)

Abina and the Important Men (Graphic History Series), Trevor Getz and Liz Clarke (OUP USA, 2015)

Chains, Laurie Halse Anderson (Bloomsbury, 2010)

Unbound: A Novel in Verse, Ann E Berg (Scholastic, 2016)

The Invention of Nature: the adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, Andrea Wulf

At Home, A Short History of Private Life, Bill Bryson (Black Swan, 2016)

Fight Like a Girl: 50 Feminists Who Changed the World, Laura Barcella (Summersdale, 2017)

The Boy Who Steals Houses, C G Drews (Orchard Books, 2019)

The Arrival, Shaun Tan (Walker Books)

The Journey, Francesca Sanna (Flying Eye Books)

Booked, Kwame Alexander (Anderson Press)

Freedom (1783), Catherine Johnson (Scholastic)

The Wolves of Currumpaw, William Grill (Flying Eye Books)

A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness (Walker Books)

The Knife of Never Letting Go, (trilogy) Patrick Ness (Walker Books)

Liccle Bit, Alex Wheatle (Atom)

The Reason I Jump, Naoki Higashida (Sceptre)

Timelines from Black History: Leaders, Legends, Legacies, Mireille Harper (DK)

Ash, Malinda Lo (Hodder, 2010)

Between Mom and Jo, Julie Ann Peters (Little, Brown Books, 2007)

Visual and Graphic Arts

Indicative Content

Class Seven is the year when Goethean observation becomes a distinct thread, weaving through and across the Main Lessons of Physics, Chemistry and Geography. The experience of clear-sighted observation of phenomena and the engagement in an activity will inform the content and practice of the drawing and painting lessons also.

Drawing and Painting

The rules of one and two point perspective (see also Maths ARLOs for Shape Space and Measure). Practise the laws of linear perspective through a series of exercises involving geometrical shapes, equally spaced receding verticals and horizontals, squares inside circles and imaginary city spaces. Drawing of objects with their shadows, using soft graphite pencil and/or charcoal, paying precise attention to the direction of shadows and the degree of graduations in tone in both object and shadow. Coloured landscapes with oil pastels and watercolour veils, showing colour perspective and atmospheric effects.

Clay Modelling

In connection with projection and shadow drawings and geometry, solids such as the cone, cube, pentagon, dodecahedron etc can be modelled. In figurative forms, explore gesture and movement, starting from figures turning, bending, pointing, reaching etc, again with minimal facial expressions and fine detail.

Pedagogical Reasoning

Through observation the pupils have rich experiences of the world around them, and they meet those with an inner drive to give their experiences shape and form. At this age pupils can bring forth their own drive to give expression to these experiences. Art teaching offers techniques to give expression to what they have taken in. The pedagogical response to puberty is to assist pupils to make sense of their experiences by offering different techniques, different media, and different categories for seeing. The discipline of Goethean observation can become a skill which feeds positively into all life skills, including social interactions.

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Art techniques from a range of cultural styles, e.g. Chinese brush work

Songs, stories and images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. Stories and songs should be taken from a range of cultures around the world.

Suggested ARLOs

Creative and Aesthetic, Science - Living things and their habitats

Handwork: hand-made footwear

Indicative Content

In Class 7 & 8 the content of the handwork curriculum will depend on whether the school offers handwork (with fabric) into the Upper School. As part of the handwork curriculum, pupils should have experience in using commercial patterns and measuring the body, plus technical information about different types of fabric and how it is used. If this is not incorporated into the upper school curriculum, it should be integrated in some way into Class 7 & 8.

Projects:

The indication for Class 7 is to make shoes by hand, using traditional shoemaking methods.

Hand Sewing:

Activities/projects can include (depending on upper school curriculum – see above):

Mend and repair clothes

Machine Sewing:

Introducing the treadle sewing machine to sew a simple lined kit bag or backpack followed by making a bag of their own design (with additional pockets and various fastening to extend the learning challenge where appropriate)

Supplementary Activities:

Making a hand-loom – weaving (include information about the main weaving techniques and the types of cloth they produce

Leatherwork – belts, pouches (include with information about where and how leather is produced)

Pedagogical Reasoning

The attention of the growing child is focused on the feet. Working out of their “internal balance” they also learn about the mechanics of the foot. Pupils are inspired by their emerging potential to make the things they need.

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Mrs Lincoln’s Dressmaker: The Unlikely Friendship of Elizabeth Keckley and Mary Todd Lincoln, Jennifer Chaiverini (Plume, 2013) (written in honour of the author’s ancestors who could not tell their stories)

If making garments, ensure a choice of options includes non-gendered or unisex pattern

Suggested ARLOs

Creative and Aesthetic, Handwork

Narrative and Reading Material

Indicative Content

Encourage book use rather than screen time

Reading for pleasure:

Youth literature: any youth fiction with literary merit
Historical fiction based in any period from the Middle Ages to the early 19th Century
Historical biographies based in any period from the Middle Ages to the early 19th Century
Non-fiction history books from the Middle Ages to the early 19th Century
Books on the history and science of astronomy; biographies of early astronomers; books on navigation
Gardening books: organic gardening (e.g. John and Sally Seymour), books by the Soil Association, Gardeners’ Question Time books
Non-fiction on other curriculum themes: health and hygiene, historical technology, chemistry etc

Taught Reading Skills:

Writing book reports and recommendations: summarising, explaining why they have enjoyed what they have read.

Pedagogical Reasoning

Further development of historical consciousness, with an explicit multi-cultural and global perspective. Independent research into topics which support the classroom work. Reading for pleasure: the priority should be to inspire extensive and prolific reading, so any literature that pupils enjoy, that has some literary merit, should be encouraged.

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Literature from around the world. Books written from a wide range of viewpoints and perspectives.

Suggested ARLOs

Literacy, Social Science - History

Wish, Wonder and Surprise: the art of writing

Indicative Content

The grammar of reported speech using a range of verbs and synthesis.

The conditional tense and ‘if’ clauses in varying degrees of probability.

Literary and language devices: figures of speech, rhetorical devices, metaphors, similes, comparisons, proverbs, aphorisms, euphemisms.

Analysis of text and the effects of literary devices (both intended and unintended).

Analysis of text for tone and purpose.

Composition and creative writing.

The history and changing meanings of words as social awareness changes (e.g. awful and awesome, cheating, girl, meat, naughty, nice, pretty, sly, silly, spinster, bachelor, flirt, guy, senile, merry), as well as homonyms, homophones, homographs etc.

Pedagogical Reasoning

As the pupils move through puberty they are interested in giving expression to subtle, ambivalent and nuanced experiences. They experience the power of language to express mood, feelings, relationships, distance and position, but also to entertain, to emote, to manipulate, to suggest, etc.

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Valuing text and speech from a range of cultures, including modern popular culture

Looking at the origins, meaning and impact of derogatory expressions, terms of endearment, euphemisms.

Suggested ARLOs

Literacy

Journeys and meetings: Africa and the East; The Atlantic to America. Early modern history - from the late middle ages to the early 19th Century.

Indicative Content

Cultural contacts between Asia, Africa and Europe; pre-conquest Americas; The European Renaissance, Reformation and colonial expansion. The different colonial powers (Spain, Portugal, Holland, England, France), the effect of colonialism, the destruction of indigenous cultures and economies. The Atlantic and global slave trade. The emergence of industrialisation and the Agrarian revolution. Absolutism and revolution: the American and French revolutions. The emergence of nations and nationalism.

Pedagogical Reasoning

To understand the multiple processes, perspectives and effects of colonialism and slavery on global trade and emerging modern societies. To understand the emergence of the bourgeoisie, bourgeois culture.

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Understanding of, for example, the rich variety of African cultures that pre-dated the European slave trade, the sophisticated nature of American First Peoples’ societies etc.

Consider the impact of colonialism on indigenous economies, cultures, societies and languages.

Inclusion of stories and voices of women, including the changing roles of women through enclosure and industrialisation.

Inclusion of Ireland, Scotland and Wales as the first colonies - enclosures, forced emigration etc.

Suggested ARLOs

Literacy, Social Science - History, Geography, Aesthetic and Creative - Visual and Graphic Art

Maths: al-jabr - restoring broken parts; Pythagoras and Perspective; dealing with data

Indicative Content

Continue to develop fluency in mental and written arithmetic.

Curriculum content should be connected to practical things like business, art, navigation, remaining as concrete and imaginative as possible. Algebra should grow out of numerical calculations, and not be brought as a strictly separate area of mathematics. At this age the amount of differentiation required can be large.

Negative numbers are introduced through business maths through looking at profit/loss, debit and deficit.

Work on arithmetic and algebra will include negative numbers, equations and formulae and their practical applications, and ratio and proportion.

In geometry, algebraic knowledge and understanding can be applied to finding the area of shapes, e.g. through the application of π and Pythagoras’ Theorem.

Pupils will explore the collection, collation and presentation of data through statistics and graphical representation.

Pedagogical Reasoning

Class Seven is often seen as the point at which the pupils enter more fully into the world of abstract thought. The objectivity and methodology required in Class 7 provides a counterbalance to the internal emotional experiences being experienced by pupils. Algebra clarifies the general rules of calculation, and the stages of abstraction are expanded. This prepares the ground for higher mathematics, developing logic, structure and clarity of thinking.

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Highlight the Arabic origins of the word and practice of al-jabr.

Arab, middle-Eastern and Indian cultures with advanced mathematics (Baghdad, Grenada etc).

Suggested ARLOs

Maths, Visual and Graphic Arts

Modern Foreign Languages - Drama and History

Indicative Content

Lessons have a blend of activities that could include: free speaking, conversation, role play, drama, grammar and vocabulary work, practice, reading, creative writing and group work. Themes should be cultural, geographical, historical and topical. Biographies and extracts from literary work, including modern poetry. Idioms, and colloquial language, modern music.

Pedagogical Reasoning

As self-consciousness emerges pupils are sometimes less willing to speak before the whole class therefore group and pair work is particularly important, as is letter and diary writing. Particular attention should be paid to pronunciation.

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Texts and pictures should represent a wide range of people, skin colours, hair types etc, and should not reinforce stereotypes. Cultural themes should include text and music by a wide range of people, e.g. women, people of colour, LGBTQIA+ people, etc.

Suggested ARLOs

Modern Foreign Languages

Sustainable Living: Woodwork and Garden Planning

Indicative Content

Woodwork becomes more complex and refined, continuing to have the two streams: workshop based carving and making of artefacts, and green woodwork outdoors. It can involve a certain amount of recycling and upcycling, e.g. making new handles for broken tools from ash.

Following the astronomy main lesson, extended garden planning can be explored, with an introduction to organic and biodynamic agriculture and the real-life issues of certification and yield. No-dig permaculture techniques can be brought as a contrast. Raising plants in greenhouses allows the pupils to follow a similar seasonal approach to Class 6, but to achieve more professional outcomes with an understanding of how to improve results. It is important for children to explore positive stories of recovering ecology to balance a contemporary focus on the climate crisis. Topics such as the contrast between the small range of varieties of apples available in UK supermarkets and the 2500 UK varieties (7000 worldwide) can be explored. Potatoes are another excellent example. Pupils should encounter world issues in a practical way: what happens to human waste? How is water made fit for drinking? Looking at breeding particular types of fungi to metabolise plastics. How much of the earth’s surface can grow food? What are the implications of becoming vegetarian/vegan?

Forestry would ideally involve the thinning of young trees, using directional felling methods. Coppicing as a sustainable forestry practice is also very good, especially if the garden needs hazel poles, fence panels etc. Growing basket willows is a good option if space is limited.

Pedagogical Reasoning

The importance of international trade along the silk roads and sea routes in later Middle Ages and the impact of European colonisation of trade (e.g. spice trade) and local industries, introduction of plantation crops and slavery. Ecological destruction caused by colonisation. Economics of modern subsidised industrial farming, disadvantaging of regional producers and effects of protectionism on agriculture in the developing world, the loss of varieties of apples, potatoes etc.

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Themes of sustainability in farming, gardening, raw materials, re-cycling, clothing, electronic equipment and the raw materials they depend on. Up-cycling projects. Cheap seasonal labour with minimal rights and security from economically poorer countries. Consumerism and supermarkets driving down prices for producers. Learning from indigenous people’s ways of life and relationship to the world. Fair trade. Renewable energy should be a practical and not only theoretical topic in schools. Harvesting rainwater. Composting.

Suggested ARLOs

Science and Technology, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Design and Technology, Geography, Social Science, PSHE, SMSC

Chemistry: Transformation in matter

Indicative Content

A phenomenological investigation of combustion: careful observation of the safe burning of different materials (e.g. bread, pine needles, cotton, wood, straw, alcohol, paraffin, sulphur, phosphorus, magnesium). Describe the residue of burning, e.g. ash, clinker, carbon dioxide, lamp black. Test the pH of the residue. What supports/ does not support combustion. Observe the movements of air around a flame. The fire triangle and the impact of increasing or decreasing the oxygen supply, e.g. through increasing CO2. The impact of fire in the natural and built environments, e.g. lightning, forest fires, chimney fires, peat fires, risks of using candles, fire safety, etc. The chemistry of the candle.

The Lime Cycle. Burning lime, making a lime kiln, creating slaked lime. Identify that the products/byproducts of the cycle are acids and bases. Creation of cement and water. Limestone and chalk in nature.

How acids and bases are formed: Indicators and (very simple) pH changes: making an Indicator, demonstrating acid/base properties. Salts. Hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide to show the power of acids or bases in forming salts, and their practical applications (e.g. toothpaste).

Metals. The chemistry and cultural, historical, technical background of metals. What is a metal? Focus on metals found in their native state (Gold, Silver, Copper), or those extracted using carbon, (Iron, Tin, Lead and Copper). How has the use of these metals advanced human cultures? What are their properties, and how are their properties related to how they are used?; How are they found, and how can we extract them from their ores: smelting, using charcoal, using furnaces. Why does iron rust? Production and uses of steel.

The benefits and risks of mining and the petro-chemical industry, including (for example) the invention of NyLon.

Pedagogical Reasoning

The phenomenological approach emphasises accurate observation and exact description, which takes into account the emotional impact on the witness. It requires strong forms of imagination to transfer the experiment in the classroom to large scale industrial and natural processes (e.g. a furnace, a volcano) and the forces and quantities involved. It involves the pupils conceptualising things that they cannot see, but can only deduce, e.g. oxygen, carbon dioxide, heat etc. These are culturally contextualised, e.g. through the history of alchemy – the meaning of transforming substances has lent itself to spiritual as well as practical understandings and technological application.

At this age, pupils are beginning to differentiate between opinion and observation, and are building a relationship to objectivity.

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Referencing earlier cultures. Egypt is the source of the word Chemistry and the origin of the first alchemists; the Chinese used gunpowder in the Tang Dynasty (C850 C.E.) and it was used in India during the second half of the 13th Century. Records of scientific advancements made in the Ancient Civilisations of India and the Easts, have been lost, in part due to the persecution of alchemists by the Christian church.

How smelting of metals developed from India, to the East to China and to the West to Europe, and (as far as we know) independently in Sub-Saharan Africa. The importance of this skill is referenced in the pantheons of various cultures, for millennia, embedded in myth, and, until very recently, an extremely important economic process in the industrial world.

Suggested ARLOs

Chemistry Class 7-8

Human nutrition and health.

Indicative Content

Digestive organs and processes from eyes/nose, into the mouth and following the whole process of digestion through the body and into the sewage works. Different types of food, starting with milk for babies, then in relation to carbohydrates, fats, protein and their sources; different diets (e.g. vegan, vegetarian, gut health, organics etc and the impact on the human body); social aspects of food cultures around the world;

An introduction to respiration, circulation and the heart (to be continued in the upper school).

The skin as the body’s largest organ: structure and function (including melanin and skin colour); skin and hair care.

Anatomy/biology of sexual organs and reproduction; social and cultural context of sex and sexuality (including homosexuality). Contraception and consent.

Introduction to the nerve-sense system and the brain. Sense of balance, sight, hearing, taste, temperature.

Health and Lifestyles: Exercise and sleep; time outside; healthy diets. Eating disorders, issues with the Western diet, food addictions, the obesity crisis etc. Substance abuse and addition (smoking, alcohol, drug misuse). Sexual health and sexually transmitted infections. Mental health and wellbeing, mindfulness, dealing with stress, staying safe online, bullying etc.

Introduction to medicine: health and disease, the role of science, childhood illnesses, vaccinations, traditional medicine, homoeopathy, naturopathy; elementary first aid.

Pedagogical Reasoning

Pupils of this age are increasingly aware of the growth of their bodies, making a study of bodily organs, systems and health an appropriate theme. Re-establishing, using the intellect, good health habits for adulthood. Supporting informed autonomy, behaviour and choices.

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Tolerance and understanding of different lifestyle choices. Learning to make decisions about your own body. Owning your own body. Valorising diversity of bodies, including body size and shape. Understanding that there is no one ‘healthy’ shape or size, that difference is beautiful. Care of different hair and skin types (e.g. braiding, oiling, dreadlocks, etc). Biology of and cultural attitudes towards the clitoris as a primary sexual organ, including female genital mutilation.

Suggested ARLOs

Biology Classes 6-8, PSHE, RSE, Media Education

Physics: Electricity and Magnetism

The length and sequencing of many of the physics blocks for Class 7&8 can be determined by the teacher. Each theme can be taught separately in one class, spread across both, and/or combined with another physics theme.

Indicative Content

Building on elements established in Class 6, this block shows how the electrical process can be combined into a circuit. The aim is to understand electricity as a relationship between electrical potential and current, not as a flow of substance.

Exploring the sensations of touching copper and zinc plates to the tongue. Using these to create a battery of copper and zinc plates, beakers with warm saline solution, and wires, and creating an electrical circuit to light a bulb. Use various calibres of steel wire with a 12v battery to modify the voltage. Use various lengths and calibre of wire to examine resistance. Observe the filament of a light bulb and infer the conditions inside the bulb.

Magnetism

Building on Class 6 - Magnetic fields. Declination and inclination of the earth’s magnetic field.

Electro-dynamics

Sources of current, cells and dynamos and their use in electrical appliances. Electro-magnets and their applications in motors, fuses, heaters etc. The dangers of electric current.

The history of the generation of electricity to the present day: coal-fired, atomic, renewables.

Pedagogical Reasoning

An introduction to the principles informing the phenomena of energy sources and applications: the physics of modern industrial life. One of the developmental tasks of adolescence is to be qualified for the society that they are a part of, which includes an understanding of how technology works and how fundamental technology has become to modern life.

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Biographies of a range of people, including women and people of colour. Understanding the impact of electronics on globalisation and innovation (e.g. the production of electronic goods in Japan, China and South Korea). New industries require new and often rare raw materials (e.g. copper, coltan, uranium etc) and the impact of this on developing economies. Coal and oil fired energies and the petro-chemical industries. Green energy and technologies.

Suggested ARLOs

Physics Class 6-8

Physics: Sound

Indicative Content

Acoustics

Beginning with everyday experiences of sound in relation to distance, volume and pitch, explore the boundaries of what we can hear. Building on work from Class 6, examine the acoustic properties of different materials. Using, for example, a tuning fork and Chladni plates, measure and record different frequencies. How gramophones reproduce sound. Nature and usage of ultrasonic sound waves. The nature and usage of echoes in the animal kingdom and as used by humans, e.g. bats, dolphins, radar. speed of sound in air and other media. Acoustics in buildings and musical instruments. Wavelengths.

Pedagogical Reasoning

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Biographies of a range of people, including women and people of colour. New industries require new and often rare raw materials (e.g. copper, coltan, uranium etc) and the impact of this on developing economies.

Suggested ARLOs

Physics Class 6-8

Physics: Information Technology

Indicative Content

From semaphore to the smartphone: signalling; morse code; binary numbers and their relationship to switches; Alexander Graham Bell and the telephone; Heinrich Rudolf Hertz; Alexander Stepanovich Popov, Guglielmo Marconi; radio and television, Logie Baird; radar; Microphones and sound recording devices, e.g. gramophones, tapes, CDs and digital formats. Telephones to mobiles to smartphones. History of the computer from early calculators through punched cards, valves and transistors, microprocessors and beyond, to the internet and the world wide web.

Biographies including Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage, Alan Turing.

Pedagogical Reasoning

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Suggested ARLOs

Physics Class 6-8, Media Education

Physics: Mechanics

Indicative Content

The relationship between inclined planes, shape, friction and velocity.

An introduction to the phenomenon of gravity. Using the body to explore principles of levers by lifting different weights, and then using mechanical levers.

Winches and pulleys. Block and tackle and their uses. Wedges, screws, and gears. Combinations of these to make machines.

The bending properties and resistance of different materials, the implications of this and the usage.

Pedagogical Reasoning

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Biographies of a range of people, including women, disabled people, LGBTQIA+ people, and people of colour.

Suggested ARLOs

Physics Class 6-8

Physics: Light

Indicative Content

Observation of shadows and images. Images on planes and reflections in flat and curved surfaces. Degrees of reflectivity of surfaces. The camera obscura and/or the pinhole camera.

See also Media Education, where cameras, stop motion animation etc are included.

Pedagogical Reasoning

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Biographies of a range of people, including women, disabled people, LGBTQIA+ people, and people of colour.

Suggested ARLOs

Physics Class 6-8, Media Education

Physics: Thermo-dynamics

Indicative Content

Differential conduction; insulation and its uses.

The expansion of gases, liquids and solids, and the principle of the thermometer.

Changes of state of liquids, solids and gases. Evaporation. Convection and radiation. Conduction and insulation.

Engines, from weaving to the combustion engine. Richard Arkwright and the spinning jenny; Newcomen and the first mine pump; James Watt and the steam engine; Richard Trevithick and the locomotive; Abraham Darvey and Andrew Carnegie and the production of steel; Rockefeller and oil – the production of oil into tar, petroleum, paraffin, benzol and petroleum; the development of the combustion engine and the petro-chemical industries.

Biographies, e.g. Edison, Tesla, Siemens, Verena Holmes.

Pedagogical Reasoning

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Biographies of a range of people, including women, disabled people, LGBTQIA+ people, and people of colour. New industries require new and often rare raw materials (e.g. copper, coltan, uranium etc) and the impact of this on developing economies. Coal and oil fired energies and the petro-chemical industries. Green energy and technologies.

Suggested ARLOs

Physics Class 6-8

Above and Beyond (Astronomy)

Indicative Content

Pupils have already learned about the compass directions and the relationship of the sun to weather and climate in the different regions of the earth, and have experienced a wide range of mythological understandings of the sun, moon and stars and their constellations and their use in navigation. They have also learned in history about the shift between geocentric and solar systems. Now they learn to conduct accurate observation by eye and using telescopes. They learn in as concrete a way as possible about the cycles of the moon and the earth’s transit around the sun and the effects of the tilt in the earth’s axis and the seasons. Lunar and solar eclipses help to show this. The other planets in our solar system can be described and the possibilities and risk (costs, military use) of space travel should be discussed. Astronomy is complex, particularly phenomena such as light years, time-space, black holes, Big Bang theory etc., which the pupils have frequently heard about, though there are limits to what most pupils (and teachers) can comprehend. It is advisable to spread astronomy over class 7 and 8 and stay within the limits of what is observable.

Pedagogical Reasoning

The exploration of geographical space reaches beyond the earth to space and with it the perspective that our planet is a body in space, among others. At this age the pupils' intellect can begin to actually grasp the dislocation of terra firma into a turning sphere in space bound by gravity to the sun yet also locked into an intricate dance with the moon and other bodies in our solar system. They may know this fact beforehand but being able to visualise and bodily sense the enormity of it all can only really begin now. Though complex and remote, astronomy has a profound impact on our lives as the source of rhythms that shape our lives.

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

A decolonizing aspect is to realise that all human cultures at all times have considered astronomical phenomena, often with great accuracy and using complex models and exact observations of long periods of time. Our western materialistic view has lost the mythical meaning of our inner connection to the sun, moon and planets. In a materialistic and nationalistic world the conquest of space becomes a matter of national prestige and commercial exploitation. It is important to enable pupils to share the grandeur of the earth as a blue planet turning in space with its unique (as far as we know) atmosphere that permits life- seen from the perspective that astronauts experience.

Suggested ARLOs

Natural Science 7-8, Social Science, Literacy, Visual and Graphic Art

Regional/continental geography

Indicative Content

In Classes 7 & 8, a case study type approach is taken, whereby the four remaining inhabited continents are explored in relation to:

Major geographical features, climate, land use, variety of cultures and transport systems and trade links within the continent and between continents. In class 8 there should be greater emphasis on modern and industrial aspects (coal, oil, minerals , environmental destruction, climate change, conflicts related to access to water, e.g. damming the Nile)

Human geography: cultures and places. Exploration of indigenous cultures in relation to their environment (e.g. people of the Asia steppes, Tuaregs in North Africa, Inuit in the Arctic, Aborigines). Different types of traditional societies and their economies, artefacts and dwellings (nomads, pastoralists, farmers, forest dwellers, oasis dwellers, specialists such as metal workers, potters, fisherfolk, miners, navigators and traders). Pre-European empires, cities, trading centres, technologies. Changes to these lifestyles through colonialism, modernisation and urbanisation. The impact of major religions such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism. Relationships today between East and West, North and South.

Pedagogical Reasoning

The focus returns to the human being and human relationships to the natural world and the impact of technology, agriculture, mining, exploitation of resources to show how human beings on the one hand can live in balance and harmony with their environment and on the other the disastrous effects of human egotism. In a particular self-orientated stage of puberty this focus can offer an ‘objective’ perspective on the human being and her powers. Experiencing the earth as a precious, fragile and beautiful place is an important experience at that age.

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

The traditional curriculum indication of ‘exotic/strange peoples in strange lands’ was frankly racist and reflected a Euro-centric view of ethnography. The main risk in this theme is transporting naïve, patronising (e.g. child-like) and sentimental images of indigenous people. People have always been wise and foolish, brutal and kind, caring and destructive (hence the importance of understanding the impact of technology and the major thresholds these bring). Modern indigenous people are learning in ways which combine science, technology with traditional knowledge to find ecological and cultural solutions. Explore map representations by Early European explorers which interpreted the world in a European centric way as a means for denoting power, dominance and cognitive superiority. Care is needed to use imagery that illustrates the sophistication of indigenous peoples and not the traditional misrepresentations used over the decades/century.

Suggested ARLOs

Geography, Social Science, Literacy, Visual and Graphic Art

Media Education

Indicative Content

Having brought many strands of their education into the digital context in Class 6, from Class 7 digital media begins to become part of the way in which pupils find and express information and ideas. Alongside their analogue research skills, pupils learn more about digital search engines, the responsible handling of personal and external data and images, and objective debate. To support their writing, they learn to touch type. Radio projects and dramas and some recorded music can be explored. In drawing, the principles of perspective are applied to demonstrate how three dimensional objects can be represented in a two dimensional plane. The study of mirrors and lenses in physics informs the exploration of simple photographic technology and images. Previous work with flip-books could be developed into the making of stop-motion animation with drawings or models. Practical book binding follows on from book printing in the Middle Ages in Class 6, using high levels of practical skills, and preparing pupils for later digital layout and graphics, the organisation and building of websites etc. As pupils begin to navigate the internet independently, it is vital to develop their sense of responsibility for their own actions online and their ability to live knowledgeably, responsibly and safely in a digital world.

See also Physics: Information Technology.

Pedagogical Reasoning

Children and adolescents need age-appropriate challenges where they can develop their problem-solving skills and experience a sense of achievement. The world of media is man-made, it can and must be created by people. Thus, it is very empowering for children and young people to experience their own effectiveness in the media by creatively designing media: producing podcasts or writing school newspapers and blogs. They experience the power – and also the responsibility – to help shape “the media” and use it as an expression of their feelings and ideas. This requires knowing and mastering the tools of communication.

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Awareness of the veracity of sources, and different perspectives.

Explore digital work by a range of people, including young people, women, disabled people, LGBTQIA+ people, and people of colour.

Suggested ARLOs

Technology, RSE, PSHE, Physics - Information Technology

Spiritual, religious, ethical and moral education

Indicative Content

History in Main Lesson explores the rise of Christianity from the period of the crusades through the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and the effect of that power on people’s lives. The challenges and changes that came with the Reformation. Differences and similarities between Protestant and Catholic traditions and worship.

Study of Islam historically and today through Muslim festivals (Eid-Ul-Adha, Dhu Al-Hijjah, Al Hijra, Ashura, Milad Al-Nabi, Ramadhan), human experience, traditions and beliefs.

Inspiring biographies linked to themes and content of the year – see below. Debate and class discussion – linked to current affairs, PSHCE (e.g. the history and issues of drugs, alcohol), conflict resolution etc.

Questions: How do Muslim and Christian festivals affect believers’ connection to God? Is anything ever eternal? What do Christianity and Islam share significantly?

Pedagogical Reasoning

Two gestures for this stage: an appetite for knowledge of and about the world, and a budding capacity for reflection.

Themes of exploration, of challenging assumptions that were formally accepted on authority (Galileo as an example). Pupils are shown how to formulate their own opinions as well as accepting those of others. Increase in social responsibility and sense of self as a world citizen and as an individual.

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Research content widely and across multiple sources. Develop pupil’s criticality and encourage searching for prejudice or bias in content and engage in open discussions about representation and diversity. Use content that is diverse in its point of view and in its representation of people, gender, sex, sexuality, religion and ethnicity.

Suggested ARLOs

SMSC

Under development!

Physical Education

Indicative Content

The class

Pedagogical Reasoning

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

All

Suggested ARLOs

Physical

Under development!

Music

Indicative Content

In Class Seven lesson themes and music lessons connect wherever possible in the curriculum throughout all classes. In Class 7 this includes a block on medieval music, from both a practical and historical aspect. In classes 7 there is also a class play or musical in which the music is created with and performed by the pupils.

Classes 6,7 & 8 form a middle school choir, and also their individual ensembles perform at the major festivals throughout the year. In these classes, pupils are encouraged to share their own ideas, arrangements, compositions etc and some choice is given to the content of ensemble music, alongside the curriculum. The increase in student led ideas and collaborations meets the needs of the growing individual. History, theory and aural work remains an integral part of the practical lessons.

Pedagogical Reasoning

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

All songs, stories and images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. Stories and music should be taken from a range of cultures around the world.

Suggested ARLOs

Creative and Aesthetic, Technology

Under development!

Eurythmy

Indicative Content

Class Seven

Pedagogical Reasoning

Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation

Music, stories and images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. Stories and music should be taken from a range of cultures around the world.

Suggested ARLOs

Physical Education, Creative and Aesthetic

Based on Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship® Ltd indicative curriculum for Steiner Waldorf Schools, The Art of Teaching