Our Community - Our Future

Curriculum Overview

Our Curriculum Intent

We believe that, without exception, our students have individual talents and abilities and we are committed to providing a curriculum which is broad, rich and balanced in order to meet the needs of all. Our curriculum is well planned and progressive and seeks to build on the prior knowledge of students, make links and develop their understanding in all areas of their learning whilst addressing any knowledge gaps students may join us with, given the wide range of different starting points our students have. It is our intent that students will build their knowledge, skills and understanding through the study of an ambitious, knowledge rich curriculum. Our curriculum has our students and their needs at the heart of it, so that all students leave Marple Hall School with the knowledge, skills and confidence to thrive in a challenging and ever-changing world.

We are very proud of the fact that students follow an English Baccalaureate (EBacc) curriculum to GCSE. For many years we have promoted an ‘early entry’ languages strategy which enables the majority of our students to have achieved a GCSE in French or Spanish by the end of Year 9.  We passionately believe in the importance of language acquisition from an early age and our unique curriculum means that students gain confidence from the experience, starting their Year 10 curriculum knowing what it takes to be successful. Alongside promoting the EBacc we place equally high value on the contribution that creative, vocational and technical learning areas also make to every child’s development and our approach is for every student to follow their own pathway, based on strong careers advice and high aspiration for all learners.

We feel strongly that it is our moral responsibility to offer our students opportunities beyond the traditional classroom curriculum and see that whilst we are building knowledge in lessons it is of equal importance to build cultural capital and a character for learning. Through our offer, our intent is to structure a wealth of opportunities into our wider curriculum to enrich our students’ experience and enjoyment of school and to generate opportunities for students to accrue the cultural capital that they’ll need to be successful. There are a wide range of enrichment activities and events that cater for a variety of student interests and ensure equality of opportunity.

We believe it is absolutely critical that we ensure that all of our students become confident, fluent readers in order to enable them to access the curriculum fully and increase their chances of success later in life. All students at MHS are encouraged to read for pleasure through various different activities. Teaching and learning, throughout the curriculum, will provide the opportunity to explicitly teach reading and vocabulary skills and actively develop students’ oracy and writing skills.

Through a proactive and reactive approach to personal, social, health and economic education students learn about their wider world and discuss it confidently. As a result of our curriculum, students leave Marple Hall School well prepared for life in modern Britain and with a good understanding of British Values, in particular, those of tolerance, respect and democracy. It is our intention that students are empowered through our rich, broad and balanced curriculum to make ambitious choices at Post-16 and to unlock a successful future regardless of their starting point or background and support is in place for all students in this process.

Subject Curriculum Statements

All subjects have a clear, coherent narrative in place ensuring our students have access to a rich, well sequenced curriculum with a strong core at its centre. Information about each subject area can be found in the following document:

See the document below for additional information on the content which is covered across both KS3 and KS4:

Key Stage 3 (Years 7, 8 and 9)

Initially in Year 7, the tutor group forms the basis for teaching in most subjects. Setting occurs in the first term in Maths and Languages. Sets are based on attainment and are informed by National Curriculum tests and our own internal assessments. These arrangements may change as each student progresses through the Key Stage.

Key Stage 4 (Years 10 and 11)

All students in Year 10 and 11 study a common core of subjects which are: English Language, English Literature, Mathematics, Science and core PE. In addition to the core subjects, all KS4 students study four option subjects.

For more information about the curriculum the school is following please contact Miss Davies, Deputy Headteacher, at rhian.davies@marplehall.stockport.sch.uk

All subjects follow the relevant national curriculum programme of study. For more information please visit this site

We arrange the timetable to allow the maximum time possible for each subject. Therefore, we teach 5 lessons per day totaling 25 lessons a week. However, we organise this over 10 days, following a two-week timetable, to ensure that subjects with smaller time allocations have reasonable contact.

Personal, Social and Health Education is taught by Form Tutors twice per week during extended morning registration sessions.

Marple Hall School is compliant with the 32.5 hours per week expectation. The number of periods allocated to each subject can be found below:


KS3 Timetable Overview

Year789
English776
Mathematics666
Science666
MFL788
Technology222
Art222
Geography444
History444
Drama222
Music222
PE434
Computing222
Philosophy222
Total505050

KS4 Timetable Overview

Year1011
English99
Mathematics77
Science1010
OptionsOptions
4 Options5 or 6 5 or 6 (options with fewer periods in Year 10 will have more in Year 11)
Total5050
Our Community - Our Future
FIND US
Marple Hall School
Hill Top Drive
Marple
Stockport SK6 6LB Headteacher: Mr Joe Barker
CONTACT US
Tel: 0161 427 7966
Fax: 0161 426 0931
Email: info@marplehall.stockport.sch.uk
Safeguarding: safeguarding@marplehall.stockport.sch.uk