As QES is a Cumbrian school, all parents wishing to apply for Free School Meals, regardless of what county you live in, should make the application through Cumbria County Council.
Please click the button below for the application form.
Please use the links above for more details, such as key dates and full subject information.
The Early Options Indication Form is due by Tuesday 14th December 2021
The Confirmed Option Choices Form is due by Friday 11th March 2022
If you have any questions at all please contact Mr Foster, Miss Sullivan and the Year 9 Pastoral Team.
It is very important that your parents and your subject teachers feel comfortable with your choices too. This leads us to some very important questions we are sure you and your parents will want to ask.
1) Identify possible links between subjects of study and access to future careers or Sixth
Form/Further Education.
2) Remember, generally, you will do best at subjects which you enjoy and can easily do.
3) Be prepared to face the challenges of GCSE – you might surprise yourself.
4) Understand the nature of the new subjects on offer.
5) Choose the curriculum route that best suits you.
1) What your friends are doing.
2) A liking for a particular teacher’s way of working with you – you may be taught by someone else next year!
3) Looking for an easy two years and choosing courses which seem to put fewer demands on you.
4) Choice based upon hearsay, out-of-date careers information.
Possibly not. We will do all that we can to make things happen but some groups may be overcrowded or under-subscribed. We will support you through the process if you need to rethink your options.
We will always try to be flexible. If a course is unsuitable, change may be possible if spaces exist in other groups. However, changing courses becomes increasingly difficult within half a term of starting Year 10. Also we would hope that the time we are spending now should mean that the need to change should not arise.
We will post videos as well as basic presentations here to help students and parents explore our options process.
On Tuesday 19 October we held a KS4 Options Evening for parents of Year 9 students. Please click on the document below to view the presentation given on the evening. Students received this information during their PD lesson on the same day.
Students in Year 9 have the chance to
pick the best of two worlds because we
now have two schools that share the
same site and the same Values – but offer
different styles of learning.
Please use the link below for updated
details on the QEStudio website.
Below are provisional details of the courses we hope to offer for September 2022. Please note that this information may be subject to change.
It is a very long list and we suggest you take your time looking through each document carefully for information in the course content and requirements.
When pupils start Year 10 they move from Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 4 of the National Curriculum. Young people are now required to stay in education or training until they are 18. It’s important to make sure that their curriculum prepares them to keep learning until then.
The purpose of the National Curriculum is to make sure that all pupils study a broad, balanced range of subjects and that all pupils have a variety of experiences and develop a wide range of skills.
There are still some subjects at Key Stage 4 that pupils must continue to study, because these are subjects that everyone needs to prepare them for future study and the adult world. We call these subjects the Core Curriculum. They are English, Maths and Science, which all lead to GCSE, together with Personal Development.
To make sure that pupils have the right range of subjects to allow them to achieve the English Baccalaureate and to provide breadth and balance we also strongly recommend they take a humanity (Geography or History) and at least one Language. There are still free choices available to them beyond the Baccalaureate subjects thanks to our 5 option blocks.
We know that the Baccalaureate is not the right route for a small number of pupils though and as ever will work hard to ensure that the diet of courses is appropriate for everyone.
There are two key deadlines for both routes:
The Early Options Indication Form is available for completion from Tuesday 7th December and is due by Tuesday 14th December 2021. This is not the final options form, however it is an expression of interest in subjects and pathways.
The Confirmed Options Choices Form is available for completion from Monday 7th March and is due by Friday 11th March 2022.
The link to the Year 9 Final Option Choices form can be found in the email sent to parents of Year 9 students on 4th March 2022. The deadline for submission is Friday 11th March 2022.
The confirmed option blocks can be accessed below.
If you have any questions or queries, please speak to Mr Foster (Head of Year 9) or Mrs Pimblett.
Year 9 Early Indications Form: Virtual Assembly 1st December 2020
Please find below a virtual assembly delivered to all of year 9 this morning to help them complete the early indications form.
