Our Curriculum
The curriculum at Thurston Community College inspires a love of learning, empowers our students with the knowledge, skills and experiences to help them make meaningful choices, contribute positively to the world in which we live and to achieve excellence in all aspects of school life.
At Thurston Community College, we seek to provide an ambitious and diverse curriculum that is broad, balanced, truly comprehensive and accessible to all students. Our curriculum embodies a deep understanding and respect for diversity and offers opportunities for all students to learn to be successful, to gain useful, transferable skills and to acquire powerful knowledge.
The curriculum at Thurston Community College has the power to change the lives of every student and equip them with the knowledge, skills and cultural capital they need to thrive as healthy citizens with an appreciation of British values in our diverse society. As such, we promote and develop character and the personal, social, spiritual, moral and cultural opportunities to foster a sense of moral and social responsibility. Our values of progress, respect, integrity, determination and empathy are embodied by our curriculum offer.
When students join Thurston Community College they will experience a three-year Key Stage 3 curriculum based on the National Curriculum requirements and comprising a strong academic core of subjects. Key Stage 4 offers our students the opportunity to pursue specialist subjects of their choice that celebrate individuality and creativity and enable them to deepen the knowledge and skills acquired at Key Stage 3.
At Thurston Sixth, our curriculum offers students the opportunity to extend their learning, deepen their knowledge and understanding and explore new disciplines as a pathway to university, apprenticeships or work.
The curriculum is organised into five faculties
Physical Education, Creative Arts & Performing Arts
This provides a holistic structure for understanding artistic expression, health and well-being. The dynamic nature of the expressive arts can engage, motivate and encourage learners to develop their creative, artistic and performance skills to the full.
View our Performing Arts Curriculum
View our Physical Education Curriculum
View our Music Development Plan
Humanities and Social Sciences
This area of the curriculum seeks to awaken a sense of wonder, fire the imagination and inspire learners to grow in knowledge, understanding and wisdom. These courses encourage learners to engage with the most important issues facing humanity, including sustainability and social change, and help to develop the skills necessary to interpret and articulate the past and the present.
View our Child Development Curriculum
View our Health & Social Care Curriculum
View our Philosophy, Beliefs & Ethics Curriculum
View our Psychology Curriculum
English and Languages
Understanding language and how it can impact on our understanding of culture is one of the fundamental aspects of human communication. We learn through listening, reading, speaking and writing. Our learners study English, French and Spanish.
View our Modern Foreign Languages Curriculum
Mathematics, Business and Computing
The development of mathematics has always gone hand in hand with the development of civilisation itself. A truly international discipline, it surrounds us and underpins so many aspects of our daily lives, such as architecture, art, music, money and engineering. While it is creative and beautiful, both in its own right and in its applications, it is also essential to understanding how information technology and computing can enhance our lives and the way we learn.
View our Computing & ICT Curriculum
View our Mathematics Curriculum
Science and Technology
The importance of science and technology in our modern world cannot be overstated. Developments in these areas have always been drivers of change in society, underpinning innovation and impacting on everyone's lives economically, culturally and environmentally.
View our Design Technology Curriculum
Life Skills
In addition to our faculty areas, we teach our students key life lessons, through our Life Skills curriculum. The Life Skills curriculum was written with the students' voice very much at its centre. Students expressed what life lessons they felt they needed to learn to be prepared for life beyond Thurston Community College. Our Life Skills curriculum also covers the government requirements of Relationship and Sex Education. The Life Skills curriculum is carefully planned alongside the character curriculum, Well-being Wednesdays and year group assemblies, using the different forums to build on knowledge.
View information on our Life Skills programme here
The Thurston Community College Learning Journey
- Lower School: Key Stage 3: Years 7-9
At Thurston Community College Key Stage 3 is a three-year programme which has been carefully crafted to ensure that students learn beyond the requirements set out by the National Curriculum. - Upper School: Key Stage 4: Years 10-11
At the end of Year 9, students opt for subjects that they will study in years 10 and 11 and they complete those subjects by the end of Year 11. Our highly flexible two-year curriculum delivered in years 10 and 11 allows us to create personalised guided pathways for our students. A full list of the courses on offer at Key Stage 4 can be found in our Key Stage 4 Options Booklet. -
Key Stage 5: Thurston Sixth
Students can study three, with some scope for four, A Level or equivalent, courses. The curriculum offers a wide range of A Levels and Technical Awards alongside other qualifications such as the Extended Project Qualification.Our Post-16 curriculum is built upon, and informed by, a destination-led approach. Advice and guidance is high profile and ensures that choices are informed and appropriate. A variety of opportunities are offered to support and prepare students for transition post-18.
There are also after school lessons in various different courses as well as many different extracurricular activities.