The curriculum at Riddlesdown provides students with so many inspirational and innovative experiences within and beyond the classroom. In Year 7 students in English have enjoyed exploring a broad range of texts and poems about diverse cultures with one student stating, “It’s great to learn about the world through poetry.” 

Also, in Year 7 all students have been participating in the Instrumental Project in their Music lessons. This has provided every student with the opportunity to learn either the violin or the trombone. We hope to see many students continue to learn an instrument and develop their talents as they progress into Year 8.  

In Year 8, our Classics students held a Roman election. Through this they have learned about democracy and fairness in elections, comparing the more corrupt and wealth-based voting processes of the Roman era to our own system in the UK today. This has prompted consideration and discussion of the upcoming mayoral and general elections, with one student stating, “I am really getting into watching the news and debating political issues with my friends. I may go into politics one day.”     

We believe passionately that the curriculum should extend beyond the classroom, and we have recently held a Year 8 talk on Humanism as part of the Religion and Worldview curriculum.  Students in Year 10 went on a trip to Normandy to practice their French and enjoy the French culture by visiting local markets and the World UNESCO site of Mont Saint Michel. They also showed off their baking skills by making some delicious pastries and breads!

The Geography Department has recently organised several trips to the beaches of Hove to explore Physical geographical processes. The Geography trips alone involved over 200 Year 11 and 47 Year 13 students!