Your Future, Made at Parkside
Moving into Year 10 is a major milestone. For the first time, you have the power to shape your curriculum. The choices you make now will define your next two years at Parkside and build the foundation for your future career and education.
Key Dates & Deadlines
- Support & Guidance in Coaching & Assembly: Wednesday 11 February – Friday 06 March 2026
- Options Evening: Thursday 26 February 2026
- Final Submission Deadline for Option Choices: Monday 09 March 2026
The Process
To ensure each of you maintains a strong academic foundation while pursuing your individual interests, we use a structured three-step process:
Curriculum Families
To help you choose subjects that work well together, we have organised our curriculum into three Families. These Families are groupings of subjects that allow you to see how subjects share similar ways of thinking and complement each other.
- Social & Analytical Inquiry: This family explores the how and why of human existence. You will learn to analyse evidence and performance, debate ethics and understand the systems, social and physical, that shape our lives.
- Communication & Culture: This family explores human identity and global interaction. Through languages, humanities and the arts, you will learn to interpret different perspectives, express your identity and use your voice to influence society.
- Technical Mastery: This family is for the makers and the doers. Master your craft by bridging the gap between theory and reality. Build, design and influence the world around you through technical precision and creative problem-solving.
Our Families also include Student Snapshots. Use them to see how different subjects, like an academic or technical subject, fit into a bigger plan for your future.
Support & Guidance
You are not alone in making these decisions. Support is available:
- At Home: Family and friends.
- In School: Coaches, Your Coaching Group Peers, Subject Teachers, Head of Year & SSL, our SEND & Careers Team.
- Resources: Download the full Key Stage 4 Curriculum and Choices Booklet for detailed summaries and FAQs.
KS4 Curriculum & Choices Booklet: 2026-28
How To Use Our Booklet
- Section 1 (Pages 5-10): Understand the core subject that every student takes and the subject selection process. Follow the three-step guide to choosing your Academic Foundation subject, your Option subjects and your Reserve choices. It also includes information on the Core Plus Programme for those of you invited to participate.
- Section 2 (Pages 11-22): Curriculum Families & Student Snapshots.
- Section 3 (Pages 23-50): This section provides you a summary of each subject. It is broken down into your Core Curriculum, your Academic Foundation and your Option choices. For each, the summary will give you an idea of what you will study, how will you be examined and which skills you will develop alongside where the subject might lead you in the future.