Key Stage 3

Key Stage 3 (commonly abbreviated as KS3) is the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14. In Northern Ireland the term also refers to the first three years of secondary education, although these are known as Year 8, Year 9 and Year 10. K5 school of the school teacher

"KS3" redirects here. For other uses, see KS-3 (disambiguation).

England and Wales

The term is defined in the Education Act 2002 as "the period beginning at the same time as the school year in which the majority of pupils in his class attain the age of twelve and ending at the same time as the school year in which the majority of pupils in his class attain the age of fourteen".[1]

This Key Stage normally covers pupils during their first three years of secondary education, although in some cases part or all of this stage may fall in a middle or high school. Some middle and high schools have been piloting accelerated Key Stage 3, by teaching the curriculum over two years.[2]

Purpose

The term is used to define the group of pupils who must follow the relevant programmes of study from the National Curriculum. All pupils in this Key Stage must follow a programme of education in at least 15 areas:[3]

At the end of this stage, pupils aged 14 or almost age 14 — in Year 9 — are assessed as part of the national programme of National Curriculum assessment. Until 2008 this involved a series of externally marked tests.[4] However, from 2009, this will be based on on-going teacher assessment, with results for each school being published in performance tables.

Northern Ireland

The term is defined in The Education (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 as "key stage 3 is the period beginning at the same time as the next school year after the end of key stage 2 and ending at the same time as the school year in which the majority of pupils in his class complete three school years in that key stage".[5] Notably, the foundation stage and Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 are defined as lasting for seven years in total from the start of compulsory education.

Purpose

The term is used to define the group of pupils who must follow the relevant programmes of study from the National Curriculum. All pupils in this Key Stage must follow a programme of education in the nine areas of learning in the curriculum, some of which include specific subject strands:[6]

  • Language and Literacy
    • English
    • Irish (in Irish-speaking schools)
    • Media Education
  • Mathematics and Numeracy
    • Mathematics
    • Financial Capability
  • Modern Languages
  • The Arts
    • Art and Design
    • Music
    • Drama
  • Environment and Society
    • History
    • Geography
  • Science and Technology
    • Science
    • Technology & Design
  • Learning for Life and Work
    • Employability
    • Local and Global Citizenship
    • Personal Development
    • Home Economics
  • Physical Education
  • Religious Education
gollark: - To reduce bias in government decision making we will use a random number generator for all major policy problems.
gollark: - To ensure our ancestors' traditions are respected, we should randomly dig them up and drag them to voting booths.
gollark: 3.
gollark: - As eating meat places suffering on millions of innocent animals, I believe animal meat should be replaced with human flesh from donors, as humans are able to meaningfully consent to this while animals are not (and don't get a choice in practice anyway).
gollark: - To increase the efficiency of the education system and encourage self-directed learning, I believe schools should lock children in individual cubicles with textbooks for 5 hours a day instead of using classrooms and teachers.

See also

References
  1. Defined in section 82 of the Education Act 2002
  2. http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR836.pdf
  3. Set out on the National Curriculum website Archived 2006-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Curtis, Polly (14 October 2008). "Labour education U-turn scraps Sats tests for 14-year-olds". the Guardian. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  5. Defined in paragraph 3 of the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 2006
  6. Set out on the Northern Ireland National Curriculum website
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