Home schooling: Year 8 plan

A 36-week plan for Year 8 using the Key Stage 3 lessons on GCSE-ready: which subjects, how many lessons, what to do each week and a checkpoint at the end of every term.

Set up

In the app, choose Year 8 and Key Stage 3. The Today screen then puts the Year 8 lessons first. For subjects with options (set texts, history units, geography topics), set your options in the Progress tab so only your lessons appear. Then follow the daily routine.

The 36-week year

Three terms of 12 weeks, with 30 weeks of new lessons. Move the weeks to fit your own holidays.

Weeks	Term	What to do
Weeks 1 to 10	Autumn term	New lessons, following the weekly numbers in the table below, with the review list every day.
Week 11	Autumn term	Review week: no new lessons. Clear the review list, redo any lesson under 80% right first time, and practise key terms as flashcards.
Week 12	Autumn term	Checkpoint: in each subject, do one Mixed practice session on the Today screen (10 questions from lessons already studied, weakest first) and a Mock test on each topic finished this term (Progress tab, Mock test, choose the topic, 20 questions, timer on). Then print the progress record from the Parents tab and keep it with your home-school records.
Weeks 13 to 22	Spring term	New lessons, following the weekly numbers in the table below, with the review list every day.
Week 23	Spring term	Review week: no new lessons. Clear the review list, redo any lesson under 80% right first time, and practise key terms as flashcards.
Week 24	Spring term	Checkpoint: in each subject, do one Mixed practice session on the Today screen (10 questions from lessons already studied, weakest first) and a Mock test on each topic finished this term (Progress tab, Mock test, choose the topic, 20 questions, timer on). Then print the progress record from the Parents tab and keep it with your home-school records.
Weeks 25 to 34	Summer term	New lessons, following the weekly numbers in the table below, with the review list every day.
Week 35	Summer term	Review week: no new lessons. Clear the review list, redo any lesson under 80% right first time, and practise key terms as flashcards.
Week 36	Summer term	Checkpoint: in each subject, do one Mixed practice session on the Today screen (10 questions from lessons already studied, weakest first) and a Mock test on each topic finished this term (Progress tab, Mock test, choose the topic, 20 questions, timer on). Then print the progress record from the Parents tab and keep it with your home-school records.

Key Stage 3

In Year 8, GCSE-ready has 179 Key Stage 3 lessons across 12 subjects. Pick the subjects you want to cover: English, maths and science are the core, then add the others you want.

Subject	Lessons this year	New lessons per termAutumn / Spring / Summer	A typical week	Time a weeknew lessons only
Mathematics	18	6 / 6 / 6	1 a week in 18 of the 30 teaching weeks	about 10 min
English	18	6 / 6 / 6	1 a week in 18 of the 30 teaching weeks	about 10 min
Science	20	6 / 7 / 7	1 a week in 20 of the 30 teaching weeks	about 10 min
History	17	5 / 6 / 6	1 a week in 17 of the 30 teaching weeks	about 10 min
Geography	16	5 / 5 / 6	1 a week in 16 of the 30 teaching weeks	about 10 min
Computing	16	5 / 5 / 6	1 a week in 16 of the 30 teaching weeks	about 10 min
Citizenship	11	3 / 4 / 4	1 a week in 11 of the 30 teaching weeks	about 5 min
Music	13	4 / 4 / 5	1 a week in 13 of the 30 teaching weeks	about 5 min
Art and Design	12	4 / 4 / 4	1 a week in 12 of the 30 teaching weeks	about 5 min
Design and Technology	12	4 / 4 / 4	1 a week in 12 of the 30 teaching weeks	about 5 min
French	13	4 / 4 / 5	1 a week in 13 of the 30 teaching weeks	about 5 min
Spanish	13	4 / 4 / 5	1 a week in 13 of the 30 teaching weeks	about 5 min