CURRICULUM GUIDELOWER SCHOOLYEARS 7-92024-25INTRODUCTION
We believe that the Lower School (Years 7-9) is a crucial period for pupils establishing the personaland intellectual habits necessary for their success at Rugby School Japan and in the world beyond.
Our focus in the Lower School is, therefore, threefold. We aim to engage our pupils in a broad andrigorous academic experience: offering intellectually challenging and demanding material in allof their subjects. We also aim to allow pupils the freedom and opportunity to find and develop theiracademic passions. Finally we begin the process of developing the characteristics necessary for ourpupils to become empowered and autonomous: to make reflection a habit; to be thoughtful enquirers;
to find resilience and versatility in the face of challenge and failure; to think globally and act locallyand to be confident communicators and collaborators when stepping out into the intellectual unknown.
We call this set of characteristics our Rugby Learner Profile, and much of what we do with our curriculumin the Lower School is with the aim of embedding it into the way our pupils approach their education.
In addition to their timetabled lessons, our pupils will be engaged in an extensive programme of crossdisciplinary enrichment taking them beyond the boundaries of the classroom environment. They will bechallenged to develop individual and collaborative projects, often being faced with work for which they
will have no obvious or immediate solution, and will be required to co-operate with their peers and invest
in each other’s success. Along the way they will encounter setbacks, and in doing so, with guidance andencouragement, begin to develop the qualities necessary to respond purposefully to challenges in the future.

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THE PUPIL JOURNEY
THROUGH LOWER SCHOOLACADEMIC PROGRAMME OF
STUDY

Our Lower School curriculum defines a pupil’s journey through Years 7-9 at Rugby School Japan. The
development of our academic curriculum has centred on three big questions:Over the course of the Lower School curriculum, pupils will study English, Japanese, Mathematics,Biology, Chemistry, Physics, History, Geography, Art, Design & Technology, Drama, Music, PE, Digital
Literacy, Finance and PSHE. All pupils study Japanese, where the pupil’s experience (from nativespeaker to beginner level) can be catered for. They must also choose one Modern Foreign Language:
French, German, or Mandarin Chinese. In addition, all pupils have a weekly tutor period and a weekly
reading session in the library.

What do we want our learners to look like?
What should our curriculum look like?
What should our teaching, assessment and reporting look like?

Personalised Learning lessons are an option available to support pupils with particular English
language or other learning needs.

We are aiming to build an authentic partnership between our staff, pupils and families. As such, wehave actively consulted (and will continue to do so) on these three questions with our wider RSJ
community in order to help us develop the best learning outcomes for our pupils.
The Lower School curriculum has been created in recognition of the following points:••

The Rugby Learner Profile describes the characteristics we want our pupils to exhibit.
Our curriculum must support character development and enable the acquisition of key skills that webelieve are essential to being a successful school leaver.
We are committed to being pupil-centric in our pedagogy.
We take a broader view of what skills will enable our pupils to be future ready, rather than justacademically successful at GCSE and A-level.
We would like to see Year 7 as the start of an interesting and exciting three years, offering an
innovative academic programme as well as considering what knowledge is truly essential for pupils
to have before moving into the Middle School curriculum.
We need to reflect on what it means to be a British school in an international setting in Japanand be mindful of the flexible entry points for pupils and the varied educational and cultural
backgrounds they come from.
We want our teachers to be free to teach topics about which they are passionateWe believe inallowing departments and teachers to choose the most appropriate approach to teaching andlearning, including designing topics with dynamic content.
Heads of Subject will continue to liaise closely in putting together the programme of study in eachsubject for Years 7-9 in order to minimise the overlap of work covered whilst, at the same time,
providing solid foundations for study at GCSE and beyond.
We believe that the curriculum should give pupils and their parents a much clear idea of where
the strengths and weaknesses of each child lie. We want to encourage a broader understanding ofwhat assessment is for and how it can be done well, avoiding a dominance of traditional exams,
and the pressures that go with them, when this does not need to be the case.

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SKILLS MAP
The following table shows how the Rugby Learner Profile characteristics are intended to be developed
through the acquisition of key skills for each pupil as they journey through the Lower School curriculum.
Pupils will be able to track their own progress and use this as a basis for discussion with their tutor.

I am becoming resilient by…

I am becoming globally-minded by…
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I am becoming versatile by…

I am becoming reflective by…

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Allowing others to help me succeed and helping others to succeed
Celebrating others’ successes
Dealing appropriately with disappointment
Delaying gratification
Identifying my needs and advocating for myself
Learning to take responsibility for my mistakes
Participating in events or taking on a role that might push me beyond
my comfort zone
Seeking solutions when I am faced with challenges

Celebrating global diversity in all its forms
Critically evaluating information that is presented to me
Engaging with media in a variety of languages
Gaining knowledge and respecting my host nation’s culture and language
Knowing how AI can help me and how it can hinder me, and ensuring
I use it responsibly
Learning more about about a range of cultures through our lessons inlanguage, geography and history
Listening to the perspectives and opinions of other people
Looking to the future and considering how the choices I make now will
impact it, both personally and on a more global level
Making fair and equitable decisions
Realising and appreciating the differences between my own culture
and that of others
Seizing opportunities to practise empathy and understanding
Taking an interest in what is happening locally and globally
Using my knowledge and understanding of other cultures to readsituations and interpret meaning

Adapting the way I speak for different purposes and audiences
Altering the way I write for different audiences for different purposes,
from articles to academic essays
Applying skills and concepts that I have learned in one area to adifferent area
Appreciating the benefits of both paper-based and digital learning
Being willing to understand different cultures and valuing friendships
irrespective of personal background
Engaging in a variety of enrichment activities related to academia,
music, arts and sport
Having an open-minded approach to different study skills
Knowing what I need to commit to long term memory, and how to dothat, and having a variety of strategies to remember things
Learning how to use the tools in the Google suite for different
elements of my learning
Managing my time, adapting to workload deadlines, and planningahead so I can fulfil all my commitments
Organising my work in a logical way
Recognising when to take a leading role and when to follow andsupport others
Skimming, scanning and close reading texts depending on my needs
and knowing when it is appropriate to use each••••••••

Acknowledging what I can do differently in the future after
experiencing disappointments and setbacks
Adopting a healthy approach to the expectations I have of myself
Appreciating why I learn and how it connects to my personal life andthe world around me
Considering my digital footprint and recognising that what I say online
may have an impact on other people and on my future
Maintaining balance in all aspects of my life, including how much
screen time I have a day
Recognising the strengths of myself and others and delegating for thebest outcome when appropriate
Setting myself achievable and aspirational goals that will challengeme
Taking responsibility for my own actions and accepting theconsequences with a positive mindset
Thinking about how my words and actions can affect those around me7

I am becoming enquiring by…
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Attending Scholars’ Forums, workshops and lectures from visiting
speakers
Becoming increasingly independent with my learning beyond theclassroom
Being creative in the way I think about problems, pose hypotheses,and consider possible solutions and outcomes
Developing a scientific curiosityEngaging with texts criticallyEnhancing my learning by using technology, when appropriate
Establishing links between my learning and understanding that theskills and knowledge I develop in one area will support me in otherareas
Making inferences from the reading I undertake
Reading laterally and using the internet for research safely and withacademic integrity
Reading for pleasure: a wide range of books, both fiction and nonfiction, in English, my home language, my heritage language and anyother languages I am learning
Taking inspiration from existing works to create something new
Thinking critically by asking better questions and challenging theinformation that is presented to me
Using my imagination to design, build and create new things

I am becoming communicative and collaborative by…
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8Applying my note-taking skills to various purposes
Articulating my opinion of the works I engage with in a clear andmeaningful way
Choosing appropriate media to communicate a message with myaudience
Correctly citing my work
Disagreeing respectfully, when needed
Encouraging peers to contribute to group discussions and group tasks
Engaging appropriately in social situations, including actively
contributing to discussion with staff and peers at tutor lunches
Giving and receiving feedback to and from my peers, and recognising
the value of this feedback and the process
Knowing how to communicate with a range of different people, bothverbally and in written form - from friends in social situations, to staff,
to external stakeholders
Practising non-verbal modes of communication
Speaking to different audiences for different purposes
Summarising, paraphrasing and quoting information, as appropriate
Understanding the language of maths, music and science, andrecognising that communication comes in different forms
Working in teams and groups to contribute towards something
meaningful
Using the Google suite and other appropriate digital tools to work ongroup projects
Writing for different audiences for different purposes
9THE CO-CURRICULAR
PROGRAMME
Through a vibrant and extensive co-curricular programme that takes place after lessons each
afternoon, pupils take on an individual portfolio beyond the classroom that encompasses variety andchallenge. Every day has a theme - from visual and performing arts, academic enrichment, personalenrichment, team and performance, to leadership and competition - and pupils select from within thechoices of activities available.

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rugbyschooljapan.ed.jp