Scenario on Curriculum Planning at School Level
Curriculum Development Institute February 2021
Briefing Session on
Optimising the Four Senior
Secondary Core Subjects
1. School Background
District: Kowloon City
Student Gender: Co-ed
Banding of intake: 2-3
Medium of Instruction: CMI
Class structure: 4-4-4-4-4-4
5-day week, 8 lessons/day, 40 mins/lesson
Total number of teachers in the school: 58
Some students are NCS
2
Junior Secondary
3 classes using CMI in all subjects
1 class using EMI in 4 subjects Senior Secondary
EMI is adopted depending on student needs
No of elective subjects on offer : 11
Majority of students taking 2X
About 20-30 students taking ApL Courses
About 10-15 students taking M1
2. Current Timetabling Arrangements
No. of lessons
/ week S.4 S.5 S.6 %
English 7 7 7 17.5
Chinese 7 7 7 17.5
Mathematics 6 6 6 15
LS 5 6 6 14.2
X1 5 5 5 12.5
X2 5 5 5 12.5
OLE 5 4 4 10.8
4
3. Issues of Concern Identified
Too much lesson time allocated to core subjects
Students are limited to take 2X
The lessons of ApL courses are arranged on Saturday
The lessons of M1 are arranged after school on Monday and Wednesday
Remedial session for various subjects are arranged after school or during lunch time
4. Adapted Timetable
(through optimising the 4 core subjects)
2020-21 No. of
lessons / week
S.4 S.5 S.6 %
English 7 7 7 17.5
Chinese 7 7 7 17.5
Mathematics* 6 6 6 15
LS 5 6 6 14.2
X1 5 5 5 12.5
X2 5 5 5 12.5
OLE 5 4 4 10.8
6
2023-24 No. of lessons
/ week S.
4 S.5 S.6 %
English 6 6 6 15
Chinese 6 6 6 15
Mathematics* 5 5 5 12.5
LS 3 3 3 7.5
X1 5 5 5 12.5
X2 5 5 5 12.5
X3 5 5 5 12.5
OLE 5 5 5 12.5
*Remarks: Release of Math lesson time in schools is NOT a must. In this school, the Math lesson time is suggested to be reduced simply because the current lesson time allocated to the Compulsory Part (CP) (15% of the total lesson time) is more than the suggested lesson time for CP (10%-12.5%) in the curriculum document.
Elective
Subject BAFS BIO CHEM CHIS DAT ECON GEOG ICT PHY THS VA No. of
Group 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Block 1 BIO DAT ECON GEOG PHY TH
Block 2 BAFS CHEM CHIS ICT VA
2020-2021
2021-2022
Block 1 BIO DAT ECON GEOG ICT THS
Block 2 BAFS CHEM CHIS PHY VA
Block 3
(To be arranged in the
afternoon session) BAFS CHEM THS ApL M1
CHI/ENG/
STEM/LAC/RA C
Elective
Subject BAFS BIO CHEM CHIS DAT ECON GEOG ICT PHY THS VA No. of
Group 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1
To be arranged in the afternoon session
To offer 3 electives (Chemistry, BAFS, THS) and M1
To offer students’ favorite ApL courses with more career-related contexts in school :
Food Services and Management, Sports, Medical Science and Health Care
To organize STEM-related learning activities for students in STEM lessons by the collaboration between STEM co-ordinator and relevant KLA teachers
8
Block 3
To design and implement LAC learning
programmes for students in LAC lessons by the collaboration among English teachers, Biology and Chemistry teachers
To implement reading programmes for
students in RAC lessons by the collaboration between Chinese teachers and Non-language KLA teachers
To arrange Remedial/Enhancement classes of E, C, M and X
The Mathematics lessons of two classes of each level of S4 – 6 are split into 3 groups
according to the students’ Mathematics ability for catering the learner diversity
Students can apply to the Group learning
Foundation Topics and part of Non-foundation Topics
Students will be rearranged to the appropriate groups after half-yearly and final examinations 10
Split Classes in S4 - 6 Mathematics lessons
Class A
Students in this group : (a) learn Foundation
Topics and part of Non-foundation Topics
(b) may release some learning time in Mathematics to enhance the learning
of other subjects
Students in this group learn both
Foundation Topics and
Non-foundation Topics
Students in this group : (a) learn both
Foundation Topics and Non-foundation Topics (b) are keen interest in
Mathematics (c) may take M1
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3
Class B
S4 - 6
5. Rationale for the Adaptations
Sufficient choices can be provided for students to take their favorite electives, e.g. offering Chemistry, BAFS, THS etc. in Block 3
Some students are keen interest in science can take 3 science subjects - Physics, Chemistry and Biology
After-school M1 lessons can be arranged in the
normal timetable so that students can have a more in-depth and interactive learning approach
Remedial/Enhancement classes of E, C, M and X can be arranged in the normal timetable to enable
students to join OLE activities after school
12
The split classes in S4 – S6 Mathematics lessons
according to the students’ Mathematics ability can cater the learner diversity
ApL lessons can be arranged in the normal timetable and keeping lessons on Saturday (Mode 1)
Students can take 2 ApL Courses, e.g. 1X + 2 ApL, 2X + 2 ApL
Enhancing efforts to STEM Education for strengthening students’ ability to integrate and apply knowledge
and skills in Science, Technology and Mathematics
Implementing Language Across Curriculum (LAC) for creating a language-rich environment for students and increasing students’ motivation to learn English and subjects using EMI
Promoting Reading Across Curriculum (RAC) for enhancing the reading atmosphere on campus
Creating space for enhancing Value Education and Aesthetic Education in OLE lessons
14
6. Manpower planning
Through optimising the core subjects, the school can re-allocate the teachers’ teaching duties to release some teachers’ capacity to take up
The teaching of electives (Chemistry, BAFS, THS) in Block 3
Remedial/ Enhancement classes
LAC, RAC and STEM lessons
The readiness of teachers to teach other subjects
Some teachers majoring in LS need to attend the professional development programmes to upgrade their knowledge in
teaching other subjects
