Child Development

Studying Child Development explores the important first five years of life, when an inspiring supportive network of family, friends and outside provision gives children confidence and independence to grow and thrive.

Department Vision:

To place children and their early year’s development at the heart of every module. Our students are engaged, motivated and stimulated through dynamic, rich, learning experiences, to help them reach their full potential.

Department Aim:

To stimulate a fascination about child development through vibrant lessons that focus on details of observing, recording, completing portfolio work and assessments. Many interesting visitors are invited in, they bring the course topics alive and give learning a real-life relevance.

Page content:

Examination Boards:

KS4 – OCR Cambridgeshire National Certificate in Child Development (Level 1 and level 2) 603/711/6

KS5 – NCFE T-level Technical Qualification in Education and Early Years (Level 3) 603/5829/4

Students learn about the importance of a child’s progress within the home, wider family, and community in a specialist teaching area, equipped with laptops and a wide range of resources.

Our students learn to appreciate the huge developmental change that occurs in the first five years of life. They learn how children’s progress can be fostered through listening, talking and playing, both with adults and other children. Our students discover that children who are given the opportunity to explore, observe, experiment, solve problems and make mistakes have the tools to thrive.

Child Development is a hugely popular subject at GMS. Feedback, combined with the year on year first class results, show how successful this course is to all those who opt for this subject. The course has been especially chosen for the comprehensive coverage of a child’s early life. Students learn about the importance of a child’s progress within the home, wider family, and community in a specialist teaching area, equipped with laptops and a wide range of resources. The independent study, so valuable in many careers, is developed through individual portfolios.

Teachers are proud of students’ achievement, which is impressive at both KS4 and KS5.

Child Development is chosen by those who wish to pursue a career working with children; others choose it because it is relevant and offers the chance to acquire different skills from other KS4 courses.

There is a direct route to GMS’s Sixth Form childcare course: from there teaching careers, nursing careers and childcare careers are all available.

“Child Development is an amazing, fantastic, spectacular subject, which comes in useful in our everyday lives. The Child Study helped me to see how a child develops in all areas of its development. The visitors helped me relate theory to practice.” Yr 11 Student.

“Free the child’s potential, and you will transform him into the world.” Maria Montessori

Learning ladders

Click on the Learning Ladder to see a larger version. The Learning Ladder shows the subjects or topics that students will learn about each year. Click on any 'Year' roundel to view an in-depth Learning Journey for the year you have selected. This shows in more detail, what students will learn each term, with links to useful resources etc. (this applies to all roundels)

CHILD DEVELOPMENT KS4/5

View the Learning Ladder and the Learning Journey for this subject here.

Wider Curriculum

The Wider Curriculum allows students to take a further interest in their subjects and subject related material they study at school. The Wider Curriculum also enables parents and carers to actively engage with the opportunities offered by each department.

WIDER CURRICULUM KS4

Each PDF is hyperlinked, so when you click on them, the links will take you to areas where you may read, view, listen, visit and be creative.

WIDER CURRICULUM KS5

Each PDF is hyperlinked, so when you click on them, the links will take you to areas where you may read, view, listen, visit and be creative.

Career Options in Child Development

These are some examples of career paths available if you study this subject:

Nursery Assistant, Crèche Assistant, Child Minder, Play Leader, Teachers’ Assistant, Special Needs Assistant, Holiday Company Employee, Teacher, Nurse, Midwife, Social Worker, Child Psychologist, Private Nanny, Outdoor Activity Centre Worker, Childcare Practitioner