
Curriculum
Achieving Excellence Beyond Belief
Curriculum
Curriculum
Curriculum
Vision & Ethos
We encourage our students to be:
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Aspirational and Self-motivated
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Competitive and Driven
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Courteous and Compassionate
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Positive and Resilient
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Trustworthy and Honourable
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Develop the confidence, skills and attitudes necessary for economic wellbeing
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Understand their rights and responsibilities as citizens and the importance of making a positive contribution to society
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Develop moral awareness, cultural understanding and an appreciation of diversity
As a school we will seek to ensure that all students:
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Achieve the highest possible standard of achievement
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Have access to the full range of curriculum subjects
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Study a broad and balanced curriculum with relevance, respect, progression and continuity.
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Understand the importance of British Values
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Develop confidence and understanding of Literacy, Numeracy and ICT

The school’s curriculum is designed to
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Ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to access all available courses and activities.
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It is vitally important that students are given the opportunity to maximise every possibility in order to develop the skills, qualities and attributes to prepare them fully for their adult and working life.
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Affords opportunities for all students to develop a high level of literacy and numeracy required for success in the wider curriculum and in adult life.
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Delivers opportunities for students to learn to be successful, to gain useful, transferable skills whilst also acquiring relevant knowledge.
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Enables high standards of academic achievement where outcomes empower students to progress to Higher Education.
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The promotion of wellbeing and resilience alongside their academic studies.
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Ensures that all students are safe and understand how to stay safe.
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It aims to educate the students for life through the offer of a broad and balanced approach to learning, where relevance, challenge, progression, continuity and support are key elements of all the activities undertaken.
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A clearly differentiated approach to learning, which meets the individual needs of the student and supports a wide range of learning styles.
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Flexibility to meet the needs of each individual students and adapts as these change.
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Develop awareness of the local community, issues nationally and global issues.
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Provides an appropriate range of opportunities and experiences to inspire students to succeed in the next stage in their education, training or employment.
We will strive to ensure that all members of its community have safe and pleasant conditions in which to work. The atmosphere should be one which reflects commitment, tolerance, care and respect, whilst celebrating the success of those who are part of the community.
Key Stage 3 Curriculum Intent (Years 7 and 8)
In years 7 and 8 the aim is to provide students with the skill and knowledge to be able to achieve as they move forward through education and into adult life. The focus within each curriculum area is to develop the students' love for learning whilst giving them the opportunity to develop an understanding of the subject and where it can lead to. The Key Stage 3 curriculum is broad and balanced with all students studying the full curriculum.
The Curriculum Comprises:
English, Mathematics, Science, at least one Modern Foreign Language, Geography, History, Philosophy, Ethics and Religion (PRE), Art, Dance, Design Technology, Drama, ICT and Computing, Music and Physical Education.
The SMSC programme is incorporated into form time and where year group specific topics require delivery these are offered through drop down days.
Key Stage 4 Curriculum Intent (Years 9, 10 and 11)
In Years 9, 10 and 11 the aim is to provide students with the opportunity to study the core curriculum of the Ebacc subjects alongside four subjects of their own choosing. There is no restriction on the combination of subjects that the students can take and this allows them to specialise, where appropriate, to support a particular career path. Where no such career path is clear, students are guided to choosing a broad curriculum. Students can choose from a mixture of GCSEs and BTECs, and although students are encouraged to take a mixture of these to develop a range of learning styles and study methods, there is no requirement to do so. The vast majority of students will follow this programme of study, with a few in each year group not undertaking a foreign language, but being provided with additional literacy support. The subjects available in the option blocks are reviewed on an annual basis to take into account the changing needs of the student body and to allow access to new courses as they become available.
Core Curriculum: English Language, English Literature, Mathematics, Science (Double or Triple), Humanities (Geography or History), MFL (French or Spanish) and Core PE
Option Subjects: Art, Business Enterprise, Computer Science, Creative Digital Media Production, Dance, Design Technology, Drama, History (as well as Geography), Health & Social Care, Hospitality & Catering, Media Studies, Music, Performing Arts, Philosophy, Ethics and Religion (PRE), Photography, PE, Psychology, Sociology, Sport, Statistics and Travel and Tourism.
Key Stage 5 Curriculum Intent
Students are guided to the appropriate number of courses and pathway in the Sixth Form dependent on their achievement at KS4. Students are required to achieve at least six subjects at grade 4 (or equivalent) in order to study Level 3 courses this must include English. The number of courses taken at level 3 is dependent on the grades achieved by the students and is agreed in discussion with the student.
All students who have not achieved a grade 4 to Maths are required to continue their studies in these subjects. For students achieving a grade 3 this is GCSE; for students below a grade 3 this will initially be Functional Skills, with the opportunity to progress to GCSE
Level 3 Courses: Applied Science, Art, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computer Science, Core Maths, Creative Digital Media Production, Criminology, Dance, Design Technology, Drama, Duke of Edinburgh (Gold), English Literature, EPQ, French, Further Mathematics, Geography, Health and Social Care, History, ICT, Mathematics, Media Studies, Music, Performing Arts, Photography, PE, Physics, Politics, Psychology, Sociology and Sport.
IMPLEMENTATION
Each subject area has its own curriculum map/scheme of work that enables the learning of the students to be sequenced. At the heart of our curriculum lies a respect for the subjects we teach and for the insight that each provides into the world around us. We teach children how to think, how to criticise, how to be active, rather than passive, recipients of information; but each of these skills are taught within the context of the rich knowledge each subject provides. By instilling our students with the best of what’s been thought, said and done in each subject, we hope that our curriculum enables children to appreciate and participate in the full richness of the human experience. Subject specialism is at the heart of our curriculum and you will see differences in the way that the curriculum is constructed and assessed in different subjects.
Parents/guardians receive feedback three times a year in order that the progress and attainment of the student is shared.
Hours taught – 50 hours are taught during a two-week timetable
Year 7

Year 9

Year 11

Year 8

Year 10

Key Stage 5

IMPACT
At KS3 the focus is on developing the love for learning and the focus is on the students’ attitude to learning, where each student is assessed in a subject as either Excellent, Good, Satisfactory or Poor. Where a student has a number of Poor attitude to learning grades, the pastoral team support the student to improve upon this.
At KS4 the aim is for all students to maximise their potential. They are set challenging yet achievable target grades, based on their prior attainment at KS2. Each subject has its own targets but at the heart of this is progress that students make. All students are seen as equally valuable and all supported to achieve as well as possible. The target that are set for students would see each subject achieving above the national average and at least +0.5 contribution to progress 8.
At KS5 students are set targets based on their KS4 average points, this is then used with ALPS to set targets that would see the students achieve in the top 25% of students. These are both aspirational and achievable as target grades.