CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

The intent of our school curriculum is:

“To deliver an ambitious and challenging curriculum that is broad and balanced, providing an exceptional education for every child, every day.”

Our curriculum aims are:

• To foster a love of learning
• To support and grow the learner as a whole
• To rapidly develop literacy and numeracy skills
• To enhance cultural capital and enrich lives
• To drive personal development and understanding of society and the wider world
• To raise aspirations and inspire learning
• To provide purposeful, real world learning opportunities
• To support and encourage progression to further education and training leading to higher education and employment

Every student, regardless of their starting point, background or circumstance, will receive a curriculum that will enable them to:

1. Gain knowledge, skills and qualifications to be successful in life
2. Develop skills and qualities that allow them to contribute to a positive society

Our pupils follow a broad and balanced curriculum and staff are encouraged to enrich each pupil’s subject knowledge with offsite learning such as theatre visits and field trips. Enrichment opportunities are offered through subjects and year groups and there is an extensive extracurricular programme which runs during lunch time and after school. Literacy, ICT and Numeracy are promoted in all lessons as well as the four strands of Personal Development that enhance our subject curriculum.

KS3 Curriculum

At Key Stage 3 students follow a curriculum that is varied, engaging, and differentiated and designed to meet the needs of individual and groups of students. The Key Stage 3 (Years 7, 8 and 9) curriculum consists of:

• English
• Maths
• History
• Geography
• Science (Biology, Chemistry and Physics)
• Art
• Drama
• Music
• Design Technology (including Textiles, Food and Resistant Materials)
• Computer Science
• Physical Education
• MFL
• PSHE and Citizenship
• RE*

During Year 9 students will be guided and supported in order to select the options subjects that they will follow at Key Stage 4. A parents information evening, options interviews, along with an intensive programme of advice and support are a significant and valued part of the options process. This process is the opportunity for students to further personalise their curriculum and learning pathway, and includes choices from a range of traditional GCSE subjects such as History, Geography and Modern Foreign Languages as well as vocational subjects such as Health and Social Care, Business and ICT.

KS4 Curriculum

Our Key Stage 4 curriculum allows students to personalise their educational pathway, selecting from a range of GCSE and vocational qualifications.

All students at Key Stage 4 follow a core curriculum.

Year 10 and 11:

• English Language and Literature
• Maths
• Triple Science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
• Physical Education
• PSHE, Citizenship and RE

All pupils also study a minimum of one from:

• History
• Geography
• Computer Science
• MFL

Students then select a minimum of three from a range of GCSE and vocational options. Alternative qualifications (BTEC Level 1/2 Tech Awards) equivalent to 1 GCSE include:

• Art
• Business
• Computer Science
• Design Technology
• Drama
• Music
• Sociology
• Health and Social Care
• Food and Nutrition
• ICT
• Sport
• Statistics
• MFL
• History
• Geography
• RE*

A key part of the core curriculum is the preparation for an effective transition into Further Education. Year 11 students are guided and supported through an intense programme of learning activities and opportunities including applications, personal statements and interview preparation, all culminating in the annual Business Day in the spring term.

*All students in KS3 and 4 study Religious Education as part of their core curriculum. The curriculum is designed to meet the requirements of the locally agreed SACRE syllabus, as well as local need.

Participation in RE

English legislation states that:

RE is for all pupils. Every pupil has a legal entitlement to RE.

RE is a necessary part of a ‘broad and balanced curriculum’ and must be provided for all registered pupils in state-funded schools in England, including those in the sixth form, unless withdrawn by their parents (or withdrawing themselves if they are aged 18 or over).

The ‘basic’ school curriculum includes the National Curriculum, RE, and relationships and sex education.

RE is locally determined, not nationally.

A locally agreed syllabus is a statutory syllabus for RE, recommended by a local standing advisory committee for RE (SACRE) for adoption by a local authority.

Maintained schools without a religious character must follow the locally agreed syllabus.

RE is compulsory for all pupils in academies and free schools as set out in their funding agreements. This is a contractual responsibility. Academies may use their locally agreed syllabus, a different locally agreed syllabus (with the permission of the SACRE concerned) or may devise their own curriculum.

RE is multifaith, and recognises the place of Christianity and the other principal religions in the UK. Non-religious worldviews are included.

The RE curriculum, drawn up by a SACRE or used by an academy or free school, ‘shall reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian, while taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain’.

Contemporary guidance from the Government makes clear that the breadth of RE will include the six principal religions of the UK and nonreligious worldviews.

Parental right of withdrawal from RE

This was first granted in 1944 when curricular RE was called ‘Religious Instruction’ and carried with it connotations of induction into the Christian faith. RE is very different now – open, broad and exploring a range of religious and non-religious worldviews. In the UK, parents still have the right to withdraw their children from RE on the grounds that they wish to provide their own RE. This provision will be the parents’ responsibility. This right of withdrawal exists for all pupils in all types of school, including schools with and without a religious designation. Students aged 18 or over have the right to withdraw themselves from RE.

New information for 2024-25 will be here shortly.