Intent Implementation Impact

Intent

We have a curriculum that is ambitious and designed to give all learners, particularly the most disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or high needs, the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.

Our curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning and employment.

Our curriculum ensures we have the same academic, technical, or vocational ambitions for almost all learners. Where this is not practical – for example, for some learners with high levels of SEND – our curriculum remains ambitious and meets their needs.

Our learners study the full curriculum. We teach the full range of National Curriculum subjects for three years; students are supported to select a broad range of options which are completed in our two-year Key stage 4.

Our curriculum supports and encourages students to read.

Implementation

Our espoused pedagogy is based on Rosenshine’s principles of instruction. Three of our five teaching routines are based on these principles to support high quality questioning, modelling, and feedback. The remaining two routines support teachers in planning for students with different needs and abilities and to support literacy and especially reading.

We ensure our teachers have an excellent knowledge of the subjects and courses they teach. Teachers model and present subject matter clearly, promoting discussion, challenge and extending learning about the subject matter they are teaching. They check learners’ understanding systematically using different types of questioning. Questioning also allows teachers to identify misconceptions quickly and accurately, and provide clear, direct feedback. In doing so, they respond and adapt their teaching as necessary. Our teachers are trained to scaffold new knowledge and skills to ensure our intent of a full and ambitious curriculum is accessible for all. They use techniques to help learners to remember more knowledge in their long-term memories and to integrate and link new knowledge into larger concepts. We offer and practice retrieval opportunities at the start and throughout the lesson.

Our longer lessons allow student to receive regular instant feedback on their work and learning. Students record this feedback in green pen and then make changes to their work based on this new learning. We use summative assessments to track progress and adapt teaching at key points during each topic. These are coherent with the latest lesson content, but we also assess previously acquired knowledge. We assess reading ages using a standardised test to ensure students are chronologically on track with their reading, and to plan reading interventions where needed.

We have a common set of learning routines that reduce cognitive load on students and ensure that routines around the start of the lesson, questioning, modelling, feedback, and the end of the lesson make the most efficient use of learning time and create an environment that allows the learner to focus on learning.

Teachers select and use resources and materials from centralised shared areas to reduce unnecessary workload and to allow them to plan for their individual classes and students. They follow a common scheme of learning in each subject area, this supports the school’s intent of a coherently planned curriculum, sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning, qualifications, and employment.

We have an established literacy strategy that aims to develops learners’ confidence and enjoyment in reading and a curriculum that has a focus on disciplinary literacy. We have programs within the school that support students with low levels of literacy delivered by trained staff.

Impact

Our curriculum ensures learners develop detailed knowledge and skills across all subject areas and, as a result, achieve well. It prepares our students for the next stage of their education, employment, or training. Our students gain qualifications that allow them to go on to destinations that meet their interests, aspirations, and the intention of their course of study. Our curriculum design and intent means students read widely and often, with fluency and comprehension. We aim for our students to have a reading age that is broadly in line with their chronological age.