Curriculum Overview

Our curriculum is purposefully constructed to be ambitious, broad and balanced. It is designed to:

• Provide a coherent, knowledge-rich and well-sequenced journey through each subject discipline
• Ensure that all students ‘know more and remember more’ over time.
  Promote high standards of literacy, numeracy and communication across the curriculum.
• Build resilience, confidence and intellectual curiosity.
• Support inclusion and remove barriers to success, particularly for SEND, disadvantaged and vulnerable students.
• Promote social mobility and reflect the diverse world our students are growing into.
• Empower students to think deeply, act ethically and contribute meaningfully to their communities.

Curriculum implementation is driven by expert subject leadership and consistent high-quality teaching in line with our Teaching and Learning Policy.

• Curriculum maps, schemes of learning map and end points map out clear progression and sequencing.
• Teaching is informed by Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction, focusing on explanation, modelling, scaffolding, questioning, retrieval and responsive teaching.
• Teachers plan learning through the lens of “Where are students starting from? What do I want them to learn? How will I know they’ve learnt it? How will I help them get there?”
• Retrieval practice, low-stakes testing and interleaving support long-term retention.
• Adaptive teaching ensures that learning is accessible but not diluted.
• A clear focus on vocabulary, and disciplinary literacy underpins lesson design.
• Knowledge-rich home learning consolidates and extends classroom learning and is communicated via Class Charts and planners.

The curriculum is delivered through a 25-lesson-per-week timetable, each lesson lasting for 1 hour. We operate a two-week timetable (A and B Week).

In Key Stage 3, all students follow a broad and balanced curriculum comprising: English, Mathematics, Science, Religious Education, Geography, History, Spanish, Art, Drama, Music, Computing, Technology & Food, Physical Education, and Personal Development.

In Key Stage 4, all students study the core curriculum: English Language and Literature, Mathematics, Combined or Triple Science, Religious Education, PE and PSHE. They choose three additional qualifications from a suite that includes GCSEs and BTECs, including Geography, History, Spanish, Art, Drama, Music, Computer Science, Creative Media, Business Studies, Food & Nutrition, Design Technology, Construction and the Built Environment, PE, and Health & Social Care / Child Development. (2025/2026).

A breakdown of learning time is as follows: