Our Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 Curriculum
Our five-year curriculum is designed to meet the academic, personal and wider needs of all students, providing learning opportunities both inside and outside of the classroom. It is built around the needs, aspirations and abilities of our students, reflecting our local context and allowing our students to develop and enrich their personal and social capital.
The curriculum is ‘clutter free’, allowing for a depth that focuses on key concepts and knowledge. This equips students with a wealth of knowledge to go beyond exam success and to relate to the bigger picture, ensuring students see how their learning relates to a bigger story and the relevance of it. Our curriculum content is delivered in a logical progression, systematically and explicitly enough for all students to acquire the knowledge and skills required in each subject area.
Each subject has a clear year by year curriculum amp which ensures that student’s learning builds on what has been taught before and for what comes next. Subject curriculum maps also provide coherence to allow our students to make explicit connections across the curriculum.
Key Stage Three (Years 7-9)
The Key Stage Three curriculum covers the content of the National Curriculum. This ensures students study a broad and balanced curriculum that builds on, but not repeats, students’ learning in Key Stage Two.
The curriculum is knowledge rich and supports students to remember the core knowledge required to progress to the next stage of their learning.
Key Stage Four (Years 10-11)
Key Stage 4 provides the opportunity for all students to study a strong academic core of subjects and qualifications appropriate to their aspirations.
Students in Year 10 have the opportunity to personalise their own curriculum pathway and specialise in subject areas most appropriate to their needs, interests or future career paths. The additional time dedicated to these specialism subjects enables students to master the subject, fostering deeper conceptual understanding. This will build powerful knowledge which ensures students are sufficiently challenged and grasp the key concepts needed for success in Year 11 and beyond.
All students study Religious Education which develop religiously literate, engaged and spiritual young people with the knowledge, understanding and skills to positively contribute to the world in which they live.
The majority of students at Key Stage 4 will study the full English Baccalaureate range of subjects, which includes English Language, English Literature, Mathematics, Science, Humanities (Geography or History) and a Modern Foreign Language (French or Spanish). This core curriculum will provide a solid basis for further and higher education.
