Curriculum

For further information regarding the curriculum at Spires Academy please contact Mr H Ovenden, Vice Principal, hovenden@spires.e21c.co.uk

Curriculum Statement

At Spires Academy we deliver a curriculum that ensures all our learners have the opportunity and ability to go on and lead extraordinary lives.

Our whole school intent has been created using the E21C Curriculum Principles. These principles have been distilled into four words that summarise concisely exactly what we are trying to achieve here at Spires Academy. These principles are securely grounded in research, and are as follows:

CURRICULUM PRINCIPLES

INCLUSIVE

Every child is supported to access a full curriculum

FOCUSED

Powerful knowledge us explicitly highlighted through Knowledge Organisers

SEQUENCED

Five year plans are carefully spiralled using spaced learning

COHERENT

Schemata (Big Ideas) are used to link new content to previous learning

BIG IDEAS

Our Big Ideas fit into our curriculum principle coherent, ensuring our curriculums are built on coherent schema running across the 5 years. Schemas (sometimes referred to as mental models, scripts, or frames) are structures that organise knowledge in the mind. When learning, the mind connects new information with pre-existing knowledge, skills, and concepts thereby developing existing schemas.

Our curriculums, develop and refine learners’ prior conceptions as opposed to teaching something entirely new. Approaches that compare, organise, and map concepts try to make schemas clear and visible and are thought to support learners to organise and extend their ideas. The flexible nature of schemas does mean that specific teaching and learning strategies foster a more desirable order to a learner’s pre-existing and developing knowledge.

Our approach to working with schemas focuses on pupils organising and elaborating on their ideas to develop more complex mental structures. We do this through the development of our subject specific Big Ideas that run through the 5 year curriculum. The relevant Big Idea is referenced at the start of each lesson through the curriculum slide, to orientate the learners within the curriculum.

In all of our 5 year curriculum plans you can see the Big Ideas outlined, mapped and developed over time.

OUR VALUES

We have three core values that underpin everything we do, including our curriculum. These are Respect, Resilience and Responsibility.

Respect: We show respect and expect it in return

Responsibility: We take responsibility for our learning and our actions

Resilience: We use our resilience when faced with challenges

INTENT

INCLUSIVE

Curriculum and assessment systems are designed to be effective for all learners
High quality support in place for all learners to access a full, broad and balanced curriculum
Diversity is celebrated and all non-inclusive, discriminatory and inequitable practices are challenged

FOCUSED

Some knowledge is of greater importance and use
The most important knowledge for each unit has been carefully considered
This most important content is intentionally shared repeatedly with pupils
Assessments are created to track students’ progress through this powerful knowledge
Responsive teaching results in teachers identifying and repairing gaps in this powerful knowledge

SEQUENCED

Curriculum content is mapped to ensure that pupils meet new content when they are ready for it
Curriculum plans ensure that linked content is revisited at regular intervals
This provides opportunities to check prior learning
Students remember more content because of this spaced practice

COHERENT

Big Ideas are used to create threads throughout the curriculum (schema)
Big Ideas organise knowledge in the minds of students
New information is connected to prior learning more easily
Pupils can better understand why they are learning new content

KEY STAGE 3

MIXED ABILITY GROUPING

As an inclusive school, KS3 are taught in mixed ability groups. Research shows that by teaching students in mixed ability groups, all students will have the ability and opportunity to succeed, irrespective of their ability or background.

BROAD and BALANCED

All our students are entitled to a broad curriculum over 3 years of Key Stage 3. Students study English, Maths, Science, MFL (French), History, Geography, IT, Music, Drama, Art, DT, Food, PE and Ethics and Philosophy.

OPTIONS PROCESS

In Year 9, students choose their GCSE options before commencing a 2 year programme of study in Year 10. Not only does this give students the opportunity to study subjects they have enjoyed and excelled in through their broad and balanced KS3 curriculum, but it also crucially gives them more time to develop the depth and knowledge needed to succeed in challenging GCSE qualifications.

KEY STAGE 4

In Years 10 and 11, our students commence their GCSE or vocational courses. Students study 9 GCSEs in total. All students study the statutory requirements of GCSE English Literature, GCSE English Language, GCSE Maths and GCSE Science. Students are then able to select 4 subjects from our broad offer. It is expected that a high proportion of our students will study the full EBacc qualification of English, Maths, Science, Geography or History and MFL which is open to all.

Core Subject

EBacc

Options

English Language

English Literature

Maths

Double Award Science or

Triple Science

History

Geography

French

Music

Drama

Art

Photography

Food Technology

Design Technology

Citizenship

Business

Computer Science

Sports Science

Health and Social Care

Child Development

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

We recognise that our students need to learn skills and access information to enable them to become confident individuals who lead safe and healthy lives. As such we have in place a clear programme of personal development, which develops students’ skills and knowledge around the following topics:

Living in the wider world
Relationships and sex education
Health and wellbeing
Careers and ambition

In years seven, eight and nine students have timetabled personal development lessons once a week. In years ten and eleven students have one drop down personal development day per term.

Form time plays a key role in the personal development of our students and there is a clear rota of activities for years seven to ten. These activities are outlined below and aim to help create students who are well rounded, literate, and articulate.

YEAR GROUP	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY
Year 7	Class Reader (Oliver Twist)	Assembly	Class Reader (Oliver Twist)
Year 8	Oracy Focus: The Day (discuss news and current affairs)	Class Reader (Lord of the Flies)	Assembly
Year 9	Class Reader (Noughts and Crosses)	Oracy Focus: The Day (discuss news and current affairs	Class Reader (Noughts and Crosses)
Year 10	Personal Development (careers)	Class Reader (Jane Eyre)	Oracy Focus: The Day (discuss news and current affairs)

YEAR GROUP	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
Year 7	Oracy Focus: The Day (discuss news and current affairs)	Personal Development (careers)
Year 8	Class Reader (Lord of the Flies)	Personal Development (careers)
Year 9	Assembly	Personal Development (careers)
Year 10	Class Reader (Jane Eyre)	Assembly