Key Stage 4
CURRICULUM AIM
What does the Curriculum empower our students to achieve?
The curriculum is designed to help students realise:
- Confidence through personal and spiritual, moral, social and cultural development
- Relevant opportunities, experiences and responsibilities
- How to integrate process and functional skills
- Concepts, thinking, understanding and reasoning
- An appreciation of human creativity and successful, personalised achievement
CURRICULUM TARGETS
- To empower students to find and collect appropriate information
- To empower students to give reasons for opinions and actions
- To empower students to generate and extend ideas
- To empower students to develop as individuals
- To empower students to evaluate and make judgements
- To empower students to make contributions to society
- To empower students to recognise success
LEARNING FOR LIFE & WORK
What areas of learning for life and future work / training do we develop through the current curriculum?
- Personal Development
- Local and Global Citizenship
- Employability
- Financial Capability
- Home Economics
KEY ELEMENTS
What are the fundamental components that underpin skills and knowledge across the curriculum?
- Personal understanding
- Mutual understanding
- Personal health
- Moral character & spiritual awareness
- Citizenship
- Cultural understanding
- Media awareness
- Equality and diversity
- Employability
- Economic awareness
- Education for sustainable development
CROSS-CURRICULAR SKILLS & THINKING SKILLS
What cross-curricular skills do we value?
What range of thinking skills are used to develop learning?
Ensuring learning difficulties and disabilities are matched to thinking skills.
- Communication
- Reading & writing
- Using Numeracy & ICT
- Working with others & social engagement
- Organisational skills
- Independence & responsibility
- Self-esteem & confidence
- Self-worth & self-value
- Respect for self and others
Students are given opportunities to learn how to:
- Define a problem, enquire and predict outcomes
- Understand cause & effect
- Make connections, investigate, sort and classify, sequence and summarise
- Memorise and recall, compare and contrast, imagine, modify and make deductions
- Draw inferences, reason, explain, evaluate and create
AREAS OF LEARNING
Subjects / topics / opportunities etc.
- Core
- English (Literacy), Maths (Numeracy), Science
- Foundation
- ICT, PE, Citizenship
- Entitlement
- The Arts (Art & Design, Music, Dance, Drama)
- Design & Technology (Design Technology)
- Humanities (Geography, History)
- MFL (French)
- Religions & Culture (RE, Sex & Relationships Education)
- Complimentary activities: where appropriate - Food Technology, Horticulture, physiotherapy, warm-water swimming, occupational therapy and equine therapy
LEARNING EXPERIENCES
How are students engaged and their learning optimised to help with real-world challenges?
- Integrated skills
- Offers choice
- Enquiry-based
- Collaboration and partnership working
- Investigation & problem solving
- Relevant to daily experiences
- Challenging and enjoyable
- Media-rich and creative
- Encouraging independence
- Active and hands-on
- Student-centred
- Supportive and caring
- Culturally diverse
- Positive reinforcement
- Differentiated and reflective
- Structured yet flexible
- Understanding boundaries
- Knowing about expectations
- Links to KS3 and 16+
ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING
How does assessment aid the students’ learning?
Through assessment in 14-16 we:
- Advise on what to improve and how to improve it
- Celebrate success
- Encourage peer and self-evaluation of learning
- Build an open relationship between the students, teachers and support staff
- Share learning intentions with students
- Have whole group and individual target setting
- Take risks to enhance learning
- Advise on what to improve and how to improve it
- Celebrate success
- Encourage peer and self-evaluation of learning
ATTITUDES & DISPOSITIONS
What attitudes to learning and dispositions are clearly evident across the 14-16 Curriculum?
- Compassion – Achievement – Respect - Responsibility
- A right to be heard
- Support & concern for others
- Sharing worries
- Understanding personalities
- Commitment, determination, self-belief & optimism
- Tolerance & flexibility
- Community spirit
- Curiosity
- Protective behaviours