Curriculum

Curriculum 

The Academy, Selsey is situated at the very heart of the local community and serves the surrounding areas of the Manhood Peninsula. 

The local area is semi-rural and is one of the last relatively undeveloped stretches of coastline, along the south coast. Employment is mainly in tourism, agriculture and horticulture, and the service sector (schools/shops). Our four houses have close links to the history of Selsey, specifically the RNLI giving students at insight into and pride in our local community. 

However, being almost surrounded by the sea can make travel feel difficult for young people and can engender insularity. We are determined that our students do not become insular in their thinking and are motivated to see and experience cultures and communities within and beyond our local context. Our ambition is for all of our young people, by the time they leave us in Year 11, to feel empowered to see, care for, love, respect and to flourish in their world.

Intent

We intend that our curriculum supports our Trust ambition that we ‘inspire learners and change lives’, along with our core values of PRIDE in Excellence.  We do this by offering an exciting, broad and balanced curriculum that aims to provide all students with the knowledge and skills that enable them to leave our school academically, socially and morally successful.  We intend that, by experiencing this curriculum, all students will be able to access the best further and higher education pathways, apprenticeships, or the world of work, and lead successful, happy and fulfilling lives.


The curriculum across all subjects is carefully sequenced so that prior core declarative and procedural knowledge is built upon, with continual opportunities for core knowledge to be interleaved throughout both key stages so that students know more, remember more and can apply that knowledge in a range of contexts.  Facilitating knowledge adds important local, national, and global context to core knowledge, and our curriculum intends to provide a richness and diversity that enables our students to experience learning in real life contexts.

The school curriculum is built on 4 core strands to ensure our students receive and are able to access it fully, those being:

To ensure any gaps in prior or new knowledge are quickly identified, we check progress frequently through a range of assessment opportunities, from lesson-by-lesson declarative knowledge tests, end of topic tests that assess knowledge retention and application, to more cumulative common assessments that assess students’ ability to remember and apply knowledge in a range of contexts.  The information from these assessments are used to adapt the curriculum's intending to quickly close gaps in knowledge and keep students on track to achieve at our ambitious academic flightpaths.


Beyond the main school curriculum, we aim to open the door to a wide range of experiences in areas of sports, the Arts, catch-up sessions, well-being, visits to places of interest and visitors coming into our school.

Implementation:

Our 5 year curriculum learning journey has been developed to allow depth and breadth of knowledge, to build cultural capital and equip our students with the skills needed to be successful life-long learners.

Reading, literacy and numeracy are at the heart of our curriculum; students have the opportunity to develop their reading through our Accelerated Reader and reciprocal reading tutor programmes.

Our curriculum is mapped out for each year group and cross-referenced against departments. This allows students to develop transferable skills, giving them the ability to adapt to different challenges which is vital to life beyond school. 

Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9)

Our 3-year Key Stage 3 curriculum meets and often extends National Curriculum requirement building on the knowledge gained at KS2 and gives students the tools they need to carry on to KS4 and beyond.  We are ambitious in what we expect students to achieve during this key stage and aspire for all our students to make strong progress from their entry points to the school that enable them to confidently access level 2 courses at KS4.


Alongside mathematics, English, sciences, religious studies and physical educations, KS3 students study a broad range of non-core subjects from day one. Art, performing arts, digital technology, and technology, ensure their curriculum give students a broad experience. 


Towards the end of Year 9, students choose their exam options. Parents and students are supported through these choices by expert tutors and subject teachers, along with a comprehensive CEIAG programme. 

Beyond the core offer, all students from Year 7 benefit from an extended school day including both enrichment and additional academic experiences.

Parents can find out more about curriculum the school is following by consulting our Curriculum Maps:


Key Stage 4 (Years 10 & 11)

Our KS4 curriculum has flexibility and choice, whilst still being structured and appropriate, and allows our pupils to access the full EBACC. In creating our KS4 offer, we listen to pupil voice and where possible find creative ways to facilitate courses where pupil numbers are small.

Students at Key Stage 4 can study a range of qualification to support career progression and maximize their potential. The qualifications on offer include traditional GCSE subjects, alongside vocational or technical qualifications. Students are advised on the correct balance of subjects to enable them to succeed at Key Stage 4

Students and their parents / carers receive careful guidance to help them select focus subjects in addition to the basic curriculum, to ensure the highest education pathways post GCSE studies.

All our students study:

They can choose four subjects from the following:

Teaching the Curriculum

Our approach to teaching and learning supports our curriculum by ensuring that lessons build on prior learning and provide sufficient opportunities for guided and independent practice. Our learning cycle (The Academy Learning Cycle or TALC) is based on The Accelerated Learning Cycle and is as such grounded in sound educational theory.

Outcomes

Input

Activity

Connect

Review

Impact

In every subject, pupils follow a 5-year flight path in their subject which continually builds on their prior knowledge and understanding to give greater breadth and depth to the subject.  Every subject follows their own personalised scheme of work which has been moderated externally by academies who have been graded “outstanding” by OFSTED and achieve high attainment and progress measures in their GCSE outcomes.  Every department has designed their own marking policy which is designed to fit their subject most appropriately.  Every term marking is moderated externally with other academies who study the same specifications and who have been graded “outstanding” by OFSTED and achieve high attainment and progress measures in their GCSE outcomes to ensure best practise is matched.

Students are assessed regularly using a variety of methods to ensure that the learning has been effective and any gaps in knowledge can be addressed.

The methods to assess pupils include:

• Knowledge tests

• End of term tests

• End of year exams

• Verbally in lessons

• Using AFL Techniques

• Mini Quizzes (Whiteboards)

• Any other creative techniques teachers feel are effective in their subjects.

Students are monitored and tracked by each curriculum leader.

For any further information regarding our Curriculum please contact Mrs Ford at head@tas-tkat.org