Curriculum Statement 2024 – 2025
Curriculum Intent
At Aldercar High School we believe all students have an entitlement to a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum, which is aligned with the National Curriculum at Key Stage 3 and highly effective pathways at Key Stage 4 and into Key Stage 5. We recognise the diverse needs of our students whilst enabling all of them to have access to a core curriculum.
Our curriculum is designed to:
- Encourage an interest in learning that will last a lifetime.
- Build new knowledge in a sequential manner, based upon what our students have learnt previously.
- Build knowledge what students need to use in later life using clear start points and clear end points.
- Equip students with the skills, knowledge and qualifications needed to progress to further and higher education, apprenticeships or work-based training.
- Provide all students the opportunity to pursue the English Baccalaureate Route at Key Stage 4.
- Encourage students to take risks and be prepared to make mistakes in order to be successful.
- Enable students to make positive choices about their futures.
- Prepare students to be life ready.
- Broaden students’ horizons and aspirations and open their minds.
- Help students to make a positive contribution to modern British society as active citizens.
- Actively promote British values.
- Help students become healthy and active adults.
- Raise standards of attainment, over time.
Our curriculum reflects the needs of our community, our local area and national priorities. All courses cater for individual needs, abilities and interests, thus ensuring well motivated young people with improving outcomes, centred on our key curriculum principles.
Curriculum Principles
- Clear progress over five, or seven, years, where students learn more, do more, know more and remember more.
- There should be depth before breadth. Maximise learning time in all subjects.
- Additional time is given to English and Mathematics to ensure that students have the essential skills needed for life and to access the full curriculum.
- Targeted support and additional challenge to ensure that provision is in place to enable all students make progress in line with national expectations.
- Zero narrowing of the curriculum for SEND students, whenever appropriate.
- Support induction into secondary school for all Year 7 students, with specialised provision for students with SEND and students with other specific needs.
- Additional time will be offered for sports and the arts through an extended curriculum programme.
Our curriculum is designed to provide opportunities to continue learning beyond age 16 or 18 via academic and/or vocational routes. It is broad enough to enable students to change direction in the future without being hampered by choices made at 14 years old. For each area of the curriculum, we have Heads of Faculty who are highly skilled and passionate that our students receive the best experience of the subject possible, with teaching staff who are continuously developing their expert practice, ensuring that students learn more, know more and remember more.
To aid transition to further education or employment with training after Year 11 (age 16) or Year 13 (age 18) we work closely with local colleges, local businesses and training providers. Whichever route our students choose to take when leaving Aldercar High School, our transition programme ensures that no-one leaves Aldercar High School without having a positive and appropriate post-16 or post-18 destinations.
Curriculum Implementation
It is essential that the curriculum is organised in such a way that it provides students with the opportunity to learn expected behaviours and be successful in their learning so that we can deliver our mission and aims. The implementation of our curriculum is driven by quality first expert teaching and learning in the classroom, led by highly skilled teachers who are passionate about sharing their subject knowledge, built upon great relationships with our students, thereby encouraging a love of learning.
Our curriculum provides a core of essential skills, knowledge and understanding. In Key Stage 3 (years 7 to 9), we use sets and mixed ability groups as appropriate, and have high expectations for learning. Heads of Faculty ensure that learning is sequential through schemes of learning that are linear and demanding. Learning is reviewed on a continuum of assessments that continuously build knowledge with ‘next steps’ feedback for improvement provided by teaching staff. The setting of our groups in Key Stage 3 ensures that students are receiving demanding work, ensuring they are challenged to learn and improve and, through working as a team with their fellow students, are not overwhelmed or left behind.
We have a broad Key Stage 3 curriculum covering 14 subjects meeting all the national curriculum requirements. This is taught in 50 hours of contact time each fortnight.
Year 7
The curriculum includes:
- English
- Mathematics
- Science
- Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) – Spanish
- Humanities – History, Geography and Morals and Ethics.
- Performing Arts – Drama and Music
- Creative Arts – Art and Design, Technology and Food and Nutrition
- ICT
- Physical Education
- PSHE
Year 8
The curriculum includes:
- English
- Mathematics
- Science
- Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) – Spanish
- Humanities – History, Geography and Morals and Ethics.
- Performing Arts – Drama and Music
- Creative Arts – Art and Design, Technology and Food and Nutrition
- ICT
- Physical Education
- PSHE
Year 9
The curriculum includes:
- English
- Mathematics
- Science
- Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) – Spanish
- Humanities – History, Geography and Morals and Ethics.
- Performing Arts – Drama and Music
- Creative Arts – Art and Design, Technology and Food and Nutrition
- ICT
- Physical Education
- PSHE
At Aldercar High School, we follow a two-week timetable and the amount of lessons allocated to each subject per week in years 7 to 9 are as follows:
| Year 7 | Year 8 | Year 9 | |
| English | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Mathematics | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Science | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| History | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Geography | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Morals and Ethics | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| MFL – Spanish | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Art | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Design and Technology | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Food and Nutrition | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| ICT | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Music | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| PE | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Performing Arts | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| PSHE | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| TOTAL (per week) | 50 | 50 | 50 |
Option Pathways and Key Stage 4
In Years 10 & 11 students continue with the core curriculum of English, mathematics and triple science, and choose 3 additional subjects from options which build on knowledge, skills and understanding developed in the KS3 curriculum. Careful guidance is provided to all students with the support of parents and carers through a supportive option pathways choices process. All options subjects are taught with 5 lessons per fortnight.
We provide each pupil the opportunity to follow individual subjects at that are most appropriate for them, including the full range of subjects required to achieve the English Baccalaureate. Courses typically lead to qualifications at GCSE or Vocational Level 2.
The subject’s students are currently able to choose from are (Please note this is subject to change):
Art, Business, Construction, Engineering, Food and Nutrition, Geography, Health and Social Care, History, ICT, Music, Photography, Spanish, Sport.
The amount of lessons allocated to each subject per fortnight in years 10 and 11 are as follows:
| Year 10 | Year 11 | |
| English | 9 | 9 |
| Mathematics | 8 | 8 |
| Science | 14 | 14 |
| Core PE | 2 | 2 |
| Morals and Ethics | 1 | 1 |
| PSHE | 1 | 1 |
| Option 1 | 5 | 5 |
| Option 2 | 5 | 5 |
| Option 3 | 5 | 5 |
| TOTAL (per week) | 50 | 50 |
At Key Stage 4 core subjects retain sets but most option subjects normally cover a mixture of levels of attainment.
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
At Aldercar High School, we are dedicated to ensuring all students with SEND have the same opportunities as all other students, and where possible we do not narrow the curriculum for these students. SEND provision is at the heart of everything we do, and teachers are well equipped to understand and provide for the needs of all students.
Our team of Teaching Assistants support students in and out of lessons, and where necessary intervention packages are put in place such as literacy and numeracy intervention, social skills support, Thinking Reading, Active Hands are Achieving Hands, physiotherapy and occupational therapy programmes and anything else deemed necessary to support students.
The Extended Curriculum
At Aldercar High School we believe strongly in the importance of providing students with a wide range of opportunities for students to develop skills additional to academia. Some of the key skills acquired through an extra-curricular offer include; communication, problem solving and team work. Some of these opportunities are embedded within the 50-lesson weekly allocation, whereas other opportunities are provided after school, such as clubs across the Arts, Sports and music alongside student-led groups with particular interests. Our extended curriculum includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- STEM club
- Badminton club
- Football club
- Drama production
- Chess club
- Robotics club
- Maths club
- Duke of Edinburgh
- Pen pal club
We strongly encourage students to participate in such activities both within and outside school, in order to achieve an effective work-academia balance whilst also enriching their educational experience.
SMSC – Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development
Our curriculum, combined with our extended curriculum, has a thoughtful and wide-ranging promotion of students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. We are passionate that all students realise that it is a big and wonderful world out there that they can play an active and positive part in. To do this not only do we pursue excellence in academia but also ensure the students are equipped with the correct skills in which to do this. We fully acknowledge that we, as an aspirational academy, play an important part in providing the means for social mobility. We maintain close links with the local community and are forming an effective working relationship with the local primary schools.
We also plan opportunities for the children to know about keeping safe, linked to the Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) document. Much of this is covered in PSHE and through planned assemblies from both the senior leadership team and heads of years. We also plan for and promote British values, (Democracy, Rule of Law, Individual Liberty, Mutual Respect and Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs) ensuring that children are aware of their rights and responsibilities as a UK citizen.
Personal, Social, Health, and Economic Education (PSHE)
All students are taught PSHE where students have opportunities to discuss, listen to, explore and explain their beliefs and opinions on a wide range of topics and to develop the life skills they need to be healthy, safe, active and responsible British citizens who make informed decisions. It also supports the students to navigate the complexities of the modern world. By key stage 5 the PSHE curriculum helps to promote social cohesion and creates a more respectful and inclusive society.
Our students’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural education at Aldercar High School is essential to their development as young people. All curriculum areas contribute to this programme, alongside specialist provision within Morals and Ethics and through the PSHE/RSE curriculum. Students have opportunities to discuss, listen, explore and explain their beliefs and opinions on a wide range of topics and to develop the life skills they need to be healthy, safe, active and responsible British citizens. Our PSHE programme is delivered by form tutors and a variety of outside speakers who cover some of the topics.
Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSHE)
All students are taught RSHE where students have opportunities to discuss healthy lifestyles and relationships. There are a variety of curriculum areas that contribute to our RSHE provision include our PSHE curriculum, in Science and Morals and Ethics. It equips individuals with the knowledge and skills to navigate healthy relationships, make informed decisions about their sexual health and understand consent and boundaries. It also empowers students to develop and maintain respectful and fulfilling relationships.
Careers
PSHE also includes a careers programme in years 8 to11 and careers guidance is supported by our careers leads, and many external agencies. The careers element of the PSHE curriculum helps students to explore and understand pathways, develop skills and make informed decisions about their future.
All of our students have full access to Unifrog, which is an online impartial, user-friendly platform that helps students to consolidate information to support future pathways. It also offers tools such as CV writing to enhance employability.
Curriculum Impact
At Aldercar High School, we are dedicated to improve the outcomes of all of our students and acknowledge that we are on a journey where only the highest standards are acceptable for our students. Over the past two years, we have demonstrated substantial step-change through:
- Substantial improvement in our Progress 8 measure including the achievement of students SEND.
- Rapidly improving standards in the quantity and quality of work produced by our students across the curriculum.
- High recognition from Good/Outstanding Schools who confirm that our expert teaching and learning has improved rapidly and, as a result, the learning experience of our students in the classroom is consistently high.
If you have any queries about our Curriculum, please do not hesitate to contact our Deputy Headteacher, Mr Blake, at the following email address: ablake@aldercarhigh.co.uk.
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