Curriculum Overview

Introduction

Ian Ramsey Church of England Academy is an inclusive school. We are committed to providing the best possible learning opportunities for all our pupils, and to enabling our pupils to achieve optimum success. Our mission is to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, meeting all statutory requirements, and enshrining our vision of opportunity and achievement within a Christian learning environment. As a comprehensive school our curriculum should provide the opportunity for all to succeed.

Personal, Health and Social Education/Citizenship, now known as Personal Development (PD) is a key means of enabling young people to be supported in their spiritual, moral, physical, emotional, cultural, and intellectual development according to individual need and regardless of their social and/or economic backgrounds. PD promotes well-being and enables pupils to develop their potential as healthy, enterprising, and responsible members of society. An effective PD programme, as part of an effective broader curriculum.

These outcomes are reflected throughout our curriculum aims. Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills are also integral to the personal development of young people and the roles they take on in life, and are also integral to the school’s curriculum. Every member of the school staff is charged with the responsibility of pupils’ personal development, either directly or indirectly, and therefore shares responsibility for the well-being of young people in school.

Monitoring

The  Local Governing Body and Trust Board are ultimately responsible, along with the Senior Leadership Team, for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the curriculum. Our curriculum is dynamic and is reviewed regularly to enable us to achieve our curricular aims.

Meeting the needs of all

Curriculum delivery will take several forms. The curriculum is structured in such a way as to meet the diverse needs of our pupils.

Our curriculum is fully inclusive. We encourage all students to consider the EBacc suite and allow all students who wish to take the EBacc suite of qualifications to do so. However, we also recognise the key role that more applied subjects play in preparing students for future study and offer these qualifications in a range of subjects. As curriculum time is limited and larger qualifications require more time we allow students a guided choice of three subjects at Key Stage 4 rather than focus on having a certain quota of students studying the EBacc.

We believe that if a student has a passion for a subject, they should be allowed to follow that passion irrespective of if they may have more chance of getting a higher grade in a different subject. For a very small minority of students the KS4 curriculum is modified to meet their differing needs. The following provision is made to ensure that these needs. The following provision is made to ensure that these needs are addressed:

• Support for pupils with an entitlement, who have a statement of Special Educational Needs or who are on the Special Educational Needs register.
• Provision of support in examinations for pupils who have a need and an entitlement.
• A system of guided subject choices in Key Stage 4, which enables pupils to follow a combination of courses most appropriate to their needs and aspirations.
• We have an Alternative Education Protocol, through which we monitor the quality of all off-site provision, including pupils’ attendance, punctuality, and progress
• EAL (English as an Additional Language) support is provided as necessary for pupils whose first language is not English.
• The school and the various subject areas have in place tracking and monitoring procedures to ensure that pupils’ learning needs are under constant review and are being met.
• The school monitors the progress of the more able and talented pupils, and Curriculum Leaders ensure that opportunities are provided to extend their learning.
• Personalised curriculum opportunities are available for identified pupils to support their wider learning and skills development.

Key Stage 3 Curriculum Structure

Key Stage 4 Curriculum Structure