Our Curriculum

Curriculum Vision

Our curriculum at Callerton Academy is centered on providing our students with the essential knowledge, a wealth of skills and confident understanding to apply their learning in a variety of different contexts. We believe it is vital to empower our students so that they are well educated and responsible citizens both in school and as they enter the wider world.

Learning is focused on three key areas: Standards, Technique and Challenge. This means we want students to:

• have the highest standards in all they do
• demonstrate expert technique in their subjects, and
• be challenged so that they can reach their full potential

Curriculum Intent

Therefore, our curriculum, in line with the National Curriculum, will seek to do the following:

• enable children to retain and apply the essential knowledge and skills taught
• build upon prior knowledge to maximise the progress made by all children
• develop children’s numeracy, literacy and oracy, including the sustained expansion of their vocabulary
• promote reading as a life skill and enable our children to become life-long readers
• inspire children to become life-long learners
• create a culture of high aspiration through challenging content and therefore pride in achievement
• promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of children, including fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance for those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith
• provide opportunities for developing self-confidence, self-awareness, independence, creativity, respect and resilience in children
• promote knowledge and understanding of how children can keep themselves safe and healthy.

Curriculum Implementation

All subjects at Callerton Academy have a sequenced programme of study from Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 4, which implements the aims of our broad and balanced curriculum. It provides opportunities for children to achieve their potential and to fulfil their aspirations by encouraging high expectations and excellent standards of academic achievement and pupil progress.

The guiding principles for our curriculum implementation are:

• Quality first teaching to support every student to fulfil their potential
• Regularly review our curriculum to ensure it’s well planned and provides effective challenge.
• Regular opportunities for revisiting and securing prior learning
• Additional curriculum time in English and Mathematics to develop these key skills for life
• A strong focus on reading and literacy
• Targeted support and additional challenge to ensure students make progress at least in line with our expectations
• Engaging enrichment opportunities for all that are embedded in the classroom as well as beyond it
• A wide range of extra-curricular activities through our 7Up sessions, Aim Higher programme and other opportunities
• Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance is an integral part of the whole school curriculum and wider school life.

Our intake is very diverse in terms of social, cultural and ethnic background, and ability range. Therefore, we have carefully thought about how we have designed our curriculum and how we deliver this to meet the needs of our students. A key part of this is our use of targeted intervention to support individual success, coupled with our enrichment programmes for groups of students such as More Able (Aim Higher), Pupil Premium and SEN learners. We are especially proud of 7Up, which are our timetabled enrichment opportunities to enhance students’ education in a wide range of activities, including in STEM, enterprise and sport.

Our curriculum positively promotes the personal development, behaviour and wellbeing of students. It provides the support needed for students to advance to the next stage of their education and helps equip them for the demands of life in the 21st Century.

Our lessons are fifty minutes in length and students are taught the following subjects.

Students will have the opportunity to study a wide range of GCSE and Level 2 courses from Year 10 which will be shared with students and their families in Spring of Year 9.

If you have any questions or would like to contact us about our curriculum, please email us at admin@callertonacademy.org.uk or call us on 0191 605 3835.