Our school offers a rich, broad and balanced curriculum, with well-planned lessons and focused teaching to enable all our students to achieve success. The class sizes are small enabling teachers to work individually with students. We have a happy and caring family ethos, where everyone is respected and staff and students have high expectations of themselves and others.
We are committed to ensuring that all students have access to the whole curriculum and are given equal opportunities to develop their full potential in a safe and secure environment.
Intention:
It is our Intention that
all students at All Saints School will be offered access to the National Curriculum, which may be appropriately adjusted in keeping with the educational and holistic needs of our students. We will make every effort to ensure that all areas of the National Curriculum are covered in keeping with the needs of our learners, which may well mean that the full extent of the National Curriculum is adjusted accordingly. In addition, our curriculum is consistent with the overall expectations of the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) regulations set out in the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2019. The Headteacher works closely with the Directors, Advisory Board and Senior Leadership team to ensure that the highest possible standards are consistently developed and maintained.
Our curriculum aims to:
- Provide a broad and balanced education for all students
- Enable students to develop knowledge, understand concepts and acquire skills, and be able to choose and apply these in relevant everyday situations
- Support students' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development
- Support students' physical development and responsibility for their own health, and enable them to be as active as possible
- Promote a positive attitude towards learning
- Ensure equal access to learning, with high expectations for every student and appropriate levels of challenge and support for all
- Ensure all students with additional needs have the support they require to enable them to progress alongside their peers
- Provide subject choices that support students' learning and progression, and enable them to work towards achieving their goals for the future
- Develop students' independent learning skills and resilience, to equip them for further/higher education and employment
Implementation:
We are proud of our unique context and the variety this allows us to bring to our curriculum offer. We want our students to learn a broad selection of subjects in order to allow them to open doors and grasp opportunities in the future. Our curriculum is well planned and seeks to build on the prior knowledge of students, make links and develop their understanding in all areas of their learning whilst addressing the knowledge gaps students may join us with, given the wide range of different starting points our students have and the impact that learning through the Covid pandemic may still have on them.
In Key stage 2 and 3, we look to offer a wide range of subjects to develop basic skills and knowledge on which to base future choices. This base includes core Numeracy and Literacy, Arts, PE, Humanities, Philosophy and Ethics, Computing Studies, but also looks to build cultural capital, and develop resilience in our learners.
Students are encouraged throughout the school to become independent readers, and these opportunities begin in KS2, where all learners get the support they require to allow them to get the most from our curriculum. All our students are regularly tested for reading fluency and where needed we use Fresh Start intervention reading programme which is a phonics based programme which encourages rapid progress. We promote the love of reading and all students spend lessons in our library. We aim to mathematically educate our students to be able to: use numeracy in everyday adult life, reason mathematically, solve problems, become fluent and confident using the fundamentals of mathematics, become curious and appreciative about the power and beauty of mathematics in the world around us.
We aim for a consistent pedagogical approach throughout Key Stages 2, 3 and 4, using a variety of calculation and other mathematical strategies such as bar modelling and multiplicative reasoning. We use a mastery approach to teaching mathematics and students are taught in vertical groups which may change from topic to topic to ensure any gaps are filled and there is an appropriate level of challenge. We use calculators when it is sensible to do so and not as a substitute for those crucial mental and written methods that help our students deepen their understanding of mathematical processes. Times tables (and their associated division facts) are practised on a daily basis, supporting mathematical understanding and developing confidence when learning new concepts.
We feel strongly that it is our moral responsibility to offer our students opportunities beyond the traditional classroom curriculum and see that it is of equal importance to build individuals students for their individual futures. The well-being of our students is at the core of all we do and because of this our curriculum offer allows the flexibility required to deliver everything our students need to succeed in the classroom and in life.
It is our intention that students are empowered through our rich, broad and balanced curriculum to make ambitious choices at Post-16 and to unlock a successful future regardless of their starting point or background and support is in place for all students in this process.
Impact:
The impact of our curriculum is measured through the external examination results of all of our students, but also our own data and through the in depth knowledge that we have of our students.
On arriving in the school we will organise for our students to sit CATs tests. The results of which provide a rounded profile of student ability enabling us to target support, provide the right level of challenge and make informed decisions about students' progress. It provides a unique profile of strengths and weaknesses across four areas: Verbal Reasoning, Non-verbal Reasoning, Spatial Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning.
We believe that it is important to look at how the curriculum has had an impact on everyone we teach, regardless of their starting point. We track the progress and attainment of our students throughout their time at the school, in order to not only ensure they are making the progress of which they are capable, but they are also able to make informed choices moving forward. It is key for us that our students leave All Saints School Lessingham with the emotional and intellectual literacy to be effective and active global citizens. We aim to give them the tools they need to succeed in life.
Advice and guidance will be sought by the school from appropriate professionals as appropriate. There will be significant regard to meeting needs, as detailed in any Education Health and Care plans together with formative and on-going assessment information. We create personalised Behaviour Management Plans for each student that are reviewed regularly and used by all staff to provide consistency across the curriculum areas. Staff support students to set their own targets in their planners which they review regularly to encourage taking responsibility for their own academic progress and personal development.
All Saints School will aim to provide a range of targeted courses that will result in formal qualifications and accreditation. These will be delivered in accordance with a solid understanding of the students individual needs, whilst maintaining the importance of reasonable challenge. Qualifications and accreditation may include GCSEs, Functional Skills and ASDAN for example, as well as courses with a vocational element or foundation courses. All students will be actively encouraged to take GCSEs.
This policy reflects that our school will meet the requirements to provide a broad and balanced curriculum as per the National Curriculum Programmes of study which the school has chosen to follow.
It also reflects requirements for inclusion and equality as set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 2014 and Equality Act 2010 and refers to curriculum-related expectations of our Directors set out in the Independent School Standards.
If you require any further details regarding the curriculum, please contact the school office.
