Curriculum
Context:
Waverley School is a through school catering for students aged between 4 and 19. Each phase of education builds on the previous, leading to the development of students who are ready to successfully take up their place in the adult world. In order to achieve this, it is essential that we have a well-considered curriculum intent that supports all individuals in fulfilling their potential.
Vision of the Waverley Education Foundation:
- Our vision for our Academies ensures their environment allows all learners to flourish by encouraging mutual respect
- Everyone will realise and achieve their potential
- We are the centre of the community and have the responsibility for its learning
- We will develop opportunities that will provide for the social and economic well-being of our community
- We value the diversity of our community, the wider world, and respect the individuality of everyone.
- We will ensure everyone in our school community has an understanding of human values and attitudes, past and present. This will include how society is organised and develops
- Pupils will be empowered to succeed within a British and Global society that will equip them to be the citizens of tomorrow, anytime anywhere and any place
Curriculum intent:
‘Curriculum’ is broadly defined as the ‘totality of pupil experiences that occur in the educational process’.
The intent of our curriculum is synonymous with our Trust vision statement.
We only have one intent statement as we believe the journey for our students begins in Reception and builds through to Year 11 and for an increasing number to Year 13:
- To provide a broad and balanced curriculum that is accessible to all students.
- To allow opportunity to specialise their learning and development following subject that are well matched to student ambitions during the final years of their education.
- To ensure all students develop a high level of literacy and numeracy required for success in adult life.
- To broaden students’ horizons through a range of spiritual, moral, social and cultural opportunities.
- To develop students personal and social education and awareness
- To promote health and wellbeing for all students
- To promote British values to enable them to become effective and successful members of society
- To ensure that all student
- ts understand how to stay safe in all aspects of their lives.
- To develop our core values of humanity, equality, aspiration and respect that will help students to overcome the challenges they are likely to encounter in adult life.
- To provide an appropriate range of opportunities and experiences to allow students to succeed in the next stage in their education, training or employment.
- To provide opportunities for all students to benefit from careers advice and guidance to allow them to be aspirational for their futures and in possession of the key information required to enter their chosen profession.
- To provide exciting opportunities to learn beyond the classroom through our extra-curricular offer, trip and visits.
EYFS provides our children with their first experience of Waverley. For the majority of our children this is their first experience of being away from their parents. Our curriculum places strong focus on skills and knowledge as well as providing the resilience required to thrive in a ‘new’ way of learning. We lay the firm basis for success, with emphasis placed on the development of phonics, writing and number. Youngsters experience a range of opportunities to develop skills and an understanding of the wider world through continuous provisions.
Key Stages 1 and 2 build on this excellent start, further developing students’ abilities in reading, writing and mathematics. We adopt a mastery approach to teaching Maths and these strategies permeate other lessons too. Students also experience a range of other subjects through our delivery of a thematic curriculum. Opportunities to work beyond the curriculum are introduced through a carefully considered programme of visiting speakers and project leaders. Consequently, students gain valuable understanding of issues relating to PSHE, RSE, SMSC.
Key Stage 3 currently last for two years. We are confident that this offers students a good breadth and depth of knowledge and skills, preparing them well for the next phase of their education. We do not allow the narrowing of the curriculum for any students, with even our Resource Base students accessing a full range of subjects. We are currently reviewing the Key Stage 3 offer to fully ensure that all areas of the national curriculum are delivered, with sufficient time to allow topics to be revisited in response to assessment. We believe this approach may further strengthen our offer, facilitating similar levels of intervention that we achieve in Key Stage 4.
Key Stage 4 sees us offer students a range of subjects, from which they are encouraged to study a curriculum focussed on progression into education, employment or training. We promote the importance of an academic curriculum, in particular the English Baccalaureate subjects. All students are supported to achieve the very best that they can achieve and only in rare circumstances that are in the interest of the child is the curriculum narrowed.
Students who join our Sixth Form benefit from a well-constructed curriculum offer that is matched to local demands. We have recently introduced a vocational offer for students who we believe will benefit from this alternative approach to learning and assessment. Students are fully supported in progressing to next phase of education and the uptake of university places is excellent. We believe this is a strong measure of our success.