Curriculum for Social Justice

The curriculum is at the heart of our school’s purpose and reflects our core value of social justice through excellence in education. Raising aspirations is extremely important to us and we aim to develop the understanding that learning (and the experiences that take place within and around this learning) are the route to enhanced opportunities. We believe that improving educational outcomes is the biggest way we can positively impact on our pupils’ futures. We have designed a Curriculum for Social Justice that will not only enable pupils to achieve life-changing examination qualifications, but also a set of knowledge, skills and behaviours (cultural capital) that will enable them to lead a choice-filled life guided by a moral compass. Through curricular and co-curricular provision, our pupils are educated to be prepared for fullness of life. In addition to our curriculum, we have a co-curriculum called the ‘Be More Experience’ and expect all our pupils to have a 7 year journey, undertaking a series of ongoing challenges throughout that celebrate their personal development.

We call this our Curriculum for Social Justice and is based around seven principles that form our toolkit for thinking about how we design our curriculum:

• Balanced – Our curriculum promotes intellectual, moral, spiritual, aesthetic, creative, emotional, and physical development in our pupils by giving them access to a wide range of subjects.
• Rigorous – We seek to develop intra-disciplinary habits of mind; powerful ways of thinking that are developed through sustained engagement with the discipline.
• Vertically Integrated – It is essential there is a clear progression in each subject and our curriculum carefully sequences knowledge, providing clarity about what ‘getting better’ at the subject means.
• Coherent – Our curriculum makes explicit connections and links between the different subjects and experiences.
• Appropriate – Matches the level of challenge to a pupil’s current level of maturity and knowledge.
• Focused – Seeks to keep the curriculum manageable by teaching the most important knowledge; identifies the big ideas or key concepts within a subject and how they build and connect.
• Relevant – Seeks to connect the purpose of learning and why it is important to pupil’s lives.

It is our aim to deliver a curriculum that will enable pupils to have:

• Unlimited ideas and dreams.
• A vision of what they want to achieve in life and how to achieve it.
• A strong sense of duty, responsibility and service.
• Care and compassion towards each other, within the local community and the wider world.
• Choice-filled lives and the desire and motivation to develop as a good person.
• A positive contribution to local communities and wider society and a zest for living life to the full.

Learning Programmes

Our vision is ‘lived’ in the way teachers develop their curriculum and the way pupils experience it.

All pupils follow a Learning Programme (LP) in each subject. They detail the programme of study for each subject, setting out the core knowledge each child is expected to learn. All pupils follow the same Learning Programme. This means that all pupils are taught the same broad and balanced curriculum. The Learning Programme sequences the learning in a set period of time (7 or 8 weeks). It also outlines key words for each week and the homework which supports learning. It is really important that parents take an active interest in the learning that their child is experiencing. By following the Learning Programmes, parents can supplement the work being done in the Academy through further enrichment activities or independent study. Each Learning Programme builds on prior learning and outlines links with previous and future topics The teacher explains how the learning links with previous learning and supports the learning to come. Retrieval practice is built into the teaching and learning process. It is expected that Learning Programmes are revised and updated each cycle in light of evaluation of their effectiveness and to reflect any changes in terms of content and gaps in knowledge.

Long-term learning is embedded through a well-planned sequenced curriculum, underpinned by Pedagogy built around effective use of retrieval practice. Subject curriculums are aligned and sequenced to ensure pupils have a broad curriculum that stretches them and enables outstanding outcomes.

Curriculum Design

Our curriculum is well-planned and designed to enable Social Justice to take place for our young people. We aim to remove any barriers to learning that our pupils may have and support their learning through targeted support.

At Key Stage 3, all pupils study a broad and balanced knowledge rich curriculum. We operate a 3:2 curriculum model with 3 years assigned for a delivery for Years 7, 8 & 9 programmes of study. These programmes of study have been carefully crafted to ensure they go beyond the requirements set out by the national curriculum.

At the end of Year 9, pupils opt for subjects they will study in Years 10 & 11 and they complete these subjects at the end of Year 11. Our 2-year curriculum allows us to create personalised guided pathways for all of our pupils. An increasing number of students study the English Baccalaureate.

Our Curriculum

Equality and diversity are promoted through our inclusive curriculum offer and we provide all pupils with the opportunity to succeed and achieve the highest levels of personal achievement.

We shall achieve this by:

• The promotion of equality of opportunity
• Challenging discrimination in all areas of the curriculum
• Ensuring that curriculum planning will take account of the needs of all
• Monitoring and evaluating curriculum provision at school and Trust wide level so that it represents a diverse culture and society and encourages tolerance and respect.
• Ensuring that the teaching methods used in the delivery of the curriculum will be diverse and appropriate for all needs and learning styles
• Providing resources that reflect and promote equal access for all
• Promoting cultural understanding and awareness through the content and delivery of the curriculum
• Actively closing gaps in attainment and achievement between pupils for all groups of pupils; especially pupils eligible for Pupil Premium, pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, looked after children and pupils from minority ethnic groups.

Be More Experience (Our Co-Curriculum)

At BHA, we have developed a co-curriculum called ‘The Be More Experience’ and expect all our pupils to have a 5 year journey, undertaking a series of ongoing challenges throughout that celebrate their personal development.

We have designed a Be More Experience taught over 3 stages during their time with us. These are:

• Foundation Be More Experience: Year 7 and 8
• Intermediate Be More Experience: Year 9
• Master Be More Experience: Year 10 & 11

Our curriculum and co-curriculum are designed to make sure pupils feel valued and are respected so that they in turn learn to value others around them.