The Big Picture: Intent/Implementation/Impact

Our Vision

Our goal is to become a world class centre of educational excellence, where we strive to ‘be the best’ in everything that we do. As part of our exciting ‘Journey to World Class’, positive relationships, mutual respect and the promotion of an ambitious school culture are at the core of what we do each and every day.

At the heart of what we do is high quality teaching and pastoral care, overseen by strong and passionate leadership. What we believe will follow is a strong ethos, and students with high expectations who demonstrate exceptional attitudes to learning, which enable each and every student to have the best possible opportunities to succeed and excel in an increasingly competitive world.

This attitude will enable us to meet our goal of becoming a world class centre of educational excellence and ensure that our students leave with a first-class education.
For us, it is essential that all members of our school community put in the time and energy to bring our ethos to life. It is important that everyone who steps through our doors - staff, students and parents - are excited to be here and understand that everything we do is underpinned by our three core values of ‘Respect, Ambition and Responsibility’.

Our Curriculum Intent/Implementation/Impact Dashboard

As part of our world class vision, we strongly believe in offering a broad, balanced, rich and inclusive curriculum experience, where each student is challenged academically & prepared with the knowledge, skills and understanding relevant for adult life and employment.

We passionately believe that, as educators, we have the power and responsibility to inspire our students to be the best they can be and it’s our view that our students should be challenged and not limited. Therefore, our curriculum is designed and tailored to provide opportunities for students to develop as independent, confident and successful learners who think critically and have high aspirations for future learning and employment. As a result of the high expectations our team have of every child and their abilities both at Moor End, and beyond, our students are empowered to have big ambitions to achieve their passports to success.

Implementation of Our Curriculum

Curriculum Entitlement

We believe in delivering a broad, balanced, inspiring and challenging curriculum that constantly evolves and develops
We maintain a variety of high quality academic and vocational qualifications which are relevant, up to date and responsive to student voice, parental views and the local and national labour market.
We follow the subjects and aims set out by the Department for Education in the national curriculum.
We run a three year Key Stage 3 programme so students receive their full KS3 curriculum entitlement.

5 Year Curriculum Journey

Our curriculum should be viewed as a 5-year journey which is clearly aligned with the purpose and aims of the national curriculum for each subject.
KS3: We have a three-year key stage 3 model which enables students to study the full range of subjects in greater depth.
KS4: Options will be selected by students at the end of Year 9 to begin in Year 10 going forward. We have a wide range of both academic and vocational subjects and qualifications on offer at key stage 4 which support the interests of our students along with successful transition to high quality post 16 further and higher destinations.

5 Year Curriculum Sequencing

Whole academy overview: Our curriculum is planned and sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before.
Subject 5-year maps: Each subject area has set out the essential knowledge and skills that will be taught across the five years.
We look for opportunity for collaboration between subjects at different stages to make learning more cohesive and linked, and to support students in building schema.

Ambitious Curriculum

Students taking separate sciences, languages and the full EBACC are higher than the national average. Why? Our students and parents respect the value of education and understand the currency of high-quality academic qualifications.

Our Curriculum Offer Should be Viewed as a Five-Year Journey in Two Distinct Parts

Our students study a full curriculum and we teach the full range of subjects for as long as possible, ensuring students receive their curriculum entitlement at key stage 3 and our curriculum is coherently planned and carefully sequenced towards building a solid platform for future learning and ultimately employment and engagement in a modern society.

KEY STAGE 3 (YEARS 7, 8 & 9) Building upon (not repeating) the knowledge and skills developed at Key Stage 2, receiving the full breadth in their Key Stage 3 curriculum entitlement, ensuring firm foundations are laid for future success. Students move from developing new knowledge and skills to mastery level in a full range of subjects.

KEY STAGE 4 (YEARS 10 &11) Where students are able follow a full range of GCSE and vocational qualifications which they will sit at the end of Year 11 to support a successful progression to high quality institutions and courses post 16.

Curriculum Model

Curriculum Model 2021-2022 - KS3	Curriculum Model 2021-2022 - KS4
Curriculum Model 2022-2023 - KS3	Curriculum Model 2022-2023 - KS4
Qualifications Overview

The curriculum for all our year groups and abilities is broad, balanced, inspiring and challenging, including a wide variety of relevant academic subjects and practical based subjects to prepare students fully and ensure that they have the knowledge and skills they need to be successful at school and in life and to support progression to the next stage.

Key Stage 3

Our students study a full key stage 3 curriculum. We have a deep belief that KS3 is where teachers can really instil love for a subject and set down strong roots of knowledge, skills and understanding. We believe that key stage 3 classes are the real bread and butter of teaching and the knowledge, skills and understanding that we equip students with from when they first come to us as 11-year-olds will prepare them for the challenges they will face at KS4.

Key Stage 4

Key Stage 4 options are selected by students at the end of Year 9 to begin in Year 10.
We have a wide range of both academic and vocational subjects and qualifications on offer at key stage 4 which support the interests of our students along with successful transition to high quality post 16 further and higher destinations.
The Key Stage 4 curriculum ensures that all subjects have an appropriate allocation of time over the courses required to prepare students for the linear examinations at the end of Year 11 and/or other methods of assessment relevant to the course followed.
Our Key Stage 4 curriculum offer and the subjects available compliment the post 16 education offer locally and is responsive to the needs of the economy and labour market locally and nationally. Students study subjects which will enable them to transition successfully to the next stage of education and ultimately into employment successfully.
It is anticipated that around 45% of Year 11 in 2020/21 will complete the full range of EBACC subjects/ qualifications with the vast majority of the year group studying most of these subjects.

We believe that our curriculum is never static and should constantly evolve and develop. With this in mind it is under constant review in order to respond to a variety of changes. These changes may include: context, prior attainment, student choice, individual or cohort needs, destinations to further and higher educational establishments, economy and employment needs, national policy changes, parental views and qualification reforms.

Curriculum Organisation

Our students follow a two-week timetable which consists of 25 periods a week with 5 lessons a day with a 20-minute form period daily.
There are 8 classes/ 200 students in each year group.
In Years 7 and 8 there is both mixed ability and setting for students with the flexibility to move dependent on ability and/or progress in a particular subject.
In Year 9 students largely follow a similar range of subjects as part of their key stage 3 curriculum entitlement. All students take an option which they will follow through into key stage 4 as part of their curriculum.
In Years 10 and 11, students are organised into pathways. All students largely follow a core curriculum with some distinctive features for each pathway with a range of options in order to allow them to specialise and follow their interests.
Students largely follow an ambitious and academic curriculum with a range of EBACC subjects on offer.
At Key Stage 4 students are able take 9 qualifications at the end of Year 11 with a small number taking 10.

Equity in the Curriculum

Our curriculum offer reflects a range of EBACC subjects for all students throughout key stage 3 and 4.
All students study a range of high-quality GCSE and vocational qualifications
The curriculum is organised and delivered by specialist subject leaders/teachers for all subjects/all abilities.
We have a three-year key stage 3 model which enables students to study the full range of subjects in greater depth.
Students are largely set in key stage 3 to allow for movement dependent on ability in individual subjects.
A higher proportion of students study separate sciences than the national average.
All students have exposure/ access to a modern foreign language in Key Stage 3.

Teaching Pedagogical Approach

5 Phase: Lessons at MEA are structured using a 5-Phase approach.
High expectations: High-quality learning and teaching, in every lesson, every day features a culture of mutual respect, high order questioning, collaborative learning and activities linked to knowledge retrieval which means our students are engaged and challenged.
Red zone: students complete work completely independently to demonstrate their aptitude with the new learning that has taken place.
Assessment: teachers use assessment to check students’ understanding in order to inform teaching, and to help students embed and use knowledge fluently and develop student understanding.

Literacy

Our curriculum is underpinned by developing students’ abilities to speak, listen, read and write for a wide range of purposes, including using language to learn, communicate, think, explore and organise.

Reading

Students are exposed to a range of high-quality and challenging texts across the curriculum. All Key Stage 3 students have a timetabled library lesson as part of the English curriculum. This aims to develop and support a love of reading, as well as, using ‘Bedrock Vocabulary’ to increase students’ engagement with language. This develops their use of academic vocabulary encouraging them to learn and use the challenging language they will come across in text books, lessons and exams.

Personal Development

We encourage our students to participate in a range of enrichment activities both within and beyond the end of the school day to support both their academic and wider development. We believe engaging enrichment must be an integral part of our curriculum offer to enable our students to develop their confidence – including their resilience and independence and to help them know how to keep physically and mentally healthy.

Impact of Our Curriculum

Aspirational Learners

Students strive for excellence, showing positive attitudes, and a commitment to learning.

Students know more, remember more, and are able to do more as a result of our quality first teaching.

Students enjoy reading. They read widely and often, with fluency and comprehension of the texts/ genres they engage with.

Challenging Offer

Students are given work that is demanding and matches the aims of the curriculum intent.

Students follow a curriculum which is coherently planned, sequenced and implemented to enable detailed knowledge and skills for future learning and employment.

Students are provided with a wide range of cultural capital opportunities they need to succeed in life.

Passport to Success

Students, including those who are disadvantaged and those who have SEND, make strong progress from starting points across the curriculum, as a result of excellent curriculum implementation.

Students gain qualifications to enable successful progression to relevant and high-quality post 16 destinations that match their interests and aspirations.

Students are ready for the next stage beyond our setting and high rates of students remain in education or training.

Leaders of Tomorrow

Students demonstrate an active understanding of our three core values: Respect, Ambition & Responsibility.

Students have access to a wide, rich set of experiences to develop their strength of character and resilience.

Students develop an understanding beyond the academic curriculum, building powerful knowledge, skills and understanding which enables them to engage, participate and impact positively in our local communities as positive, active and responsible citizens.

Why Are We Doing This and Why It is Right for Our Students and Community

Teach , Guide, Motivate and Inspire

We passionately believe that, as educators, we have the power and responsibility to inspire our students to be the best they can be - to enable our learners to pursue their dreams and become the leaders of tomorrow.

Passport to Success

We are committed to delivering an outstanding education to all our students to ensure that we can say, with confidence, “we gave every student his or her GCSE passport to success” by equipping them with the knowledge and skills and understanding to be prepared for adult life and employment.

Community Transformation

We want to motivate and educate our young people into becoming thoughtful, active citizens who develop the knowledge, skills and understanding required to play a full part in society as active and responsible citizens.

What Makes Our Curriculum Distinct, Different and Unique?

Transition

We aim to put the right building blocks in place for our students to be able to make smooth and rapid progress through transition points. Our curriculum development involves constant dialogue with key stakeholders to ensure the best, and right provision, for our young people. Such discussions begin at Key Stage 2 and throughout the phases within our curriculum and beyond with our post 16 partners. This gathered intelligence allows school teachers, and leaders, more accurately, and more effectively, to evolve the curriculum and so maximise success in reaching the ultimate objective for our students.

Ambitious Curriculum

Our proportion of students taking separate sciences, languages and the full EBACC are higher than the national average with the aim of supporting students into high quality post 16 destinations and ultimately university and the world of work. Our students and parents respect the value of education and understand the currency of high-quality academic qualifications.

Year 9: Mastery Option

Students select one option towards the end of Year 8 to start in Year 9. This will enable them to deepen their knowledge and understanding in an area that is of interest to them. YEAR 9: They will follow this subject through into Key Stage 4.

Citizenship GCSE

Citizenship GCSE is part of the curriculum for all KS3 and available to all at KS4. We believe that this subject is an essential component of our curriculum. It has the power to motivate and educate our young people into becoming thoughtful, active citizens who engage with British values as well as developing the knowledge, skills and understanding our students will need to play a full part in society as active and responsible citizens.