INNOVATE . FOCUS . ACHIEVE
At Boldon School, all aspects of the school ethos, ‘Innovate, Focus and Achieve’ are underpinned across each subject area. In English, we strive to embed these principles within our curriculum:
Innovate: To create innovative and progressive schemes of work which are well-sequenced to ensure excellent student outcomes.
Focus: A clear drive and focus key threads for reading, writing and spoken language;
A relentless drive to sharpen key knowledge concepts and ensure understanding of portable themes.
To ensure that all lessons widen the scope and appreciation of grammar, vocabulary and subject content.
Achieve: The aim is to ensure proficiency in reading, writing and oracy; this is key to social mobility. Our robust curriculum is designed to build strong foundations in knowledge and understanding which lead to academic and personal success. We want our students to enjoy the subject, and be inspired to be innovative in their responses, to focus on skill acquisition and implementation and, ultimately, to achieve their true potential. Students will be well-skilled to succeed in their next steps, whether it be education, further training or the world of employment.
Each of our curriculum areas are carefully designed with the students at the heart of our thinking. The intent is for the framework for each programme of study in the National Curriculum to be well planned and sequenced to enable all students to build their knowledge and skills towards the agreed end points at each key stage. We consider how this is taught in order to support our students and ensure this is implemented effectively. For the desired impact to be reflected in the outcomes that students achieve through the education they have received.
This is embedded across each subject area: Science
Intent:
Literacy and reading are key activities to be planned into all curriculum.
Our intent is to provide all students with a broad, balanced and challenging Science curriculum that is both progressive and sequenced, rich in developing skills, knowledge and understanding. We aim to encourage enjoyment, interest and aspirations in Science, both in lessons and through extracurricular opportunities. We strive to create links with real-life examples, careers and global developments. We are committed to
All students are encouraged to adopt an inquisitive, critical and logical approach to problem solving, based on scientific evidence. We are committed to raising standards of achievement, through a variety of teaching methods and opportunities, including our bespoke and innovative Retrieval lessons. We challenge misconceptions and promote scientific literacy through our established subject-knowledge specialist planned schemes of learning, which are periodically reviewed, evaluated and improved by faculty leadership, constantly evolving based on the most up-to-date evidence of outstanding practice.
Our intent extends to developing confident, responsible and articulate young scientists in an environment conducive to learning, promoting British values where all students consider the social, moral and ethical implications of science in the media and the impact of science on their future lives.
Implementation:
With pedagogical principles at the forefront of our spiral curriculum planning, our schemes of learning promote student learning, ensuring progress through a variety of assessments. Such assessments include verbal feedback within lessons facilitated by targeted, progressive questioning using higher order thinking skills, and formatively assessed Quality Marks and end of topic assessments within each module. Students also have the opportunity to showcase progress through three assessment points throughout each academic year, which are reported to parents/guardians.
Pupils in every year group have a variety of Retrieval homework that specifically focus on developing the long-term memory of students, using a variety of resources such as booklets and online via GCSEpod. Students also experience Retrieval opportunities within every Quality Mark, end of topic assessment and feedback lesson. Retrieval opportunities are embedded into all schemes of learning, and students in years 9-11 have an innovative, fortnightly timetabled Retrieval lesson to further promote mastery learning and long term memory retention, allowing students greater opportunities to retain knowledge and understanding from their curriculum content. Pupils in Year 11 also are provided with the opportunity to attend weekly Retrieval intervention lessons after school as one part of the extracurricular offer from staff to students.
Scheme of learning and assessments are periodically monitored and evaluated by Science Leaders, as is student progress; this may be faculty-based and/or with the senior leadership team. Targeted interventions are provided both in class and via homework opportunities that are bespoke to the identified needs of students to promote further progress. All schemes of learning, assessments and home learning provision are planned by subject-specialist staff and then moderated by colleagues to ensure the highest standards of teaching and learning opportunities are provided. Further high standards are encouraged by the moderation of end point assessments by faculty staff to ensure that the most accurate recording of student progress is ensured.
Impact:
At both KS3 and KS4, formative assessment occurs at the end of every topic and at three assessment points throughout the academic year. Attainment outcomes are recorded and progress is analysed based on personalised student targets and comparing their subject progress index (SPI) through SISRA Analytics. Positive progress is constructed through student participation in outstanding schemes of learning and well-taught lessons that are planned and moderated by subject specialists.
Formative assessment is evident in every lesson and occurs in a variety of formats, from low stakes questioning using higher-order thinking skills questions that are targeted at students, low stakes Take 5 recall tests, differentiated BAR tasks, cold-calling and lollipop stick intervention. Lessons are evaluated by teachers with reference to progress made to the learning objectives, and in relation to long-term memory retention that has been displayed, and such evaluations inform future lesson planning to personalise for the students in each class. KS4 assessments and certification through the examination board Edexcel has taken into account the reading ages of the questions targeted through its assessment, and has been evaluated against differing examination boards. In addition, literacy levels, and also numeracy opportunities, are targeted throughout the schemes of learning, and marking of books includes the identification of misspelled words so that students’ awareness of correct spellings are encouraged and addressed to promote scientific literacy.
Staff use a rigorous triangulation method of monitoring throughout the year to gauge the impact of the curriculum design. Science Leaders and individual class teachers are constantly reviewing learning, evaluating student voice, providing individual feedback to move practice forward, celebrating positives and highlighting areas of development through coaching and continued professional development. Staff achievements are celebrated, and recognition across the faculty further encourages staff development, which positively impacts the teaching and learning experiences of all students. Further developments opportunities arise from evaluation of half-termly student voice, staff voice, lesson observations, learning walks, book monitoring and whole-faculty marking moderation.
Learning and progress at each stage of a students journey builds towards their individual end-points, whether that be further education, training or employment, all of which are encouraged through our well-taught schemes of learning that are planned to facilitate enjoyment and the raising of scientific aspiration for all.