Curriculum

Our Curriculum Intent

A school where students come first and no one is left behind.

Intent:

Roding Valley High School leaders have constructed a curriculum that’s ambitious and designed to give all pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils and including pupils with SEND, the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.

‘Leaders have designed the curriculum well.  They have ambitious aims for what pupils should know to be ready for their next stage.  Leaders consider what will help pupils most, such as the application of mathematics to pupils’ daily life.  Subject leaders break down learning in a lot of detail.  They plan for teaching to build on what pupils already know, from Key Stage 3 through to Key Stage 5.  This means pupils build up their knowledge well.  The clear thinking about the curriculum particularly supports pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). This is because teacher identify closely the most important knowledge for these pupils to know and remember’  – Ofsted September 2022

Our seven-year journey. ensures that the curriculum is coherently planned, sequenced and interleaved towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning and employment for all students including SEND and disadvantaged. Skills Mapping link

Our pupils study the full curriculum; throughout years 7 to 9. At Roding Valley High School, our intention is to offer a broad and balanced curriculum to all of our students, to give them the best start at secondary school while experiencing a wealth of different subject areas, so that they are able to make informed decisions when they choose their GCSE courses later on in their school journey

Our students are taught in a mixture of banded groups (by ability) for English, Maths, Science, Humanities and Modern Language and in mixed ability groups for the creative subjects and PE.

In Year 7, we focus on transition, reading, extended writing skills and encourage our students to take advantage of each and every opportunity that is presented to them.

Our ability bands are Extension, Core and Support. We identify the appropriate band for each student using their individual KS2 SATS scores and their baseline testing. Our curriculum offer also includes a strong focus on character development and student wellbeing.

In Year 9, we transition our students from a broad curriculum into a slightly narrower one as they choose their GCSE optionsThe students are split into 4 pathways for their GCSE options based on their academic profile throughout Years 7-9:

• Pathway 1 where a student is encouraged to study Triple Science and the EBacc
• Pathway 2 where a student is encouraged to study the EBacc
• Pathway 3 where a student can study the Ebacc, but is only expected to study one of a Humanity, Language or Computer Science
• Pathway 4 where a student can study the EBacc, but has been identified as a student who would benefit from additional English and Maths support and isn’t expected to study Humanity, Language or Computer Science as one of their options.

When students progress through into Key Stage 4, we have the EBacc at the heart of our curriculum for those that we believe are going to support their future. Curriculums are planned to allow students to build on subject knowledge and link topics together across year groups. It  has been designed to allow students to connect subject content together to form a subject schema; rather than see topics in isolation.

Our curriculum also allows for personal character development; equipping pupils with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. Good examples would be Mi-Life in RE, where the students are covering a range of topics around their mental health, LGBT and wellbeing or in History where anti-Semitism and racism are covered or Science where they study prescription and illegal drugs.

The school has engaged with the Prosperity Project and as a result, is reviewing/ increasing the celebration of diversity within the curriculum. As an example, a review by Humanities of their teaching of the slave trade, including the geography and the history of Africa and the contribution of empire troops with a focus on individuals during the first world war, increased diversification in subjects such as Media and English with film choices and text.

Students will participate in enrichment activity days such as reality roadshow and mental health workshops; character and culture lessons are built into the curriculum and Personal Development curriculum.

We recognise that outstanding teaching and learning is at the heart of a world-class curriculum. At Roding Valley HIgh School. Our curriculum is structured to support the progressive acquisition of key skills and knowledge.

Implementation:

The ACED framework is the facilitator of the ‘implementation’ of our curriculum within our classrooms.

Impact:

Our students will make excellent progress and be enriched by their learning within our lessons. Our students will have good results, a clear reflection of what they have learnt. They will ALL achieve highly and reach their potential.

Key Stage 4 (KS4)

Below you will find our curriculum offering for Key Stage 4.

If your son/daughter is in Year 9, a revised booklet and form will be published in January 2021 outlining the subject options available to them from September 2021. If you wish to find out more about the curriculum being offered, please contact the relevant Subject Leader using the contact details on the Staff Contact page.