Our curriculum

Our aim is to provide an excellent education that will enable all students to make exceptional progress and prepare them for the broad range of opportunities and challenges that they may meet when they leave us. Our curriculum is designed to allow students to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding so that they are happy, robust and fully prepared to engage with the wider world.

Our curriculum aims to enable all of our young people to become:

• successful and lifelong learners, who enjoy learning, make outstanding progress and achieve
• confident individuals who live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives
• responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society
• students with skills, knowledge and attitudes which will help them to become self-motivated people, able to make informed and reasoned choices for themselves and others
• creative thinkers who develop enquiring and critical minds, to be able to question, present an informed and coherent argument and act responsibly
• independent enquirers who develop powers of observation, logical thought and communication
• self-managers who value the acquisition of relevant skills and attitudes relating to employment
• team workers with moral and spiritual values, who take responsibility for themselves and others at work, socially and in wider society
• effective participators in cultural, social, economic and political life, recognising the broad and pluralistic nature of our society, expecting a diversity of cultures and languages, and recognising that all members of society have both rights and responsibilities
• students who aim to achieve their highest standards.

Rigour, challenge and student progress is central to the college’s curriculum and therefore in every lesson and learning opportunity. Each subject has a clear programme of study and assessments for each term and year group. These are clearly shown through our subject overviews which detail the general content of each topic and the linked assessment. Regular use of assessments and feedback to students allow the checking of understanding and the reinforcement of key knowledge and skills. Assessments are half-termly, marked to the standard of the qualification level and provide focused feedback to students. Formal internal exams also play an important part of this assessment process: in Year 9 all students take annual formal internal exams in English, Maths and Science and from Year 10 students take formal internal exams in all subjects that they study.

Through partnerships with our local feeder Middle Schools, students experience continuity and progression of the curriculum. Close links, including biannual meetings, between Freman’s Heads of Departments and their counterparts in the Middle Schools ensures that learning is coherent throughout the students’ time in our schools.

Our Year 9 curriculum preserves richness and breadth and acts as a subtle transition to GCSE, introducing GCSE skills, task and assessment-types but not necessarily GCSE content. In some content-heavy subjects (e.g. Science) we need to start delivering GCSE content in Year 9.

We have chosen to ensure that our Year 9 curriculum offer is as broad as possible. All students study: Art & Design, Biology, Drama, English, Design and Technology, Food and Nutrition, French, Geography, History, Information Technology, Mathematics, Music, Personal Development, Physical Education and Religious Education. Additionally, we offer courses in Finance, Building Reading Skills and, for the most able linguists, Latin.

Other than in Latin and in Maths, when students are in sets, all teaching in Year 9 is in mixed-ability classes.

Our comprehensive Personal, Social, Health, Careers and Religious Education programme is delivered via discrete lessons in Year 9 and via dropdown curriculum days for all year groups. Details of content are on our website.

Students in Years 10 and 11 study a core curriculum of English Language, English Literature, Mathematics, Science (Biology, Chemistry and Physics), History or Geography (or both), PE and PSHCRE. Students have the freedom to choose three option subjects, other than Geography/History that appeal to them, allowing for specialisms that will be advantageous in their future lives. Able linguists are strongly recommended to take either French or Latin. A list of the current range of Option subjects that are offered is on our website.

Classes in Option subjects and English are all mixed-ability. In Science, Year 10 classes are mixed but at towards the end of Year 10 decisions about entry for Separate or Combined Science are taken and classes are re-grouped accordingly. Maths is taught in sets according to students’ ability but frequent assessment means that movement between sets takes place.

Our dynamic 6^th Form curriculum responds to the needs of students and the changing nature of the world of work and study. We are able to employ an inclusive approach to 6^th Form entry by offering a wide range of academic and vocational courses which can be taken in combination, thus providing tailored programmes. Based upon Key Stage 4 results and students’ goals and ambitions, students are guided towards the combination of courses that will enable them to maximise their full potential. All students and their parents are invited to interview with a senior member of staff to assist with this process. Full details of the subjects currently on offer can be found on our website.

Curriculum development is informed by national priorities, resource availability and student and parent feedback. Senior leaders will regularly consult and report to staff groups and the governing body regarding curriculum development and improvement.

As an Upper School we recruit high quality, specialist staff with the expertise necessary to deliver very good examination results. Students consistently achieve higher than national average outcomes at Key Stage 4 and 5. Students’ success at both Key Stages is evidence that, in general, the knowledge they need has built over time, allowing them to understand more complex ideas, undertake more challenging tasks and thereby achieve excellent examination results.

However, we are not complacent. Even excellent overall exam results can hide areas of relative weakness: a particular challenge with a new specification in a subject, a specific topic or style of examination question. Therefore, all Heads of Department perform a rigorous analysis of exam performance. Exam analysis review meetings involving subject leaders, SLT line managers and the Headteacher are held annually as part of the whole school monitoring process; these inform action plans and sustain curriculum improvement.

Our curriculum prepares students for their next stage of education, training or employment. We ensure that they receive appropriate guidance so that when they leave us, they are going on to appropriate, high-quality destinations.