At Studley High School, the curriculum forms an essential strand of our DNA.
We believe that every student should develop an enthusiasm for learning, so that they willingly seek to gain knowledge and understanding about the world around them. We believe that excellent teaching, fully trained and supported staff, high quality resources and a culture of high expectations enable students to learn and, therefore, succeed. We believe that every student should be given the opportunity to develop the skills they need to be successful learners and citizens of the future. We believe that every student should be given a broad range of enrichment opportunities that develop them as citizens and people.
The curriculum at Studley High School is therefore designed with these aims in mind. The curriculum becomes the vehicle which enables progress for all our students, regardless of background and ability, to ensure their academic, social and emotional development.
Please use the tabs below to expand each section of our Curriculum Statement:
| Our Curriculum should: | Why is this important? |
|---|---|
| Encourage a love of learning and be delivered by staff who are passionate about the topics they teach. | Students and staff who are passionate about learning will create better outcomes. |
| Give all our students an opportunity to study a breadth of subjects. | Subject diversity is important to give our students a breadth of knowledge and experience. This should be inclusive and offer the same opportunities for all. |
| Focus on depth of learning that is relevant to our community and our students within individual subjects. | Enjoyment of a subject should not be limited to GCSE or curriculum content. This can include the development of cross-curricular links or wider learning through relevant extension tasks. Subjects need to think carefully about what depth means in their subject and how this can be achieved when designing their curriculum. |
| Prepare our students for GCSE examinations and the wider world BUT not be driven by the demands of GCSE. | Whilst success at GCSE is important, if we use GCSE content and assessment from Year 7 this will be boring and repetitive. Subject curriculums need to be designed to support the development of skills that allow for successful exam outcomes but also maintain students’ love of the subject. |
| Be underpinned by knowledge-rich learning that builds with each term and year. | Knowing more and remembering more is the key to success. Our curriculum should be knowledge-rich and staff must have the expectation that core knowledge is remembered. |
| Be ambitious in terms of content, concepts and vocabulary and build upon the excellent work in Key Stage 2. | In recent years, Key Stage 2 has become far more ambitious. We need to build on this and challenge our students. Our students need to have their cultural capital built up through our curriculum in order to allow them to succeed. |
| Be mapped out explicitly so that any significant changes to our curriculum are shared with for staff, students and parents. | Our curriculum should be fully mapped out so that staff can build knowledge, students know where they are heading and parents can support us in ensuring that students reach their full potential. |
| Allow for key concepts, themes or areas of knowledge to be revisited but not repeated. | Revisiting key areas is crucial to allow students to build their learning. However, this should not be a case of repeating the same content as this is not challenging our students. |
| Allow for natural links across subjects to be made. | Subjects are encouragaged to support each other with learning, by studying similar topics or working together to support pupils in exploring key concepts. This helps pupils to understand how ideas can be transferred from lesson to lesson. |
| Provide a balance between clear structure and flexibility when required. Staff should be constantly reflecting, evaluating and modifying the curriculum in order to make it the best it can be. | Our curriculum needs to be flexible so that it can be responsive to events. Additionally, the curriculum should be constantly evaluated and tweaked to lead to better outcomes for our students. |
In Year 7 and Year 8 we teach the full range of National Curriculum subjects and are proud to offer a broad curriculum to our students. This is complemented by the strong development of computing capabilities, both in timetabled IT lessons and across the curriculum. Students will experience Maths, English, Science, Art, Drama, Music, PE, RE, Design Technology (on rotation with Food Technology and Graphics), History, Geography, Citizenship, IT and a Modern Foreign Language (either French or Spanish). We provide excellent personalised provision for those students who need additional support in order to make sure that all of our students reach their full potential.
We are particularly proud of our Year 9 curriculum offer. It is a blend of finishing Key Stage 3 whilst preparing students for Key Stage 4 both in terms of selecting the right options and understanding the rigour of each subject area. After February half term, in the build up to students choosing their options, we give students access to and experience of subjects that they have not yet encountered as part of the National Curriculum or to explore those they have engaged with in more detail. Careful guidance is provided to families and supported by information evenings and individual appointments with senior staff to discuss the right options for each student. Students will then choose which subjects are best for them to commit further to in Year 10. For some, this will rightly focus on a core of Ebacc Subjects, but the route for every student is carefully discussed and considered. All students continue with the study of at least one Ebacc subject, in addition to the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science. We also have ambitious plans for encouraging a growth in the number of students continuing to study a Modern Foreign Language. We believe that the ongoing process of guidance and consultation, offered by our options process, does not restrict access to the National Curriculum or breadth of opportunity.
Our wide choice of options at Key Stage 4 allows each student to select a curriculum which meets their abilities and aspirations. We offer the full range of traditional academic subjects and a number of creative and broadly vocational subjects. These currently include at GCSE:
| Core subjects (GCSE) | Options subjects (GCSE) | Additional courses (BTEC or National Diploma) |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | Art | Computing |
| English Literature | Drama | Hospitality and Catering |
| Maths | Business Studies | Performing Arts |
| Biology (Triple Award or Combined Science) | Computer Science | PE |
| Chemistry (Triple Award or Combined Science) | Design Technology | Travel & Tourism |
| Physics (Triple Award or Combined Science) | Food Preparation and Nutrition | |
| Geography | ||
| History | ||
| French | ||
| German | ||
| Spanish | ||
| ICT | ||
| Music | ||
| PE | ||
| Photography |
In addition to the qualifications offered above, pupils also have timetabled lessons in the non-examined subjects of PSHE and Core PE.
As we appreciate that no cohort is the same, the subjects on offer each year are carefully tailored to fit each cohort’s option preferences in order to create a personalised and bespoke curriculum offer. Our curriculum is constantly reviewed and developed to reflect students’ abilities, interests and career aspirations, together with our enrichment provision and personalised careers guidance.
The Citizenship and PSHE curriculum is intended to equip students with the skills needed to become life-long learners and active citizens in their community and the world we live in. Citizenship and PSHE are compulsory subjects at Studley High School. At Key Stage 3 lessons will cover predominantly Citizenship topics as outlined in the National Curriculum. They are exposed to PSHE through PD Days, tutor time activities and several modules which are delivered alongside their Citizenship modules. At Key Stage 4 the focus is on PSHE content in all lessons, PD Days and tutor time. The curriculum has been designed to incorporate a variety of skills that students need to develop to be successful not only in Citizenship and PSHE lessons and their future lives, but in other subjects at Studley High School. These skills will include the use of literacy and numeracy skills where possible, including the use of understanding articles in the media and the appropriate and sensible use of finances available to them. They will also include the ability to understand and critically evaluate current practices around the world, including different country’s governmental roles in human rights and peace organisations, the work of charities in a range of topic areas, and how different types of governments uphold their laws and values. Furthermore, there will be a lot of coverage on physical and mental health and wellbeing. All of these skills will support students to access their curriculums in a range of subjects including Religious Education, Physical Education, History, Geography and Science.
As the backbone of the education of all students and based on research on how long term memory is secured, we aim to fully support the Core departments of English, Mathematics and Science. A carefully structured timetable will support, where possible, one lesson a day (over 4 days) for these subjects at Key Stage 3 and 4. We benchmark curriculum time against that offered in other schools and prioritise the staffing and timing of Core lessons as part of our drive to deliver the very best learning and outcomes that we can for our students.
Studley High School is fully committed to providing the often life changing opportunities that success in the arts can bring for our students. Throughout times of austerity and challenge, the arts will often remain a growth industry in Britain and, alongside our commitment to encourage ambitious take up of Ebacc subjects, we believe that this must never be at the expense of the support and study of the arts. Following dedicated, timetabled national curriculum lessons for such subject through years 7, 8 and 9, we offer a broad selection of options that include Art, Photography, Drama, Music and Performing Arts at Key Stage 4. Extra-curricular enrichment includes many arts focused activities including many opportunities to perform, create and present work for all year groups.
It is our aim to enable all teachers in all subjects to meet the needs of all students through highly effective teaching and learning. All students have access to a broad and balanced mainstream curriculum alongside their peers. At Studley High School we are committed to offering an inclusive curriculum to ensure the best possible progress for all our students, whatever their needs or abilities. We believe that all children have an equal right to a full and rounded education, which will enable them to achieve their full potential. We consistently strive to secure special educational provision for students for whom this is required, that is ‘additional to and different from’ that provided within the differentiated curriculum.
At Studley High School, we invest in the professional development of our teachers to ensure that all of our students get the very best educational experience. We invest time and resources into the professional development of our staff so that they can apply their understanding of cognitive science to the design of each curriculum, Schemes of Work, individual lesson plan and resource. Teaching at Studley High School is underpinned by cognitive science which enables our students to gain the knowledge, skills and attributes to be successful learners and citizens. We focus on the latest research-driven teaching and learning strategies in all areas of teaching and learning, including retrieval, dual coding metacognition and Rosenshine’s principles.
Alongside our challenging and ambitious curriculum offer, we recognise that a student’s life at school goes further than just what happens in a classroom; it comprises all experiences offered within our school. Our ‘Studley Promise’ guarantees that every child will have the opportunity to discover and develop lifelong interests and talents throughout their time at high school. The ‘Studley Promise’ aims to highlight the different opportunities that are available at Studley High School. None of these are compulsory (with the exception of Geography fieldwork at GCSE) however, we have carefully planned trips and events to be spaced out, where possible, and ensure that all year groups get a variety of opportunities offered to them. All trips offered will be communicated to parents in good time. Financial support is also available for anyone in receipt of pupil premium/ free school meals. ‘The Studley Promise’ ensures that all enrichment activities are directly related to the curriculum studied. We have high ambitions for all students at Studley High school and we want them to leave us as confident, responsible, independent and resilient young people. The ‘Studley Promise’ sits at the heart of this.
