Campsmount Academy
Academy Curriculum Intent
At Campsmount Academy, five educational principles underpin our curriculum. We believe that these principles best serve the interests of our students and community and ensure that we 'create the best version of you today, for success tomorrow.' The five principles described below are reflective of the academy’s key priorities and aim to reinforce the Trust values of Ambition; Responsibility; Pride and Integrity through our curriculum to enable all students to develop their currency, culture and character.
Our curriculum aims to:
1.be ambitious, challenging and aspirational
•All curriculum is designed with stretch and challenge at its heart. It is our belief that all students, irrespective of circumstance, should have the highest quality provision to ensure that they not only meet, but exceed their potential. We offer a range of both academic and vocational courses to best fit the needs of our students.
•Lessons include the Campsmount Challenge Zone, where students are expected to work independently, without support. Teaching to the top and effective scaffolding is key to curriculum and is linked to continuous subject knowledge development. In order to truly stretch and challenge, staff must ensure that their curriculum is knowledge rich, broad and of the highest quality.
•To support the development of aspirational curriculum, staff regularly review their subject and pedagogical knowledge to ensure that curriculum remains current, relevant and challenging for all pupils. As students progress through each key stage, content builds on prior knowledge, whilst becoming more complex. It is our belief that our curriculum design at Key Stage Three provides the foundation for successful learning at Key Stage Four and Five. Curriculum is reinforced by extended learning opportunities in the form of Campsmount LEARN tasks.
2. be reading and literacy rich
•High quality texts are selected across many subjects within the academy. This is to ensure that students are exposed to Tier 2 and 3 vocabulary in context.
•All curriculum maps outline the vocabulary that will be taught. We adopt a range of strategies when teaching vocabulary. These range from explicit vocabulary instruction, morphemic strategies and the Frayer Model.
•It is our belief that the more students are exposed to higher-level vocabulary across all key stages, the more likely they are to acquire robust and secure knowledge of these terms that will support them in later life.
3. be inclusive through ‘quality first teaching’
•With an increasing number of Pupil Premium and SEND students, it is imperative that curriculum is designed with students in mind so that their needs are met effectively. The most impactful way to support all learners is to ensure that quality curriculum and teaching takes place consistently every day.
•We aim for all learners to access the same curriculum, only differentiating where necessary. Our SEND team and Pupil Premium strategy supports with the development of a targeted and bespoke curriculum.
•Some examples include:
•Lexia Reading Strategies
•KS3 and 4 Subject Intervention
•All staff have access to Pen Profiles on ClassCharts and access calendared staff briefings where Pupil Premium and SEND CPD is offered to ensure that students have the best experience of our curriculum offer.
4. build students’ cultural capital
•In addition to high quality curriculum, we aim to provide opportunities for our students to experience our subjects in a wider sense. This is achieved through a range of events such as calendared Drop Everything and Read Days where all subjects take time to celebrate a specific theme and explore wider issues relating to their subject; reading and literacy events such as Black History Month and Banned Books Week; dedicated Get Into Number Days, Sports Days and ASPIRE sessions every day.
•We also plan for students to visit the theatre with trips often facilitated by the Drama and English teams. After school, we offer an extensive list of extra-curricular activities from a range of sporting activities and opportunities to take part in the academy show. Students can also complete the Duke of Edinburgh Award where they get the chance to develop their communication skills, help others and improve their fitness.
5. develop the wider person
•We are committed to ensuring that students are given the chance to develop their team working and innovation skills. We offer a comprehensive ASPIRE time curriculum that consists of:
• Aspire Assembly
•Aspire Assembly Reflection
•Aspire Reading
•Aspire Culture
•Aspire Pastoral
•During ASPIRE time sessions, students read texts and take part in important discussion surrounding safeguarding themes and mental health. The topic of E-Safety is also delivered to students in an effort to support them when online.
•Students can form their very own Leadership Team where the opinions of the entire student body can be voiced to Senior Leaders, in addition to becoming a Peer Mentor, working closely with our mentor team, to support vulnerable students in their hour of need. Students have formed their own Sustainability Group, where issues surrounding recycling, energy and the academy's impact on the environment are discussed and strategies are implemented to ensure we are more environmentally conscious and aware.
Information on our Life Skills Curriculum can be found on the Curriculum - Life Skills page or by following the link below:
Key Stage 3 Overview
All students follow the full curriculum; it is not narrowed. The curriculum fulfils all statutory requirements, including citizenship, religious education and sex and relationships education.
RS and Life Skills lessons incorporate important lessons covering citizenship, relationships and health education, health education, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, British values, and careers' guidance. These areas are also taught as part of the Aspire curriculum at KS3 and 4.
Key Stage 4 Overview
At Key Stage 4 students are maturing and developing. They are more aware of their own strengths and interests. Thus, all students are given the opportunity to make some choices about their programme of study from a diverse selection of subjects, from the more traditionally academic to vocational subjects, within a broad and balanced framework. Students will select four option subjects, supported by a range of information, advice and guidance given along the way. They will also study Maths, English, Science and PE, with our most able students taking the separate sciences of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Health, sex education, citizenship, and careers are covered both through the Aspire sessions delivered on a daily basis and through our Life Skills curriculum.
The opportunities provided are part of the overall 14-19 provision. Students are encouraged to see that the choices made at key stage 4 lead to further opportunities post 16 in our Sixth Form at Ridgewood.
If you would like to speak to someone about any aspect of the curriculum please don't hesitate to contact us.