Curriculum Structure

The visual arts make a vital contribution to children’s development in many ways both explicitly and implicitly. To understand visual culture is to be able to access the world in which we live. To practice Art presents students with the opportunity to learn and develop creative skills and techniques with different materials and processes discovering confidence and channels of self-expression. We study Art to inspire that personal expression, foster curiosity of the world around us and explore the limitless capabilities of our imagination whilst engaging with different cultures, historical events as well as providing opportunities to question, critique and make decisions. Our Art curriculum enables our young people to work independently, work collaboratively, develop resilience, problem solve, manage time and resources and ask the big questions; encouraging them to become thinkers, researchers, observers, makers and creators.

Character: Engaging all students in learning about visual culture that develops personal creativity, resilience, the willingness to take appropriate risks and the confidence to express feelings, thoughts and ideas: developing a sense of self. Confidently experimenting and exploring ideas and ways of working, being open to asking questions and challenging accepted ideas: developing a sense of wider responsibility. Thoughtfully investigating ideas of equality and diversity: developing a sense of inclusivity.

Competence: Developing student’s ability to use accurately and expressively a variety of skills, techniques and materials with confidence. Enabling them to make well-informed, good choices about their work and to understand and formulate connections between their work and the work of others. Being able to create a personal response through practice and understanding context: nurturing creativity.

Community: Inspiring students to develop a lifelong love, appreciation and understanding of a wide range of creative styles, traditions and contexts through considering the place of visual communication in their world. Improving health and wellbeing of themselves and others through their practice and through sharing their practice in different ways. Contributing to their futures though actively working sustainably and considerately of and for others: promoting ambition.

You can read the Statement of Intent for Art here.

You can read our Long Term Plan for Art here.

Technology is becoming ever more important in our student’s day to day lives and this trend is likely to increase and even accelerate in the future. We are preparing students for jobs that do not yet exist and to use technology that has not yet been invented. We will do this by ensuring that every student has the opportunity to study and use a wide range of technology building the resilience to both learn to use new technology and solve new problems in a logical algorithmic way. The OCL Computing curriculum will ensure that every student is able to navigate the digital world confidently in a safe and socially responsible manner.

We value character, competence and community in our curriculum:

Character: Enabling students to develop and build solutions to both digital and real-world problems by applying computational thinking.
Students will be able to take complex problems and break them down into manageable chunks and build solutions using skills such as
pattern recognition, abstraction and algorithmic thinking.

Competence: Developing pupils’ digital literacy allowing them to adapt and be active users of the ever-changing technology used in their
future careers and personal lives.

Community: Inspiring students to become active creators of and innovators instead of passive users of technology. Online safety and a solid
understanding of the moral, legal and ethical considerations of technology are embedded at every level of our curriculum to ensure that
students know how to use technology responsibly.

You can read the Statement of Intent for Computing here.

You can read our Long Term Plan for Computing here.

We intend that students explore this collection of new and innovative subjects which will widen their scope and knowledge of how different resources may be used to make creative and interesting designs. Their study of Graphic Design, DT and Food Studies will help them be more creative and further develop their confidence and competence. Our curriculum aims to help students to acquire the necessary skills which will help them understand the main function of different tools, equipment and ingredients and how to use them effectively.  Learners will develop great knowledge of food preparation, resistant materials and graphic design, which will stay with them forever.

The written and spoken word is not only influenced by, but also shapes humanity. The curriculum is therefore sequenced so that students understand, question, critique and create rules, stories and patterns in literature and, more broadly, in society. Mastering English in the OCL Curriculum gives all pupils the power to understand the codes that dictate the conventions of shared language, history, art and culture as well as giving them the power to challenge, break, rebuild and create new realities from the knowledge they have learned. At the heart of our curriculum is the unwavering belief that all young people, no matter what their starting point, can, and will, thrive within a global community. Therefore, through the OCL English curriculum, they will be taught to understand and interact with the voices of others and deploy the power of their own voice. Students will become curious, scrupulous and critical thinkers armed with an extensive, versatile vocabulary and flexible knowledge base, allowing them to communicate with accuracy, precision and flair and access and create excellent, compelling writing.

Character: Giving the students the skills, knowledge, vocabulary, confidence, resilience and curiosity to read, listen, consider, discuss and debate with sensitivity and integrity.  

Competence: Developing pupils’ vocabulary, knowledge and skills so that they can communicate with accuracy, precision and, more importantly, autonomy.

Community: Inspiring all pupils to develop a lifelong love, appreciation and understanding of a wide range of literature. Inspiring pupils to use their understanding of literature that has gone before them to become active members of their local and global community and become involved in shaping its future.

You can read the Statement of Intent for English here.

You can read our Long Term Plan for English here.

The Oasis Geography Curriculum will equip students with a balanced understanding of the physical and human world, as well as an appreciation of how interconnected systems are. It will improve student knowledge of key geographical processes and how human actions impact on these processes. Crucially it will give students the knowledge and skills to become active global citizens and enable them to confidently identify and respond to the complex current issues our planet faces. Students will have opportunities to engage and excel geographical skills through fieldtrips so they are able to personally experience the geography taught in lessons.

Character: the curriculum’s fundamental aim is to instil a love of learning about the world around us for all students. In Oasis we celebrate diversity and the curriculum therefore explores and celebrates a range of global places, cultures and traditions. This relies on the curriculum drawing on accurate, up to date representations of places and cultures in an ever changing world and how changing socio-economic circumstances impact on quality of life and well-being. Students will be developed holistically, encouraged to become the best versions of themselves by emphasising their role in order to better understand how their actions impact on others and the wider environment. 

Competence: the Oasis Geography curriculum is an academic and rigorous curriculum, which places a large emphasis on knowledge. It is designed to ensure the very best outcomes for students using the latest research in cognitive science. Central to the curriculum are three core strands:

• Knowledgeable students: We want our students to be curious learners who can apply their knowledge to the real world. To do this, we equip them with the fundamental knowledge that allows them to ask good questions, access a range of scenarios and express themselves eloquently and with confidence.
• Knowledgeable teachers: We want to ensure that all teachers are confident in their subject knowledge and feel secure to take ownership of differentiating lessons for the needs of the specific students they teach.
• Knowledgeable leaders: We want to enable our curriculum leaders to be experts in curriculum delivery – able to develop the pedagogy of their teams through effective CPD, observations and feedback.  We also want to ensure that they are confident in tracking the progress of their students, identifying gaps in knowledge and underachievement.

The Oasis Geography curriculum gives students the skills to use this knowledge to think deeply about key Geographical concepts and processes. Central to the curriculum is the application of this knowledge to answer complex questions developing skills of critical thinking, analysis and evaluation.  Furthermore, students will develop geographical skills, gaining confidence in interpreting information from maps, graphs, data and photographs. It will ensure students aspire and take the next steps in their education and personal challenges.

Community: the curriculum will help students to understand local, national and global communities. Fundamentally students will be encouraged to study the interconnected nature of our world and look at their role in an ever changing planet. We want Oasis students to be global citizens. The curriculum fosters this through the provision of opportunities for students to take action and become active members of society, championing for sustainable change. We also want our students to have meaningful experiences and see Geography in action through multiple opportunities for human and physical fieldtrips, where they are able to collect and interpret primary data, as well as analyse secondary data.

You can read the Statement of Intent for Geography here.

You can read our Long Term Plan for Geography here.

History is fundamental to empowering students to engage in all manner of conversations and debates. We want to ensure that our students always have something to say and can speak from a position of knowledge rather than one of ignorance. History is uniquely positioned to do this through the breadth and depth of knowledge it offers for students to master. The OCL History curriculum is designed to provide our students with a firm grasp of the discipline of history in combination with a board, rich and global body of historical knowledge, which they can deploy to understand the world around them and the historical forces that have shaped it. The curriculum aims to develop an enduring curiosity about the past, as well as providing our students with the means to engage in rigorous and academic approaches to ask and answer historical questions, whilst also empowering them to question the nature of historical knowledge itself. The study of history aims to emphasise the strangeness of the past in comparison to our lives today whilst also fore fronting the human stories that still resonate with us.

Character: The OCL history curriculum aims to develop students who are confident in presenting their own arguments and interpretations but willing to listen to and be challenged by others. We aim to teach our students how to frame and answer questions, encouraging curiosity but also developing independence.  The nature of history itself, with their very rarely being a simple answer, helps develop resilience as well as ensuring that students are willing to challenge overly simplistic narratives they are presented, both in and outside of the classroom. The OCL history curriculum also aims to ensure students encounter diverse cultures, societies, people and often ‘hidden histories’, ensuring  their sense of identity and their perceptions of others are not based on singular representations or misrepresentations.

Competence: The OCL history curriculum aims to ensure students develop a broad body of historical knowledge, chronologically and geographically, from the local scale to global issues. The curriculum is designed to draw out the connected nature of the past, rather than presenting histories in isolation of one another, allowing students to make sense of the world they live in and the events, forces and people who continue to shape it. Students will engage in the processes through which history is written and challenged, aiming to develop student’s understanding of history as a discipline, and therefore as a societal construction rather than an objective narration of the past.

Community: Throughout the curriculum students study numerous different societies and communities as well as the interactions between them, exploring both the bonds that bring people together but also the issues that can cause conflict. Local history gives students the chance to reflect on how their local community has developed overtime and how it is both similar and different to other communities they have explored.

You can read the Statement of Intent for History here.

You can read our Long Term Plan for History here.

The OCL Maths Curriculum is designed in conjunction with Mathematics Mastery. This means that pupils are given a “thorough understanding of mathematical concepts, rather than a set of techniques or routines to get to the right answer” (EEF). We want our students to be curious learners who can apply their knowledge and skills to the real world. We enable them with the powerful knowledge that allows them to acquire fluency in crucial mathematical procedures and means they can master and retain key concepts which in turn will result in all students fulfilling their academic potential in maths.

Character: Our Maths lessons ensure that all students develop confidence in Maths, and identify as “good at Maths”. Through talk tasks to check for understanding, the participation of all students in articulating mathematical ideas is a key feature of our teaching. Students are taught to interact with each other with patience, honesty, and independence through opportunities for structured self-reflection throughout the lesson: in self and peer assessment, exit tickets, and mastery matrices.

Competence: Developing pupils’ competence in Maths is at the heart of our curriculum. We build strong foundations by taking every opportunity to develop our students’ numeracy skills: in lessons, and in structured interventions. In our curriculum, we draw on research from cognitive science to accelerate our students learning. We connect new knowledge to existing knowledge, to expand students’ schemas, and develop their skills in the core concepts of Maths.

Community: Through an engaging, relevant Maths curriculum, students are exposed to the story and history of mathematical ideas. In this way students develop respect for others and an appreciation of diversity and inclusivity, and learn how to challenge and question. Students also have the opportunity to develop their passion, their identity, and their sense of belonging, through success in Maths, and through trips and after-school clubs, in different forms across the trust.

You can read the Statement of Intent for Maths here.

You can read our Long Term Plan for Maths here.

The OCL MFL curriculum believes that a strong foundation for knowledge is essential for language learning. Our curriculum focuses on students mastering and retaining key structures and vocabulary over time that they become confident and spontaneous communicators in another language. We want our students to develop in the following key areas:

Character: We want our students to become confident communicators, who are able to use language flexibly in real-life contexts. Through learning another language our students will be encouraged to have a curiosity and understanding of other cultures. Through exploration of another language they will also learn more about themselves and the world beyond their classrooms. Their language skills should help to inspire a love of language learning and give them the confidence to communicate with speakers of these languages here and abroad. Our curriculum is an inclusive curriculum, where all students are able to achieve, and all are enabled to develop their skills and ability to speak the language spontaneously.

Competence: Students should be able to speak and write with increasing complexity, sponteneity and fluency as they progress in their learning. Vocabulary and grammatical structures are introduced sequentially and interleaved  for effective retrieval practice. We also use language beyond the curriculum and expose students regularly to authentic texts, culture and student-led discussion, enabling them to deepen their understanding of the French and Spanish-speaking world.

Community: We want our students to gain an understanding of their local, national and global communities through MFL, by helping them to explore different cultures and communities across the world where the languages are spoken. Our curriculum allows our students to appreciate cultural diversity and discuss complex issues with sensitivity, such as through engaging with social issues. Our goal is that through study, students will gain a sense of global responsibility, respect and tolerance for other cultures.

You can read the Statement of Intent for MFL here.

You can read our Long Term Plan for French here.

You can read our Long Term Plan for Spanish here.

We begin with the assumption that all children are musical and have a right to learn music. Music is fundamental to being human and all can develop their identity, a sense of belonging and their character through rehearsing, playing, singing, creating, appreciating and listening to music. Through the Oasis Music Curriculum our students will grow into adults who enjoy, appreciate and engage with music throughout their lives.

Character: Engaging all pupils in musical learning that develops creativity, resilience and the confidence to express feelings and thoughts, experiment with new musical ideas and grow imaginations.  

Competence: Developing pupils’ ability to make music well so that musical outcomes are excellent and aspirations are raised. Ensuring that all are equipped for further musical study if they choose it.

Community: Inspiring all pupils to develop a lifelong love, appreciation and understanding of a wide range of musical styles and traditions. Ensuring all experience the power of music to include, to draw people together, understand others and facilitate positive connection.

You can read the Statement of Intent for Music here.

You can read our Long Term Plan for Music here.

Physical education should inspire students to become physically competent in a way which promotes lifelong physical activity. The Oasis Physical Education Curriculum will improve students’ health and wellbeing through a holistic approach that allows them to flourish and become valuable members within their community. Students will be provided with opportunities to develop personally through a wide range of experiences. They will have opportunities to engage and excel in competitive sport, physical activities and leadership, building character and embedding wider core values throughout.

Character: Physical education can promote the holistic development of students, helping them to become better versions of themselves by emphasising moral traits such as respect and fairness. Within our heart assessment students will be encouraged to promote sportsmanship and fair play, students will develop good habits that will bring out the best in each other both inside and outside of sport and physical activity.

Competence: Through our hands and head assessment students will be developing their competence within physical education, which will improve confidence and provide students with the skills and knowledge to lead physically active lives. Physical education will ensure students aspire and take the next steps in their education and personal challenges.

Community: Through teamwork and opportunities to build character, physical education can foster a sense of belonging amongst students. Students learn how to work collaboratively in physical education which is embedded within the heart assessment, developing leadership skills and helping students to create meaningful relationships and contribute to a positive community culture. Students will understand the pathways within community sport promoting lifelong physical activity. Through sport, students will recognise social and physical barriers to sport within their community and wider topical issues, modelling the nine habits.

You can read the Statement of Intent for PE here.

You can read our Long Term Plan for PE here.

We want our students to develop into rounded young adults who understand their character and play active roles in their communities. The PSHE curriculum has been thoughtfully created to incorporate our Oasis Ethos, Oasis 9 Habits and Character Curriculum to ensure students flourish in a safe school environment. We have met the statutory guidance for RSE, Citizenship and CEIAG as well as providing opportunities for use of the local PHE data to meet the needs of our students. The combination enables students to develop socially, emotionally, culturally, physically, spiritually and eventually having fulfilling lives and careers.

Students will know more about themselves and others; becoming socially literate and emotionally aware and understanding how they are developing, who they are becoming and how to fulfil their potential.  With this clear sense of identity, students will understand their place in society and how to achieve their future life ambitions.  

Students will then become confident, articulate citizens who are able to effectively debate moral, social, cultural and political issues. We also focus on the fundamental British Values that underpin many other curriculum areas. Crucially, students have a keen awareness of the socio-political landscape and through the exploration of Oasis Hubs locally, nationally and internationally understand the importance of inclusivity, the beauty of diversity and challenge themselves and others to be anti-discriminatory and to be inclusive of all.

Character: Engaging all students to express feelings and thoughts around themselves, who they are becoming and why this is important for their wellbeing and development in modern Britain. Students will have many opportunities to learn and discuss knowledge and skills that will support them to have fulfilled lives.

Competence: Students will be empowered with knowledge about the community, wider Britain and their own life choices to be able to make informed decisions and be able to make a fulfilling life pathway.

Community: Students will discuss and understand their own place within the local, national and global community with particular focus on the Oasis family; understanding the importance of diversity and inclusivity and the rich tapestry that is created through interconnected communities.

You can read the Statement of Intent for Personal Development here.

You can read our Long Term Plan for Personal Development here.

RE examines what it is to be human in the modern world, engaging directly with the questions at the heart of the Oasis Ethos – Who Am I and Who Am I Becoming.  Through the Oasis RE Curriculum our students will develop an appreciation of human diversity and an understanding of the place that belief plays in our all of our lives.  They will learn that differences in faith, belief, practice, culture and interpretation bring brilliance and colour to our world – both locally, nationally and globally.  It is essential to note here that RE is NOT religious instruction, Bible Study or so-called ‘divinity’.  It is a broad discipline which engages with several academic lenses – including theology, philosophy, ethics and the social sciences.  It is working within and truly honouring these lenses that provides the subject with its’ unique rigour.

We value character, competence and community in our curriculum, and seek opportunities to meaningfully demonstrate these virtues through a knowledge rich, diverse and inclusive curriculum.  Below is a representative (but not exhaustive) list of the myriad of ways in which RE honours the three ambitious intentions of the OCL Curriculum:

Character: Engaging all pupils in a curriculum that develops sensitivity, an understanding of what informs our morality,  and a true sense of true tolerance - where diversity is championed and celebrated as the factor which brings colour, brilliance and interest to society.  The confidence, composure and philosophical articulacy to engage in meaningful discussion about Big Questions.  To contribute to the personal development of pupils by enabling them to explore deep questions of purpose, meaning and human behaviour.   To challenge pupils to not only look within and explore the morals that define them, but to also listen to those which define others.  In doing these things RE enables pupils to understand important things about themselves as human beings growing into and becoming part of the modern world. Here the 9 Habits provides a foundation and filter through which to examine core content in addition to a mechanism through which to discipline discussion.

Competence: The ability to describe religious practice, explain religious beliefs, teachings and attitudes, and analyse and evaluate responses to questions of meaning, belief, purpose and ethics based upon belief and culture.  The OCL RE curriculum will enable pupils to develop critical thinking skills and the ability to debate, discuss and argue about Big Questions of human existence be them theological, philosophical, ethical or social.

Community: An understanding of what it is to be human – a sense of identity and belonging to their local community as well as a sense of being a global citizen.  A clear understanding of their own role and responsibilities within their communities, and the ability to see themselves as participants in and champions of the transformation of attitudes – which in turn will transform communities.  An understanding of the role that faith, belief and practice play in shaping the identity of both citizens and communities.  An understanding of how religion and faith unite global communities and positively contribute to the development of individual and communal character.  An understanding of how to participate within their community on a positive and meaningful level to create cohesion.

You can read the Statement of Intent for RE here.

You can read our Long Term Plan for RE here.

The Oasis Science Curriculum will equip students with the knowledge of the key scientific principles that allow us to make sense of the world around us and the disciplinary knowledge which enables them to be good scientists in their lives – providing opportunities to investigate scientific theories and unpick evidence to derive their own conclusions that will enable them to make good choices for themselves, their families, community and our planet.

Character: the curriculum aims to ensure that students feel successful during their science education, that they feel knowledgeable and that they have become curious, critical thinkers that are able to make well informed decisions that they can communicate and justify effectively.

Competence:

• Knowledgeable students: We want our students to be curious learners who can apply their knowledge to the real world.  To do this, we equip them with the fundamental substantive and disciplinary knowledge that allows them to ask good questions, evaluate information, access a range of scenarios and communicate their ideas and conclusions effectively and with confidence.
• Knowledgeable teachers: We want to ensure that all teachers are confident in their subject knowledge and potential student misconceptions across all three discipline and that they feel secure in taking ownership of differentiating lessons for the needs of the specific students they teach. We also want to provide lots of opportunities to ensure that our teachers know what their students have mastered and which areas need to be revisited later in the students learning journey. Our teachers are knowledgeable about the science of learning and are therefore empowered to make impactful decisions in the classroom. We know that student attention and focus is essential for learning to take place, so creating a calm and purposeful learning environment comes first. Our consistent approach to lesson structure and assessment allows teachers to focus on planning and practising excellent expositions, responding to errors and misconceptions and supporting students regardless of starting point to experience an ambitious curriculum.
• Knowledgeable leaders: We want to enable our curriculum leaders to be experts in curriculum delivery – able to develop the pedagogy of their teams through effective subject specific CPD, observations and feedback.  We also want to ensure that they are confident in tracking the progress of their students, identifying gaps in knowledge and underachievement and putting in place effective support to ensure that every child is successful in their science education.

Community: Our curriculum ensures that our students understand the impact of their decisions on themselves, their families, local communities and our planet.  It demonstrates the complexity of these decisions and the importance of individual decisions on the collective.  It will encourage students to be advocates for diversity, access to healthcare and a more sustainable way of living.

You can read the Statement of Intent for Science here.

You can read our Long Term Plan for our new Science curriculum here. (This sequence is taught to our current year 7 and 8s).

You can read our Long Term Plan for our current Science curriculum here. (This sequence is taught to our current year 9, 10, and 11s).

We are learning Children’s Play learning and Development because a high quality education in this subject area will inspire all students to consider working within the sector attaining sound knowledge of how children learn and develop. Teaching will equip students to ask perceptive questions developing an enquiring mind and critical thinking. Children’s Play Learning and Development helps students to embed values such as fairness, inclusion and respect, providing opportunities to build character. This curriculum area will be useful for students considering careers relating to children and development; it will also develop valuable skills and knowledge for future parenting.

We study Construction because projects can vary from a small refurbishment of a bathroom to the development of a new town or motorway. All projects need to be planned; some projects will need a Project Manager with several staff involved in planning and monitoring over months or years. Smaller scale projects, like refurbishments, might only involve one or two people throughout. The processes they follow are the same. Whether working for a large construction company or a self-employed trade’s person, knowledge of project management in construction and the built environment, and the skills that go with it are essential to make construction projects a success. This curriculum lends itself towards others with practical scenarios that are tailored to real world examples. You will use the knowledge and understanding you acquire through carrying out practical construction tasks with consideration of the safety and security of the construction processes, together with the planning skills developed throughout this course, so that you can plan construction projects.

We are learning this because the Creative Media qualification enables students to acquire technical knowledge and technical skills through vocational contexts by applying the learned knowledge and processes related to investigating, exploring and creating media products as part of their Key Stage 4 learning.

Creative Media gives students the opportunity to develop sector-specific knowledge and skills in a practical learning environment. The main focus is on four areas of equal importance, which cover the:

• development of key skills that prove your aptitude in creative media production such as investigating and developing ideas through pre-production, production and post-production of media products
• process that underpins effective ways of working in creative media production, such as responding to briefs and feedback, planning and generating ideas
• attitudes that are considered most important in creative media production, including personal management and communication
• knowledge that underpins effective use of skills, process and attitudes in the sector such as production processes and techniques.

The knowledge and skills acquired studying the Creative Media course will equip students with the confidence to continue their studies at level 3 or enter the workplace.

The Dance curriculum at Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey is designed to develop students’ transferable skills; these include self-confidence, creativity, teamwork, communication and self-awareness. We aim to equip all of our students with the necessary skills and resilience to succeed in any job opportunity. The purpose of the Dance Curriculum is to ensure that students can perform, choreograph, critically appreciate and reflect on their own work. Practical lessons also help our students to understand about their general health, fitness and wellbeing. There are many benefits for students to study dance, not only increased exercise, but routine within technique class and the opportunity for a creative outlet.

Students study a broad range of dance styles from Contemporary to Street Dance and other popular dance styles. Studying a range of styles will develop students’ versatility as a performer and support their knowledge and understanding of dance from different eras/culture. Throughout all dance lessons at Oasis IOS we aim to develop students’ love of learning, in both creativity and performance. Whilst some lessons are structured and choreography is teacher led, we also provide many opportunities for students to be autonomous and develop skills such as self-confidence and empathy by having regular chances to choreograph their own dances and perform to their peers. Students are also taught how to critique both their own and others' performances, this develops students’ self-awareness and enables a continuous process of self-development.

There are also many opportunities for students to participate in dance activities beyond the curriculum. These include performing at local primary schools and events, dance competitions and annual dance showcases. We pride our self on our annual dance show being an excellent performance opportunity for students who work hard throughout the year. Students who show a keen interest and talent in dance are also invited to audition for our elite school dance company ‘Elevate’ The dance company is a fun and exciting way for talented students to rehearse at an advanced level and learn complex choreography. To enhance students’ appreciation of dance some students are also invited to attend theatre trips and shows throughout the year as well as events such as ‘Move It Dance Convention’ at London ExCel Centre.

The key intent within the drama curriculum is to build personal, transferrable skills for all students at Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey. These skills consist of team building, confidence building, communication, oracy, self-control and cooperation, which provide students with a great basis to succeed in any job opportunity.

Drama gives students the skills to learn how to be great communicators which is vital for interaction with friends, family, peers and professionals. Good communication is fundamental for all school subjects as well as the wider world and learning how to do this both vocally and physically is a vital part of what students will learn in drama. The Key stage 3 curriculum allows students to explore how they communicate with students working on topics that include mime, physical theatre and radio plays to develop all areas of communication.

In Key stage 4 students build upon previously learnt transferrable skills and develop corner stone industry skills. We aim to give students a love of learning that applies to both performing and creating performances, developing students skills for both onstage roles and offstage. This allows students to develop a breadth of knowledge and an understanding of different career opportunities that are available to them within the creative industries.

We also realise that drama may not be a practical career option for all, but that it still remains a passion for many. Therefore, we give students the opportunity to participate in drama activities that go beyond the curriculum. A weekly drama club provides an opportunity to perform in the Shakespeare Schools Festival, an annual talent show and workshops with industry professionals, being some of the activities that the drama department offers to students.

We are learning this because the Health and Social Care sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in modern society. The Health and Social Care curriculum offers high quality education enabling students to gain a coherent knowledge and understanding topics relevant for the sector. Health and Social Care provides opportunities to gain valuable skills including research, evaluation, critical thinking and work experience within a vocational context. We are teaching this subject to prepare our students for future related careers such as nursing, social work etc., but also to embed a value system that is sensitive to today’s diverse society and to be culturally aware and empathetic to vulnerable groups.

We are learning Hair and Beauty because we want to inspire our pupils through a genuine interest in the hair and beauty sector. They should be able to analyse trends and influences while making connections and drawing contrasts from historical eras. They will gain a mixture of practical skills while interleaving critical investigation at how the industry has evolved into an industry that generated £27.2 billion for the UK economy in 2018. Pupils will take part in lessons that develop cultural, emotional and social diversity and ethical considerations related to the industry.

The skills developed within our subject impact positively through knowledge transfer and we foster a positive communication, both verbal and non-verbal, which allow our pupils the opportunity to connect at all levels in a range of scenarios which is key for positive and polite young people, a backbone of the requirements for a successful place in future workplaces.

We are learning Hospitality & Catering because it is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. Pupils use their existing knowledge, imagination and creativity paired with immersive experiences to know how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. Learning how to cook is a crucial life skill that enables pupils to feed themselves, and others affordably and well, now and in later life. Instilling a love of cooking in pupils will also open a door to one of the great expressions of human creativity, enabling healthy choices which can last a lifetime.

Throughout our programme of study students will be taught to:

• understand and apply the principles of nutrition and health to enable learners to make informed healthy life choices
• cook a repertoire of predominantly savoury dishes so that they are able to feed themselves and others a healthy and varied diet
• become competent in a range of cooking techniques for example, selecting and preparing ingredients; using utensils and electrical equipment; applying heat in different ways; using awareness of taste, texture and smell to decide how to season dishes and combine ingredients; adapting and using their own recipes
• understand the source, seasonality and characteristics of a broad range of ingredients
• developing a reduce, reuse, recycle awareness
• consider the environmental impacts involving food and non-food waste
• consider the dietary requirements of a range of different people, and be able to adapt and vary recipes to take into consideration these factors.

Today’s children and young people find themselves growing up in an increasingly complex world. Modern Britain brings with it many new and exciting opportunities as globalisation creates a multicultural society that is more diverse than ever. Our PSHE curriculum seeks to equip young people with the knowledge and skills to answer challenging questions, explore different religious beliefs, values and traditions whilst developing a deeper appreciation for the world we live in. It will also provide the tools to reflect and develop a more rigorous understanding of one’s own self-identity as we prepare to take our place on this global stage. This is all set to a backdrop of personal growth as young people transcend into adulthood and explore what that means. This world of opportunity is not without risk and our PSHE curriculum aims to support young people in navigating these challenges, empowering them to make their own informed decisions so they can ultimately play a full and active part in society. By providing students with the opportunity we aim for our students to develop holistically, becoming resilient to adversity, tolerant to diversity, aware of the important political arena we live in, safe, healthy, happy and fulfilled.