Key Principles

Equality of opportunity for all students.

All students will be valued equally and have an equal opportunity to experience an entitlement curriculum regardless of gender, religion, race, background or physical ability.
 

Differentiation to meet the needs of individuals.

What is taught and how it is presented needs to be matched to learner’s individual abilities and aptitudes. 

Some students are exceptionally able, others have profound learning difficulties.  Some are highly motivated; others may have little incentive to learn. 

It is of the greatest importance to stimulate and challenge all learners and to maintain high expectations of their performance. 

Discussing learning objectives, expected outcomes and success criteria   with the students along with encouraging self-review and target setting will do much to assist this process.
 

Breadth to encompass varieties of learning activities

The curriculum will be designed to give all students access to a broad range of knowledge, concepts, skills and values and attitudes, and encompass a wide variety of learning activities and resources. 

Students will come into contact with all the following areas of learning and experience: aesthetic and creative, human and social, linguistic and literary; mathematical, moral, physical, scientific, spiritual and technological.
 

Balance to ensure an even spread of learning opportunities.

The curriculum will be balanced in terms of the subjects of the National Curriculum, the areas of learning and experiences and cross-curricular themes and dimensions. 

There will also be a balance in terms of teaching strategies and learning activities.  Learning will also take place in a range of environments which extend beyond the classroom.

Balance needs to be sought in the manner in which students are assessed.  A range of different assessment procedures will be employed.
 

Relevance to students’ needs and those of society.

The curriculum and styles of teaching and learning at Ansford Academy should be, and be seen by students to be, relevant to their needs both now and in the future.  What is learned will be worthwhile and engaging.
 

Coherence to ensure learning is consistent.

It is essential that the curriculum is seen as a coherent whole by the learner, with its various components related.

Teachers across subject areas need to work closely together to ensure effective planning and delivery of the whole curriculum. 

Knowledge and concepts from one area should be used to illustrate and reinforce other areas and the development of skills and personal qualities is the joint responsibility of all teachers.
 

Continuity and Progression from one year to another.

It is essential that students add progressively to learning and that discontinuities and repetition are avoided. 

This applies particularly at the points of transfer between phases but it is no less important within the academy as students move from year to year and teacher to teacher. 

Joint curriculum planning and the effective transfer of relevant information and records are vital to success in this area.
 

Active learning to enable students to become independent learners.

The curriculum will be designed in such a way as to allow students to gain the confidence to be increasingly independent in their thinking and learning, and to seek awareness as individuals and in co-operation with others.
 

Citizenship.

The curriculum will be designed to:

  • enable all students to understand the nature of the global and local community in which they live
     
  • encourage an interest in, and concern for global issues, a commitment to fairness and readiness to work for a more just world
     
  • provide an understanding of cultural diversity and how the lives of others can enrich our own
     
  • encourage all students to play a full part in the life of the community
     
  • support links with the community
     

Evaluation to maintain the pursuit of excellence.

The academy must regularly evaluate the success of the curriculum in meeting the needs of its students. 

This will occur through the evaluation by students of their own learning, and through the evaluation by teaching staff of the learning programme and of the whole curriculum of which it forms a part.