Curriculum Overview

The curriculum will be organised to provide our children with deep knowledge and skills to achieve cultural capital and success in life. We will aim to:

• Provide a broad and balanced education for all pupils;
• Be accessible for all pupils, considering all ability ranges, including those with SEND;
• Provide pupils with the ability to develop a deep learning of knowledge and the mechanisms for retrieving and applying knowledge.
• Ensure literacy is at the heart of everything, including embedding a wide and rich vocabulary across the curriculum.
• Inspire and challenge all learners to aspire to high achievement;
• Ensure pupils’ knowledge is fully developed to support their social, moral, spiritual and cultural awareness to promote diversity and key values;
• Develop pupils who are tolerant, respectful and understanding;
• Provide equal opportunities for all pupils, with high expectations for every learner ensuring appropriate levels of challenge and support;
• Develop key skills such as teamwork; independence, resilience; responsibility; and communication;
• Ensure pupils have a wide knowledge of career opportunities in a local and wider national context;
• Provide pupils with leadership opportunities to develop strength of character and self-confidence;
• Ensure pupils’ have wider opportunities to develop an interest and fascination in subjects and topics that interest them or that might interest them;
• Consider barriers to learning, linked to the local context and the circumstances faced by individual students;
• Promote an awareness of key issues such as healthy living; democracy and national and international events.

We will teach a full range of subjects to all pupils and ensure sufficient coverage is given to each area to ensure the pupils receive a broad and balanced curriculum.

The subjects covered will be:

• Art & Design
• Computing
• Design & Technology
• English
• French for KS2
• Geography
• History
• Mathematics
• Music
• Religious Education
• Physical Education
• PSHE
• Science

In our current academies, we use a number of resources to support the delivery of our curriculum subject areas. In September 2019, we started using elements of the Chris Quigley Essentials curriculum, where we used milestones to help teach and assess knowledge and skills taught across year groups. In September 2022, we started using a greater range of the Chris Quigley resources to help us enhance the teaching of detailed and deep knowledge and to further enhance our sequencing across certain subjects and across year groups, with an emphasis on remembering and knowing.

In addition, we use a wide range of resources across subjects. For example, we adapt the White Rose programme in Mathematics; we use Bug Club do deliver Phonics in some school, though we also use a programme called Little Wandle in another school; Kapow to support our teaching of Computing and Music and Language Angels to support the teaching of French.

Importantly, we will make final decisions on some of these programmes over the next 18 months. We want to ensure that we give careful consideration to the children of Scartho Gateway Academy and use the best resources for them, based on latest designs, updates and evidence.

Assessment opportunities will be built in throughout each topic. This will mainly be in the form of on-going assessments in lessons and throughout topics, though may also end of topic tests to assess knowledge. Lessons will be structured to give children constant opportunities to retrieve knowledge, through simple questioning and a wide range of activities. There will be a focus on constant re-visiting of knowledge both from recent and less recent lessons, to help constantly retrieve and build a bank of deep knowledge that can be recalled.

Using the intra-curricular approach through topics and schemas, the intention will be to build up this knowledge across year groups. For example, in Year 1, students might look at knowledge categories of location, physical features and human features when studying The United Kingdom in Geography – those same knowledge categories will be taught through the topic of Continents and Oceans – thereby, giving the students the opportunity to make links and remember/retrieve knowledge from previous work.

Topics are mapped and sequenced across each subject and each year group so as to build on prior knowledge.

We use milestones at the end of each phase, which inform what knowledge and skills should be taught across each milestone. These are linked to national curriculum requirements and link to our on-going assessment. In some subjects, we have started preparing exemplar responses to support staff with expectations and to help children aspire to high quality outcomes. Using the same example as outlined above, below is an example of such exemplar responses:

• ‘Do you agree that the invention of the steam engine was the most important innovation of the Industrial Revolution period? Give reasons for your answer. ‘Though there were many key inventions and innovations that led to the Industrial Revolution, it is clear that the invention of the steam engine was the most significant. Firstly, as coal was needed to heat water to make steam, factories were opened near to supplies of water and coal which led to the growth of large, important towns in areas such as the Midlands and the North West of England…’
• Describe what life was like in factories in Britain during the early period of the Industrial Revolution. ‘In the 1800s, it became common place to employ women and children to work in factories. Conditions in many factories were challenging and often dangerous. For example, children often had to work 12–14 hour shifts, 6 days a week. In addition, there was little safety equipment, so children would often get injured or killed by fast-moving machinery…’

Enrichment will be a key part of the implementation of our overall curriculum at Scartho Gateway Academy.

We will offer a wide range of after school clubs which will be available to all pupils at no additional financial charge. Recent examples at our current primary academies include cheerleading; choir; football; netball and gardening.

External visitors will help to inspire and develop cultural capital. For example, in our current primary academies, we have held workshops hosted by an international free-style footballer; a Commonwealth athlete and a local author. In addition, we hosted the English Heritage Society, who delivered workshops on local Viking History. Most recently, a member of the Harlem Globetrotters delivered basketball sessions to all of the children!

Opportunities for parental engagement are key. For example, in our current primary academies, we have organised a Race for Life event attended by over 200 family members, raising over £1600; we raised over £500 through a cake sale, where parents provided over 1000 cakes and we organised for parents to attend performances by our choir and cheerleaders. We will also look to establish a PTA when the school is up and running.

Outdoor learning will also be a key focus, and we will look to ensure we have fantastic gardens; ponds; wildlife areas; outdoor classroom, which will be looked after by the children as ‘Wildlife Warriors.’

Assemblies will also play a key role in the implementation of our curriculum. Alongside special mentions assembly, celebrating success, we will also hold weekly singing assemblies and a weekly assembly which focuses on a local or national event, using resources supplied by Picture News.

We will also build time in to our curriculum for whole class story time to help promote a love of reading.

Sport is very important to us. Participation in external competitions will be a key focus and a significant number of our children will regularly take place in local competitions, supported through after school clubs and use of the Sports premium funding to support enrichment and resources.

Linked to the above, we will strive to make links with our local community, including businesses and employers.

For example, in our current primary academies, pupils visited the Immingham docks for a full guided tour, organised by APB Immingham Ports; as part of a Primary Engineer programme, children were visited by members from Equans, who talked to pupils about life as an engineer; some Year 1 pupils attended a workshop on bricklaying, as part of their topic of looking at the Three Little Pigs.

We will take every opportunity to engage with local businesses and services to help inspire our children.

Linking to out ultimate goals, every member of staff will work tirelessly to ensure the curriculum leads to the following:

• Outcomes, for all pupils, will improve at the end of each key stage, including EYFS, and every student will make progress across the curriculum;
• Pupils will have developed a deep understanding of different types of knowledge to support everything outlined in our curriculum intent;
• Every subject and topic area will have a clearly defined end goal and assessment opportunities throughout the unit will indicate the development of substantive and disciplinary knowledge;
• The wider enrichment and extra-curricular programme will have supported the development of every individual, giving them the cultural capital to be successful in the next stage of their education, whilst looking beyond to later career development;
• Links with local industries and businesses will have supported students in giving them knowledge of opportunities, both local and national;
• Barriers to learning will have been considered and addressed, particularly in relation to combating any issues raised by the local context of the academy, and particularly in relation to any students with additional needs and/or for whom the academy receives additional funding;
• Aspirations have clearly been raised so every pupil leaves Scartho Gateway Academy, knowing that they can be successful in whatever they want to achieve in life;
• Students are tolerant, caring, understanding and active local, national and global citizens.

Our ‘ultimate goals’ will drive our curriculum.

Knowledge will be at the heart of our curriculum.

Our aim will be for curriculum content to be remembered in the long term. We intend for students to make progress by remembering more and knowing more.

When planning and designing the curriculum, we will consider the following main areas:

• How will our curriculum design provide students with opportunities for knowing and remembering deep knowledge?
• How can we provide breadth of knowledge within subjects, sequencing topics to develop deep knowledge over time, across key stages from Early Years to KS2?
• Does our curriculum design provide opportunities for all pupils, including those with SEND, to access a broad, balanced and engaging curriculum?
• What end points should our curriculum build towards and what do our pupils need to know to be able to reach those end points?
• What are the main features of the academy’s local context which we need to address to narrow gaps in our pupils’ knowledge and skills?
• What else can we offer, alongside daily classroom practice, to ensure our pupils are fully prepared for secondary education; have knowledge of the wider world and aspire to fulfil their ambitions?

We will create a timetable which allows sufficient and appropriate coverage to the wider curriculum subjects, whilst ensuring reading, writing and mathematics is at the foundation of our curriculum.

Each subject will be timetabled for each pupil in KS1 and KS2. For example, pupils will have a science lesson; history lesson; music lesson etc.

However, our curriculum will allows some flexibility. For example, in some subjects such as Computing and Art & Design, we would teach a double lesson every fortnight. We feel that this offers the chance for greater development of skills and knowledge due to the nature of the subjects and the resources involved. Also, teachers can use their professionalism to adapt lessons – for example, if they wish to extend a Mathematics lesson by 15 minutes, our timetable allows this to happen.

In addition, we will teach Design & Technology in a block at the end of each half-term due to the nature of the subject.

This design has been chosen to ensure pupils can access and be successful in areas where they might have a particular talent or where they can achieve more successfully than in traditional subjects. For example, where a child may struggle with reading, they may be a very talented musician or have a passion for History. In addition, this timetable structure enables all pupils to be fully prepared for transition to secondary education.

Please see the separate tabs on our website for a flavour of the topics that will be taught. As mentioned, these will be confirmed over the next 18 months as we want to ensure that the topics are right for the children at Scartho Gateway Academy, particularly where subjects include a local context, for example, History and Geography.

Our curriculum will be designed to be accessible for all pupils. Each topic and individual lesson will be adapted to cater for individual needs and there will be assessment challenges aimed at a basic, enhanced and deeper knowledge.

Part of the rationale for this approach is that it provides a range of different opportunities for all abilities, while still accessing the same topics. Across topics, assessment opportunities will be based on the following:

• Basic (remembering)
• Advanced (knowing)
• Deep (reasoning)

This will ensure that teachers can provide assessment opportunities for a range of abilities, adapting work to ensure that all pupils, including those with SEND, can access topic areas and achieve at their own pace.

Part of our motivation for giving adequate coverage to all curriculum areas is to ensure that there are opportunities for pupils to express themselves; achieve; enhance talents, in areas where they might shine e.g. art, science, history, PE.

Teachers will use a range of resources, including interactive displays and working walls, alongside individual resources and scaffolding techniques to help all pupils access the curriculum.

Interventions will be in place to support pupils, where necessary.

In one of our current primary academies, we have applied to be considered for the SMSC quality mark for schools. We have nominated a curriculum leader to oversee this area to ensure SMSC permeates through all aspects of school life. For example, it is prominent through subject areas, such as RE and PSHE but also far more widely through most curriculum subjects, including History and Geography. Over time, this will be the plan for Scartho Gateway Academy.

SMSC will also flow though enrichment; leadership schemes; links with the local community etc. Children will be encouraged to be leaders and learn key British values such as democracy and the rule of law; children will be taught to respect and appreciate different religions, cultures and British Values within their learning.

Leadership opportunities will include whole school council; house captains; playground monitors; playground buddies; reading buddies and library monitors.

We will use a variety of methods to celebrate and reward success. These will include weekly Special Mentions assemblies, attended by parents; daily social media posts; regular news items on our website; use of our on-line Carrot Reward system, amongst many daily systems employed by staff.

As mentioned, the curriculum design will be worked on thoroughly over the next 18 months and we will be engaging with the community for ideas and suggestions. We hope this gives you a flavour at this early stage.

Andrew Clark
Executive Principal
Lincolnshire Gateway Academies Trust