Curriculum Intent & Implementation
At Staindrop Academy, the vision and hopes for our students are a blend between their personal fulfilment and our needs as well rounded individuals and valued members of the community and wider society.
We feel it is important to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding for our pupils to face the challenges of the 21st Century and for them to grow up to be happy, valued & successful individuals.
Our curriculum:
- is ambitious and designed to give students the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life
- is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning and employment.
- has academic, technical or vocational ambitions for all learners. Where this is not practical – the curriculum is designed to be ambitious and to meet their needs.
- allows students to study the full curriculum, with a full range of subjects taught for as long as possible, ‘specialising’ only when necessary.
Key Stage 3
Covers Years 7, 8 and 9: the first three years of secondary school
Key Stage 3 is a crucial time in the education of our students; a successful transition from Key Stage 2 is essential to enable students to build on and extend their knowledge and develop new skills across a wider range of subjects. This three year period enables students to build the foundation needed for success at Key Stage 4 and in public examinations.
Staindrop Academy students receive a rich, challenging and supportive curriculum within Years 7, 8 and 9, in accordance with the National Curriculum and enriched by a wide range of additional opportunities for learning and personal development. The Key Stage 3 curriculum aims for students to enjoy learning and develop the attitudes, knowledge, understanding, skills and confidence to thrive in a changing world.
Why a three year Key Stage 3?
- To teach a broad range of topics and explore subject content in depth; minimising gaps in pupil’s understanding that can occur from only studying over two years
- To provide a broad curriculum with students’ experiencing fantastic subjects that develop creativity and key skills that are missed out if dropped at the end of Year 8
- Students maturity and brain development when selecting GCSE options are considered to prepare for future success and set them on the right path for the future
- We want to maximise students’ performance and research suggests too much revision of the same content turns students off which effects their performance.
Key Stage 4
Comprises Years 10 and 11, when students are working towards GCSEs. Some subjects are compulsory; these are known as the core and foundation subjects.
List of qualifications:
GCSE 9-1
Art & Design – fine art (AQA)
Art & Design – 3D art (AQA)
English Language (AQA)
English Literature (AQA)
Geography (AQA)
German (AQA)
History (Edexcel)
Hospitality & Catering (WJEC)
Mathematics (Edexcel)
Science – Biology (AQA)
Science – Chemistry (AQA)
Science – Physics (AQA)
Science – trilogy dual award (AQA)
Statistics (AQA)
Pearson BTEC
Tech Award Sport
Performing Arts
OCR National
Information Technology
Enterprise
For more information please speak to Mr Duffin: h.duffin@staindropschool.com
