Our curriculum is designed with pupils’ learning at the centre. At Hemlington Hall Academy, we offer an engaging curriculum that gives our children the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours that will enable them to succeed. It is not only designed to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum but to ignite a lifelong love of learning and a willingness to help others. It is our aim that our pupils are happy, well rounded and responsible citizens.
Intent
- We recognise that a curriculum has to be broad, balanced and offer pupils opportunities to grow as individuals as well as learners.
- Our curriculum is underpinned by the school motto, ‘Learning Together’. It encourages our children to consider themselves, others and the world around them; to be creative and independent in their thinking and their approach to learning; and to contribute to their own and each other’s learning.
- Is inclusive and meets the specific needs of all of our children by stimulating a love of learning, removing barriers, providing the depth and breadth of experiences necessary to challenge every child, and celebrating the achievements of all.
- Through a combination of learning techniques, we aim to ensure pupils enjoy learning and feel prepared for their next key stage and life after school.
- We also intend to offer our pupils new and exciting experiences through extra-curricular activities that are designed to build resilience, confidence and self-esteem.
- We want pupils to understand that failure is part of the road to success and help them build resilience.
- We encourage and support children to achieve to the best of their ability.
- We want pupils to acquire a wealth of knowledge and experience.
- Pupils should find a sense of belonging to the school and its community
- We encourage pupils to learn how to cooperate with their peers and respect one another inside and outside the classroom.
- We encourage our pupils to live and breathe our Hemlington Hall Academy virtues as they grow to become good people.
- Our curriculum incorporates the teaching of British Values: democracy; the rule of law; individual liberty; mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith. These values are woven into the ethos and practice of the school.
For further information about how we fulfil our statutory obligations to ensure that our curriculum is inclusive and accessible to all, please follow the links below:
Equality Policy and Objectives
Impact
We have robust systems in place to evaluate the effectiveness of our curriculum in terms of pupil engagement, outcomes and progress and to identify areas for improvement, make necessary changes and celebrate successes.
There is a lead member of staff for each core and foundation subject who, with the support of the SLT, monitors teaching and learning in their subject. This involves lesson observations, discussions with teaching and support staff, looking at children’s work and data analysis. As the children are at the heart of our curriculum, subject leads and the SLT also regularly seek their views about teaching and learning and how we can improve their learning experiences. Subject leads produce action plans that are tightly linked to school priorities and are regularly reviewed. Long term plans are reviewed annually and medium term plans are reviewed termly by teaching staff, subject leads and the SLT to ensure that our curriculum remains relevant and engaging.
We see progress as children knowing more, remembering more and being able to apply their learning independently. Our assessment system, which has been devised by and is used across the multi-academy trust, enables us to closely track pupils’ attainment and progress across the year and across key stages.
For Reading, Writing and Maths, assessment data is submitted and analysed three times a year formally. This is triangulated with information from lesson observations and learning walks, children’s work and discussions with pupils and teaching staff. This breadth of information helps us to set aspirational targets, identify which children may be falling behind their peers and put robust plans in place to ensure rapid progress where needed. For foundation subjects, children’s progress is monitored through assessment for learning, lesson observations, learning walks and scrutiny of children’s work throughout the year. Formal assessment data is submitted and analysed in the summer term.
The Local Governing Body are kept fully informed about our curriculum. There are link governors for each subject who meet regularly with the subject leads to discuss developments in their subjects and to review action plans. Governors are encouraged to participate in learning walks and work scrutinies. Core subject leads and the foundation subjects’ curriculum lead deliver updates to the LGB Curriculum and Standards Committee each term.
As part of a multi-academy trust, we are actively involved in curriculum networks for English, Maths and the other core and foundation subjects. Subject leads and teachers from across the trust meet regularly to moderate pupils’ work, discuss local and national developments and initiatives, share best practice, challenge and learn from one another
