St. Augustine’s CE High School Curriculum Statement
The Intent Which Drives Our Curriculum
At St. Augustine’s we aim to provide equal opportunities for all so that we might have ‘Life in all its fullness’ (John 10:10) by striving to ‘be the best we can be in every aspect of our lives as we grow in the Christian virtues of Faith, Hope and Love (1 Corinthians 13).’
Our curriculum supports our aims and values through:
- a broad and balanced, yet personalised curriculum across all Key Stages leading to a breadth of understanding and knowledge in a range of academic and non-academic subject areas that support students interests and needs
- the national curriculum taught in all subject areas to provide a solid understanding of a range of subject areas to allow for an informed choice about further study
- well sequenced and carefully planned lessons, which are relevant and appropriate to the needs of all our students.
- the promotion of British values within the context of our culturally rich and diverse community.
- a comprehensive work-related learning programme which strives to bridge the gap between work and school, to build knowledge and skills for future learning and employment by using the strong relationships with a variety of business partners who offer numerous activities in school and offsite.
- trips, visits and extra-curricular opportunities to build cultural capital to foster a deeper understanding of the subjects and to engender a love of learning beyond the classroom
- an emphasis on literacy, numeracy and creativity
- the equality of access to the curriculum through the support provided to our students with physical, emotional or learning difficulties and those that are disadvantage
- the challenge of our most able students to reach beyond what they think they can achieve
- an emphasis on the basic skills that all citizens of the 21st Century need to succeed in modern Britain and beyond
- a focus on the moral values of ‘being kind, respecting others and living without harm.’
- dedicated curriculum time for students to access a quality PSHCE provision
- the qualifications offered that cover the full range of abilities and pathways, while giving careers information, advice and guidance to all students at the critical points of their education.
The curriculum is regularly evaluated in order to ensure that it meets the needs of our learners’ development and is underpinned by our nine school values which support our students to experience life in all its fullness.
The broad and balanced curriculum we implement across all Key Stages is designed to develop a breadth of understanding and knowledge in a range of academic and non-academic subject areas that support students’ interests and needs. A 3-year KS3 gives our students the opportunity to explore and study all National Curriculum subjects areas in sufficient depth to enable them to make free and informed choices in their options so that they can positively pursue their ambitions in their best interest as opposed to what suits the league table place of the school.
This approach has benefited our students enabling them to sustain high outcomes in the non-EBacc pillar (scoring in the top 40% of schools nationally) and opening Post-16 opportunities in their preferred subjects. Where low ability students do choose EBacc subjects, they attain highly, scoring in the top 20% of schools 3 years running.
Our EAL student numbers are in the top quintile and therefore significantly above the national average, with a huge diversity of over 70 languages spoken. In many cases students are first generation émigrés and are developing their English use for the first time. However, at home, and in their communities, they are fluent in widely spoken global languages such as Mandarin, Arabic, Turkish and Farsi. Developing their English language skills to fluency is both our priority and theirs in the context of their status. Indeed, many students see the utilisation of their own language as culturally important and socio economically advantageous and that fluent English is their modern foreign language.
