Curriculum Overview

Curriculum

Ms D Piralic (Vice Principal)
Email: [email protected]

The academy’s mission is to “Deepen Learning and Raise Aspiration through the academy’s CARE values of Community, Ambition, Respect, Resilience & Excellence 

Our curriculum is broad and balanced, with a rich variety of subjects allowing students to study widely where every student, regardless of their background or ability is challenged to:

“Participate and contribute positively to our school and local Community, have Ambition for ourselves, others and the school, Respect ourselves and others and be Resilient in the face of challenge and aim for Excellence in all that we do.”

The learning opportunities are both innovative and inclusive. Our students will develop into well educated, considerate and caring young adults who contribute positively to our society and the communities they belong to. 

Progression throughout our carefully constructed curriculum is clear to ensure students are prepared for the next phase in their education, whether to a new concept, year or keystage. The first 3 years focus on giving every child the widest experience possible across the performing and visual arts, humanities and technical subjects, whilst still maintaining a strong focus on the core subjects of English, Mathematics, Science, Languages, RE and PE. From Year 10, the curriculum offer is a mixture of both core and optional subjects. We offer a wide variety of courses which allow students the option to study the Arts, Humanities, Languages, Food and Catering, Sport, Computing and much more. Two important strands of core learning, Literacy and Numeracy, underpin our curriculum to ensure students’ confidence. 

Careers education is fully embedded in the academic life and the curriculum plans of each subject. Our extra-curricular offer is also incredibly strong here at Ormiston Rivers Academy and a guide to the offer across the 5 years in terms of ‘wider experiences’ is available to students from the moment they join the academy.

Our curriculum ensures that academic success, creativity, problem solving, reliability, responsibility and resilience, as well as physical development, well-being and mental health are key elements that support the development of the whole child and promote a positive attitude to learning and enable them to become well-rounded, global citizens.

High quality summative and formative assessment define curriculum excellence, it sets out the standard that we expect students to achieve and informs both the curriculum and teacher planning. The design of assessment is derived from a tight focus on assessing the content taught, the accumulation of knowledge and the application of skills appropriate to the age and stage of the learner.  The outcomes of assessment, both formative and summative, identify gaps and misconceptions in knowledge and understanding, directly informing future planning by providing information that can be used by the teacher to close the gaps as close to the assessment point as possible.

Challenge is at the heart of teaching and learning at Ormiston Rivers Academy. Through clarity of explanation, expert modelling, questioning, deliberate practice and feedback, lessons are delivered in the most efficient sequence to ensure optimal learning. Our approach to pedagogy is rooted in cognitive science and we create regular opportunities for our teachers to share good practice and think carefully about what to teach and how best to teach it. We attach high importance to our teachers being ‘experts’ in their respective subject disciplines.