Curriculum, Teaching and Assessment

The Sir Robert Woodard Academy is built around the ethos of Aspire to Achieve. We talk about this as a stick of rock in the school: as a deep, unchangeable and essential feature of our organisation.

Each decision we make is predicated on the belief that all students have an entitlement to educational opportunities that will excite, enrich and empower them. With consideration for the future, and our students aged 25, we ensure that there are diverse and dynamic learning experiences in the classroom and beyond. At our inclusive and happy school, we aspire together and we achieve together.

We encourage our students to come on a 7 year journey with us, continuing their studies through to our post-16 W6 centre. Our broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum, is cumulatively designed with carefully selected content, knowledge and skills logically sequenced throughout this learning journey. We want our students to know more, remember more and be able to do more, developing during their time at the Academy into lifelong learners. We want students to leave both ready and resilient to face the challenges of the 21st century, and with the appetite to make their communities a better place to live.

Our Curriculum

As a truly comprehensive community school, it is our solid consensus that our students are best served by a broad and balanced curriculum with a strong academic core. We therefore provide a three year Key Stage 3 encompassing all aspects of the statutory national curriculum and more. 

    • English, Maths and Science

    • Religious education and sex and relationship education

    • Art and design; Citizenship, Computing; Design and technology; Drama; Geography; History; Languages, Music          and Physical Education

Our formal curriculum is taught across a two week timetable with 50, 1 hour lessons taught fortnightly.

A typical week for a student in Key Stage 3, might look something like this:

*Computing is in a rotation of subjects, which also includes Design & Technology and Citizenship
** From year 7, students will study either French or Spanish

At Key Stage 4 our curriculum is structured to ensure high ambition for all.

All students are entitled, and encouraged, to follow the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) combination of subjects, regardless of prior attainment or any SEND. Our overall EBacc entry has now hovered at around 75-80% since 2020. We believe this is the most appropriate route for the majority of our students, keeping options open for both further study and future careers.

A study by the UCL Institute of Education shows that studying subjects included in the EBacc “provides students with greater opportunities in further education” and “increases the likelihood that a pupil will stay on in full-time education”.  

A majority of students at Sir Robert Woodard Academy follow the subject combination outlined below:

   • English Language and English Literature

   • Maths

   • Science (either combined trilogy or separate sciences)

   • Geography or History

   • French or Spanish

One additional free choice (from subjects across the four entitlement areas)

A typical week for a student in Key Stage 4, might look something like this:

We are unashamedly passionate about students being given the opportunity to learn a language at Key Stage 4, with all students encouraged to be outward looking citizens and global communicators. Research shows that students who study a second language enjoy improved results across the board, with benefits on cognitive flexibility and working memory conferred to all learners. We challenge the many misconceptions in this area, about who is or isn’t suitable for the study of an additional language, and are fully inclusive in our provision.

A majority of our year 11 leavers, staying on in education, choose to stay and learn with us at W6. These students, in Key Stage 5, select 3 subject disciplines to specialise in over 2 years, with the most common route to University being through the acquisition of 3 A Level qualifiactions. Typically there are around 20 Level 3 courses on offer for students each year. A majority of our students also elect to undertake the Extended Project Qualification, which is equivalent to 50% of an additional A-Level. We are proud of the quality of our sixth form provision, and consider ourselves to be ‘the bespoke choice for ambitious students’. Throughout W6, there is a prevailing spirit of aspiration and student destinations are impressively diverse and distinguished. The enrichment opportunities are second to none, with established student leadership models and tantalising trips, including successive years participating in the prestigious intercollegiate Model UN conference, in New York City.

Alongside academic study, the Personal Development curriculum encompasses all statutory elements of PSHE, and aims to help prepare our students for the opportunities and challenges they may encounter growing up and in adult life. This is taught in discrete lessons from Years 7 to 13, with relevant aspects also integrated into subject areas to provide them with context and meaning. Opportunities for collective reflection are provided daily through our tutoring and assembly provision.

Speaking, Reading, Writing, Achieving

We believe all teachers are teachers of literacy, that every teacher communicates their subject through academic language, and that speaking, reading and writing are at the very heart of knowing and achieving.

It is no accident that our thriving library is at the heart of the school, with an excellent librarian and a full range of books for every learner. Our library is open daily to all students: before school; at break, through lunch and after school. Reading (motivation; vocabulary acquisition, comprehension and fluency) is of the utmost priority to us, with all teachers, in all subjects, playing their role in the development of reading. Encouraging the value of ‘reading for pleasure and progress’ is an integral part of our curriculum delivery.

We assess and monitor the reading progress of all students during their time at the academy, using an established ‘wave model’ to respond to our findings and implement intervention as necessary. Teachers use their knowledge of their students' reading proficiency to plan for reading instruction in their lessons.

In year 7 and year 8, across the school curriculum, the first lesson of each day begins with 10 minutes of independent student reading. We know that in these crucial years of early adolescence, it can often be make or break for developing positive reading habits. We believe that this initiative, alongside our weekly ‘Register and Read’ tutor session, and the fortnightly English lessons in the library, allow our very youngest readers to continue to flourish.

All students in Key Stage 3 are also assigned learning through ‘Bedrock Vocabulary’, an online programme that helps students learn new vocabulary. In particular, it helps students to learn and embed the academic vocabulary that they will come across in lessons, textbooks and exams. Bedrock provides personal, adaptive learning, responding to the strengths and weaknesses of each student, so it doesn't waste time on words they already know and returns to re-teach words that students have found more challenging.

We know that students who are developed as readers, become the most proficient writers and, in turn, we know that writing helps to cultivate emotional growth and develop critical thinking skills. This is because over time, and with more experience, students can demonstrate their comprehension of complex concepts with greater ease if they have practiced their writing skills. All teachers should provide relevant and appropriate support for students during extended writing, with effective modelling and sentence starters being used routinely to support learners.

Developing student oracy is also high on our agenda, with staff providing opportunities in lessons, across the curriculum, for purposeful and structured student talk. Strategies such as ‘Think, Pair, Share’ and ‘No Opt Out’ both develop the learning, and enable students to develop their confidence with verbal articulation.

Beyond the Classroom

Education at Sir Robert Woodard Academy is not limited to the formal curriculum. We are equally motivated to ensure that our extracurricular programme provides meaningful opportunities for engagement and enrichment. We want all students to feel a sense of belonging, so we know how important it is to curate, fund and deliver a diverse provision. There is rarely a day when, after school, the Dance Studio is not pulsating; where students are not busy learning lines for an upcoming production, where the workshop saws are not spinning or the ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ polyhedral dice is not rolling out another adventure. We want students to switch on to the opportunities around them; to meet them with curiosity and a ‘have a go’ attitude; to unlock their potential; to feed existing passions, and friendships, and discover new ones. Our desire is for every child in the Academy to be involved in some form of personal enrichment during their time with us.

Homework

HOMEWORK @ SRWA

We know that homework has a positive impact on the performance of students at secondary school. We ensure that, to maximise the benefits, homework is integrated into the curriculum, and that it meets one or more of the principles below:

Embed = consolidate learning that has taken place in the classroom e.g. self-quizzing in readiness for a class test

Extend = move learning beyond what has been achieved in the classroom e.g. wider reading around a topic

Exercise = use and practice the application of learning from the classroom e.g.answering an exam question

We expect students to make a daily commitment to homework, in relation to their age and stage, advocating the following ‘rule of thumb’:

1 hour (KS3, years 7-9)
2 hours (KS4, years 10-11)
3 hours (KS5, years 12-13)

High Quality Inclusive Teaching at SRWA

Excellent teaching and learning is our core business, and we invest substantially in recruiting the best people. All of our teachers are qualified subject experts, and they are generously supported, during their time here, with opportunities for personal development and professional growth. Similarly, staff well-being is of the utmost importance, as we know how essential this is to nurturing the strong relationships that facilitate high quality teaching and learning. Our students value their teachers, who always ‘go the extra mile’, bringing energy and enthusiasm to their classroom pedagogy.

Over the last decade we have worked hard to develop a robust set of lesson principles to guide our teachers in their practice. We talk about these principles as our DNA, and they are acted out across the school in every classroom, every day. At the heart of this piece of work, is an ongoing commitment to using the ‘Accelerated Learning Cycle’ for curriculum implementation. This provides our teachers with a clear framework for maximising learning time, and enables our students to experience lessons that are both consistent and purposeful.

Lessons and learning are sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before and students can work towards clearly defined end points. Our 3D Learning Outcomes (Know, Be able to, So that) structure and articulate students’ learning in terms of knowledge, skills and the ‘big picture’, or in other words the ‘what, how and why’ of their learning. Memory retrieval is actively supported by revisiting skills and content and by the practice that every lesson starts with a ‘Reconnect’, encouraging students to re-engage with prior learning and connect new with existing knowledge.

As fast as we can, as slow as we need

A key tenet of our ‘High Quality Inclusive Teaching’ model is that it is inclusive to all, but demanding of all. We know that for genuine and worthwhile learning to take place, students must participate in hard thinking and teachers must be both rigorous in their checking for understanding and dynamic in their shaping of lesson material for all students. Inspiring teaching is what gives access to difficult concepts and the thrill of intellectual discovery.

Using a graduated approach, we provide support for students who have additional learning needs relating to categories of SEND, defined in the DfE Code of Practice as:

   • Cognition and learning difficulties

   • Communication and Interaction difficulties

   • Sensory and physical difficulties

   • Social, emotional and mental health difficulties

Our focus on ‘Quality First Teaching’, with teachers as the experts in their subjects, and responsible for the progress of all students, sits at the heart of support for SEND students. There are high expectations that students will achieve in line with their peers. Adaptive teaching may be required to ensure that students' needs are met, and this is frequently a focus in the CPD we provide to develop our teachers.

Assessment at SRWA

EVALUATIVE ASSESSMENT

Formative
Formative assessment refers to the day-to-day and ongoing assessment taking place during a lesson, or while the learning is occurring. Formative assessment helps identify the weaknesses, struggles, misconceptions and learning gaps that need to be filled. Formative assessment strategies include questioning, feedback, peer- and self-assessment and formative use of summative tests.

At SRWA, this is typically performed through hands down ‘Cold Call’ questioning, and through the use of Mini Whiteboards. There is no central dictate in regards to the frequency and amount of written feedback that a teacher should provide but, when doing so, we share a broadly common approach, with the use of ‘WWW’ (what went well) and ‘EBI’ (even better if) comments. It is established practice that students both peer- and self- assess using green pens, and that teachers intentionally monitor by circling the room, ‘catching things’ and checking for understanding. In most lessons, time sensitive and personalised verbal feedback has the greatest impact on student learning.

Summative 
Summative assessment is a ‘snapshot’ which establishes what a student can do at a given time. We never want time given over to assessment to be disproportionate to teaching time, or to get in the way. Our first criteria for our summative assessment model is that it should be planned in tandem with the curriculum. Assessment does not exist as its own separate entity. Summative assessments are carefully mapped into the curriculum, feeding into a whole school Assessment Calendar that is published annually. This enables us to evaluate the progress of our students at key points in the learning journey, and allows teachers to plan for reteaching and intervention. At SRWA, during an academic year, there are two formal summative assessment points for each year group (with public examinations for students in years 11 and 13, starting in the Summer Term). The bi-annual assessments are calendared, so that students are given advance notice and can be adequately supported by teachers and pastoral leaders. 

Similarly, Summative Assessment data is then collected, and reported, bi-annually for all year groups. At Key Stage 3, we collect and report attainment data from EBacc subjects only, whereas at Key Stage 4 & 5, data is collected, and reported, for all qualifications that a student is entered for.  

At the beginning of years 10 and 12, students are set ‘Aspire Grades’ for each subject, according to their prior attainment data. In collecting and reporting assessment data, we then measure student success against their own potential as we strive to help every student achieve their own personal best. This ethos is key to our ‘Aspire to Achieve’ belief system. 

Students working towards qualifications, receive their first predicted grades in the summer term, near to the end of their first year of study. This allows students at the end of year 10, to start thinking about their W6 applications, and students at the end of year 12 to begin their UCAS applications. 

We believe that a strong partnership with parents and carers, based on frequent communication, helps students to achieve their best. To this end, and by design, we provide ‘pared down’ progress reports, twice a year, that keep a sharp focus on the assessment information that reveals the most about student learning. We then invite you to come into school to meet with us, on Parent’s Evenings, for a more dynamic 360° conversation. 

Below is a summary of our reporting cycle:

*For the purpose of this exercise, the EBacc subjects are: English; Maths; Science; Geography,  History and French OR Spanish.

Subject teachers are expected to review the data for the classes they teach at each data collection point and use the outcomes to impact future planning as part of our commitment to ‘Quality First Teaching’, and the ‘Plan, Do, Review’ model. We run subject interventions and a Summer School to support those students who are identified as at risk of falling significantly behind.