Curriculum
We are one community of adults and young people working together to make sure that each child is supported in fulfilling their potential - academically, socially and emotionally. We are ambitious for everyone – we focus on excellence and we expect the best from everyone.
Strategic Intent
The aim of our curriculum is to enable the best from everyone; realising our core ORCHARD values by inspiring and empowering students to be:
- Open minded
- Respectful
- Creative and Curious
- Healthy
- Ambitious
- Responsible
- Determined
Our curriculum is based on key principles. These are outlined below, together with potential impact:
- To ensure our students experience a clearly communicated curriculum programme that gives them the best opportunities now and in the future for success, independence and fulfilment: underpinned by our belief in the immense potential of our students;
- To provide a rigorous academic curriculum that is challenging, engaging, enriching and accessible to all: informed by enquiry and research based evidence and adapted where necessary to ensure students’ individual needs are met in order to make excellent progress.
- To provide a curriculum that puts knowledge and understanding at its centre, and focuses on the best learning to support the development of skills to enable accurate recall, application and making increasingly sophisticated links within subject areas and across the curriculum.
- To provide a broad range of curriculum experiences, activities and pathway opportunities in and beyond lessons including vocational and technical subjects and leadership opportunities to meet the learning needs, enjoyment and aspirations of our students.
- To provide continuity and progression between the key stages, using assessment to inform teaching and learning, feedback and improvement.
- To provide a coherent Orchard Values programme of personal, health, social and economic education; careers education, information, advice and guidance; and religious education, philosophy and ethics. These programmes support our students’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural education and develop full understanding of British values, thus ensuring our students are knowledgeable and well informed citizens,
- To provide expert, up-to-date careers guidance that is presented impartially and gives our students access to high quality, current information supporting excellent progression to Post 16 pathways, higher education, training and employment;
- To ensure that student progress is at least in line with national expectations and students are best prepared for national tests and examinations.
- To maintain the highest standards of literacy and numeracy across the curriculum so that students have essential skills for life and are able to make excellent progress.
Curriculum Implementation
We run a one-week timetable of twenty-five lessons plus an extra hour of prep time for Year 11 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Year 10 also stay for prep on a Thursday.
At Orchard, we offer a 3-year Key Stage 3 and a 2-year Key Stage 4.
Key Stage 3 refers to Years 7-9 and Key Stage 4 refers to Years 10 -11.
Each of our curriculum content overviews includes reference to Spiritual, Moral, Social, and Cultural development. You can view these here.
English
Our students have 4 lessons per week of English at Key Stage 3 and 5 lessons per week at Key Stage 4.
You can click these links to view our English curriculum content overviews:
Year 7 – Year 8 – Year 9 – Year 10 – Year 11.
Mathematics
Our students have 4 lessons per week of Mathematics at both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.
You can click these links to view our Mathematics curriculum content overviews:
Year 7 – Year 8 – Year 9 Foundation – Year 9 Higher
Year 10 Foundation – Year 10 Higher – Year 11 Foundation – Year 11 Higher
Science
Our students have 3 lessons per week of Science at Key Stage 3 and 6 lessons per week at Key Stage 4.
You can click these links to view our Science curriculum content overviews:
Year 7 – Year 8 – Year 9 – Year 10 – Year 11.
Humanities
Our students have 3 lessons per week of Humanities (History, Geography, and Religious Education) at Key Stage 3. If they have chosen to study these at Key Stage 4, they also have 3 lessons a week.
History curriculum content overviews, click links:
Year 7 – Year 8 – Year 9 – Year 10 – Year 11;
Geography curriculum content overviews, click links:
Year 7 – Year 8 – Year 9 – Year 10 – Year 11;
RE curriculum content overviews, click links:
Years 7 and 8 – Year 9 – Year 10 – Year 11.
Modern Foreign Languages
Our students have 2 lessons per week of Modern Foreign Languages (‘MFL’) at Key Stage 3.
If they have chosen to study a language at Key Stage 4, they have 3 lessons a week.
You can click these links to view our MFL curriculum content overviews:
Year 7 – Year 8 – Year 9 – Year 10 – Year 11.
Performing Arts
Our students have 2 lessons per week of Performing Arts (Music and Drama) at Key Stage 3.
If they have chosen to study Music or Drama at Key Stage 4, they have 3 lessons a week.
You can click these links to view our Performing Arts curriculum content overviews:
Year 7 – Year 8 – Year 9
Year 10 Music – Year 10 Drama
Year 11 Music – Year 11 Drama
Additional opportunities
- Students may study Entry Level and Step up courses prior to GCSE in English, Maths and Science
- Students are also encouraged to sit GCSEs in their home language
- Opportunities to access a range of awards and qualifications such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award are included in and beyond lessons
- We also have drop-down curriculum days, for example Employability Days, or PSHE (healthy life choices) days
Accessing the curriculum
We ensure that our curriculum is accessible to students with additional learning needs as follows:
- For a small number of students who require extra learning support in English or Maths when they join us, these students will take extra English or extra Maths instead of learning a foreign language
- For new arrivals to the country (with English as an Additional Language), we may substitute extra English classes instead of GCSE courses
- For a very small number of students who need more accessible qualifications, we run a Work Skills programme. Students work through fewer GCSEs, but can gain an accredited qualification in more practical skills (such as Prince’s Trust or Forest School).