Curriculum Overview

Statement of Principle

At Harris Academy Orpington we are committed to expanding the opportunities of all students, we continuously build on what they know and understand, whilst enabling them to explore the unfamiliar and increase their knowledge of each subject, as well as the world they will live in beyond their local community. Our curriculum will:

• Meet the needs of all our students
• Be delivered by consistently strong teaching
• Enable our students to make continuous gains in deep knowledge and skills fluency to secure a successful future
• Focus on highly effective teaching as the motivation for deep learning which will lead to the examination success required for desired next steps
• To ensure students will have access to the full curriculum offer regardless of race, sex, religion or belief, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment.

We focus on creating successful citizens who are ambitious, welcoming of difference, whilst accepting of continuous change. The Academy strapline “together we can” is supported by this policy, which sets out a knowledge rich curriculum aspiring to challenge of our students regardless of their starting points.

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Curriculum Intent

A fundamental requirement is that each subject area must have in place a detailed scheme of work, which sequences clearly knowledge, skills and understanding, showing how the needs of all students will be met in implementation. The following principles will apply in subject curriculum design

• The curriculum will be ambitious, the teaching of rich knowledge fundamental
• The curriculum intent will powerfully address social disadvantage
• Every subject curriculum will be supported with opportunities for the acquisition of subject specific vocabulary, reading fluency and developing writing
• The curriculum will be appropriately sequenced, so that new knowledge builds on prior learning and greater fluency, ensuring understanding has greater depth over time
• Each scheme of work will have clarity on end points, defining in detail what needs to be learned and what will be remembered at each stage
• Skilful teaching will support knowledge being transferred to long term memory
• The curriculum will engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievements

Leaders, teachers and students will have a good understanding of the curriculum content in its entirety from 7-13, being able to articulate why learning is sequenced in the way chosen.

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Curriculum Implementation

It is very important that through our curriculum, students receive high quality teaching and learning experiences in all areas in order to ensure students learn and remember what they are taught across each subject area. The teaching and learning policy sets out how this will be achieved in more detail, but fundamentally teachers must be experts in their subject as well as continuously improving their pedagogic knowledge and skills. Teachers are expected to work with their subject teams to plan skilfully, adapting schemes of work to meet the needs of their specific classes in the way they find most effective, however the following principles apply across all lessons at Harris Orpington

• Mastery of subject specific content is the focus in each lesson
• Every student will be supported to have full access to the curriculum
• Narratives and experiences that make the subject content memorable
• Avoidance cognitive overload, by scaffolding and sequencing lessons carefully
• Be clear on what students are expected to know and remember and check this in each lesson

Our Implementation plan is outlined fully in our Teaching and learning and Assessment policies.

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Key Stage 3 Curriculum

The Key Stage 3 curriculum runs from Y7-9. Updated schemes of work are in place for September 2021. Our curriculum is designed to provide depth and breadth of study whilst ensuring that appropriate time can be devoted to Mathematics, English and Science. Our intention to give students a taste of as many subjects as possible, whilst preparing them for and informing them about their GCSE options and careers. Literacy and numeracy skills are developed in every subject and across the curriculum.

All students in Year 7, 8 and 9 study a language which they continue to study until GCSE. Where appropriate, students may pick up a second, additional language in Year 10. All students have lessons in Geography and History, Physical Education, Religious Studies, PHSE and Computer Science. Students in Year 7-9 have dedicated Enrichment lessons which they all attend.

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Key Stage 4 Curriculum

The Key Stage 4 curriculum is followed by years 10 and 11. All students will study Mathematics, English, Science, PE and Religious Education and the vast majority study a humanities subject and a modern foreign language. The list of optional subjects is extensive and gives students a real opportunity to experience a subject that they may then want to study at university.

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Key Stage 5 Curriculum

At Key Stage 5 we offer a number of subjects that students from other Harris Academies come here to study with us. For an extensive list of what is on offer in the Sixth Form, please see our Sixth Form section.

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For more information about our curriculum, please contact info@harrisorpington.org.uk