Intent
At Strood Academy our curriculum promotes social justice by empowering our pupils to value lifelong learning, surmount local socioeconomic challenges, and attain excellent outcomes ultimately enabling them to access a wide range of aspirational choices in life they truly deserve.
As an IB World School we take great pride in delivering multiple IB programmes, allowing students the opportunity to study a global curriculum with worldwide recognition and one which places inclusion at the very heart of everything we do for all of our pupils.
All students at Strood Academy will:
- experience a broad and deep curriculum encouraging a rich knowledge base for all students, including those with SEND and from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- have the opportunity to study the full English Baccalaureate curriculum
- be taught by subject experts allowing them to develop a deep understanding of each subject
- develop excellent character traits through the learner profile
- develop their mental, physical, cultural, social and moral development through our academic curriculum and personal development programme
- provide carers guidance in line with the Gatsby benchmarks and ensure all students have a successful onward destination.
- benefit from participating in Service as Action through their curriculum subjects and personal development lessons
The Key Stage 3 curriculum is broad and balanced, following the International Baccalaureate Middle Years’ Programme (MYP) and this is studied in Years 7, 8 and 9. This ensures students acquire a deep understanding across eight key subject disciplines. To ensure knowledge is fully embedded for all pupils, the curriculum is carefully designed by each department lead to ensure that opportunities for inquiry, oracy, scaffolding, modelling and extended writing are provided to all pupils. The IB Approaches to Learning and Inquiry Questions provide a framework for all learning to ensure students become independent learners who obtain high levels of academic achievement.
The curriculum at Key Stage 3 masters the fundamental skills required to fully prepare students for our Key Stage 4 curriculum. At Strood Academy, we expect all of our students to complete a full suite of English Baccalaureate subjects including English, Maths, Science, a Modern Foreign Language, History or Geography and 2 further option subjects. This builds upon the broad curriculum received in the MYP and allows for students to keep their options open for further study at Key Stage 5.
Our Key Stage 5 curriculum is broad, to offer multiple pathways that support the development of our students. Post 16 students can study the International Baccalaureate Career Related Pathway (IBCP), Applied General qualifications or a combination of the two sets of qualifications, based on their planned destinations as well as a selection of A Level subjects. The IBCP offer allows students to choose subjects from Language Acquisition, Arts, Individuals & Societies to provide a firm academic foundation for higher education as well as vocational options such as Criminology, Health & Social Care, Law and Sport.
Inclusivity is the cornerstone of curriculum design at Strood Academy as our leaders ensure that a highly ambitious offer is maintained in all that is taught as well as providing the support and scaffolding required to ensure all students can access the curriculum. Barriers to learning are removed through Quality First Teaching, our digital strategy and providing each teacher with a detailed One Page Profile of the additional requirements students may have in order to succeed. Continuous review of our implementation of the curriculum is driven by leaders, ensuring time within departments is dedicated each week to curriculum enhancement and ongoing monitoring of the impact this is having for all students.
At Strood Academy, we appreciate the importance of excellent language and literacy skills to enable access to our curriculum. Our literacy programme provides timetabled lessons for all Key Stage 3 students each week alongside daily bespoke intervention for those whose reading ages have been assessed to be below their chronological age. Interventions take place each morning during form tutor time to minimise disruption to subject lessons and are reviewed each module to determine the progress pupils are making and whether any further intervention is required. Literacy and oracy skills are further embedded during our personal development programme with students having the opportunity to discuss current affairs, present ideas to their peers and engage in service as action.
To complement the academic curriculum, students engage in our Personal Development sessions each morning and Wednesday afternoon to ensure all PSHE, RSE, Citizenship and R.E. requirements are met, allowing pupils to develop into well-rounded global citizens. Alongside developing their character traits through the IB Learner Profile, students develop a sense of belonging and become more knowledgeable about topics such as British values, relationships, well-being, religious beliefs, careers and finance.
As part of our aim to provide all students with the choice in life to pursue their desired destinations, we place great emphasis on providing students with the information and opportunities to explore and secure positions in apprenticeships and higher education. Our careers programme is embedded within our Personal Development offer and ensures that all students from Year 7 to Year 13 receive a fully informed programme which draws upon the expertise of external partners. Our aspirational programme meets all Gatsby Benchmark requirements in full, including meetings with independent advisors and 2 weeks of work experience placements.