Westgate Academy
Learning and Growing Together
Curriculum
Welcome to our Curriculum Page.
In this section of our website, you will find our curriculum Intent (including curriculum drivers), Implementation and Impact for all pupils at our school. As well as showing our curriculum manuals for each subject, which shows how we implement the curriculum, both vertically and horizontally, this page should provide a robust guide to all stakeholders.
Our teachers work hard to ensure the curriculum is as stimulating and exciting as possible, so that the children enjoy learning and are inspired to become lifelong learners. We have many links with the local area as we are lucky enough to have a wealth of resources right on our doorstep and we therefore plan to continue taking the children on as many trips out of school as possible, to excite and interest them in their learning and to create a real life context to learning.
Our aim is to deliver the school curriculum in both a discrete and cross-curricular way. Within each ‘topic’, maximum opportunity will be taken to integrate cross-curricular links, with English, Maths and Science at the core. Our curriculum has been designed carefully so that the learning intent and implementation is strategically sequenced ensuring that pupils can experience a deeper level of knowledge and experience.
Westgate Academy embraces children as individuals. By recognising and valuing children’s particular strengths and talents, we seek to encourage their full potential. We work hard to celebrate all successes, whenever and wherever they occur, no matter how big or small. Children are encouraged to become well-rounded and sociable. It is important to us that our children believe in themselves and are both confident and resilient. We draw upon our well-established local and school community, to enrich the curriculum and promote mutual respect and a strong moral ethos in every child.
Intent
Centered around the academy's values;
Our Curriculum Drivers make the schools intent CLEAR;
C | Communication/ Communicative | We aspire for our pupils to be able to articulate their thinking. Our curriculum is driven through development of oracy skills and learning of vocabulary. Talk is the currency of learning – how we develop and grow our ideas, understanding, thoughts and feelings and share them with others (Speak for Change report, Oracy APPG, 2021). We understand that school closures due to the pandemic have had a negative impact on the spoken language development of children and therefore, place great importance on this in our curriculum. |
L | Local | At Westgate, we draw upon the richness of our local area. Our geographical location drives inspiration and motivation across our whole curriculum. We look to be involved in community projects so that children can build a sense of belonging. We also consider our local context in addressing gaps in pupils’ knowledge and skills. |
E | Enriched | Our curriculum provides children with powerful knowledge that they do not receive outside of our school. They are offered opportunities, experiences, and responsibilities that they do not have access to away from our setting. We support our pupils in developing or discovering interests. |
A | Ambitious | All areas of our curriculum are ambitious for all children. The curriculum is adapted, designed and developed to meet the needs of pupils with SEND, developing their knowledge, skills and abilities to apply what they know and can do with increasing fluency and independence. Work is challenging for all children, but support is there for them to experience success. |
R | Remembered | At Westgate Academy, we define learning as a change to the long-term memory. If nothing has changed, nothing has been learnt. We know that children only remember what they think about. Lessons include frequent forwards and backwards referencing to link learning within subjects, across the curriculum and across year groups. Our way of teaching includes practices which are research and evidence-informed. |
These drivers form the DNA that runs throughout Westgate Academy. We are committed to providing a curriculum with breadth, opportunity and experiences that allows our children to thrive and develop as well rounded articulate learners.
Implementation
Westgate Academy embraces children as individuals. By recognising and valuing children's particular strengths and talents, we seek to encourage their full potential. We work hard to celebrate all successes, whenever and wherever they occur, no matter how big or small. Children are encouraged to become well-rounded and sociable individuals. It is important to us that our children believe in themselves and are both confident and resilient. We draw upon our well-established local and school community, to enrich the curriculum and promote mutual respect and a strong moral ethos in every child.
Our teachers work hard to ensure the curriculum is as stimulating and exciting as possible, so that the children enjoy learning and are inspired to become lifelong learners. In implementing the curriculum, staff at the academy consider the following concepts of sequencing and pedagogy;
Curriculum Implementation
| |||||||||
Teaching Sequence | What we do? | How do we do it? | Why do we do it? | ||||||
| Provide exciting starts to the new topics to motivate the children
Integrate investigations and enquiries to allow for problem solving and collaboration
Key skills are developed
Vocabulary is actively promoted and reinforced
Enrichment opportunities implemented within the curriculum
Continuous assessments within the sequence of the lessons
| Launch and enrichment events
Inspiring learning environments
Promotion of various learning styles and experiences
All subjects have specific goals to achieve and develop
Promotion of key vocabulary which are revisited frequently and shared within the learning environments
Finding opportunities to allow children to ‘see’ for themselves – within the school setting or beyond the classroom
| Allow children to develop inquisitive thinking and curiosity
Allow children to develop high level thinking skills and promote teamwork
Allow children to have the knowledge to explore and implement skills across the subjects
Allow children to become resilient learners
Provide excitement, experiences to remember and first-hand knowledge and understanding
| ||||||
Teaching pedadogy
| Teaching is based on a clear understanding of how children learn best
| Teachers create a classroom ethos that inspires and motivates all groups of children
| Teachers have deep knowledge of the areas they teach | Teachers take responsibility for improving teaching and learning through professional development | Teachers use memory based experiences and activities to improve outcomes | Teachers use vocabulary and a range of questioning to review and continue to develop learning
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We have many links with the local area as we are lucky enough to have a wealth of resources right on our doorstep and we therefore plan to continue taking the children on as many trips out of school as possible, themed days and visitors to school, to excite and interest them in their learning and to create a real-life context to learning.
Our broad and balanced curriculum has been designed by leaders and teachers. The curriculum ensures progression in each subject and this means when a child moves to the next year group, they are building on their previous knowledge and skills. Its intentions are to ensure there are no gaps in learning. This is the vertical progression of our curriculum. Whilst this is pivotal, it is important that the children make relevant connections between the subjects, this is the horizontal curriculum and this enables the curriculum to inspire curiosity and interest and make connections with the world they live in.
Our aim is to deliver the school curriculum in both a subject discrete and cross-curricular way. Each topic sits within the academy’s ‘Past, Place, Pick’ theme. Within each 'topic', maximum opportunity will be taken to integrate cross-curricular links, with English, Maths and Science at the core. Our curriculum has been designed carefully so that the learning intent and implementation are strategically sequenced ensuring that pupils can experience a deeper level of knowledge and experience.
Vocabulary is taught, explained and revised in order to ensure our children are not deprived of language. This enables them to develop their knowledge an access to new knowledge whatever their ability. The approaches to teaching vocabulary and spaced learning are influenced by educational research. In order to enhance learning further and develop a greater cultural capital through offering significant learning experiences such as visits, residentials, and specialist visitors to the school which complement, embed and extend learning. Our curriculum has been planned carefully to incorporate kinaesthetic experiences which provide pupils with memorable learning.
Formative assessment is intrinsic to the planning and teaching of effective lessons as part of assessment for learning, including the use of spaced learning approaches. We 'summatively' assess our children three times a year and track their standardised scores. Gaps in learning are identified and provision is put in place, monitored and reassessed frequently until children have become secure in the areas identified.
Impact
Our aim is to ensure children have developed a desire to learn, they have mastered core skills and are proud of their outcomes in a range of ways, be it scores, their writing, mathematical skills, their art work, music composed or competition they have won.
Our three impactful success criteria’s are;
One: Quality of Education
Children make progress and attain in line or above national average
Two: Attitudes and Personal Development
Children are confident, resilient and successful learners; they demonstrate the values and make the right choices
Three: Westgate Way
Children demonstrate the Westgate Way in their learning and behaviour in and around school and within the local community.
School performance information can be reviewed by following this link - Westgate Academy - Compare school and college performance data in England - GOV.UK (compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk).
If you would like further information on the curriculum we teach, please contact the school directly.
To see how we support our SEND pupils, follow this link to our SEND page.