Lyng Hall School Curriculum Rationale 2023/24

At Lyng Hall School our identity as a learning community is extremely important to us. We believe that every pupil is capable of excellence and we encourage every pupil to push themselves and achieve their potential.

We set high standards for all our pupils and expect “Excellence for and from all”. We help students develop their talents: spiritual and social; intellectual and emotional; aesthetic and physical, through the provision of a broad and balanced curriculum. This is responsive to, and supportive of their needs and aspirations, fosters intellectual curiosity and academic achievement, and, motivates them to grow to their full potential.

The curriculum is framed within our strong inclusive and positive culture and embraces British Values, is academically challenging and relies upon a number of rigorous GCSEs with vocational options available for students who will benefit from this approach to learning. In order to increase the self esteem and motivation of our most vulnerable students, we also deliver a range of smaller accredited ASDAN qualifications from year 7.

The curriculum includes:

English, Mathematics, Science, Modern Foreign Languages (Spanish and Mandarin), Humanities – History, Geography and Religious Education, Performing Arts – Drama and Music, Art and Design, Computing, Physical Education (two hours per week minimum).

For students who are behind in their chronological reading age, additional support is provided through the Accelerated Reader programme to enable them to rapidly catch up.

An additional after-school enrichment programme includes a range of sporting activities, music (including orchestra and choir), drama, dance, community languages, debating, enrichment through local universities (Warwick and Coventry), Coding Club and Science Club. There is daily support for homework.

Year 9

In Year 9, although this remains the final year of KS3, students begin to specialise to provide them with the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the subjects they will choose to study to GCSE level. They will not embark on the examined course until the start of Year 10. The curriculum is taught in 25 lessons each week, each lesson lasting 1 hour but most days have the format of one 2 hour lesson, followed by a 1 hour lesson, followed by a 2 hour lesson. The school follows a two-week timetable.

All students must study the following:

English – Literature and Language, Mathematics, Science – Double Science or Triple Science (Biology, Chemistry & Physics), Humanities – Religious Education and History and / or Geography, Physical Education (two hours per week)

Optional Subjects based on a range of choices offered to students during Y8 and Y9 for implementation in the following year.

Alternative Pathways to GCSE

We offer a range of pathways to GCSE to meet the specific learning needs of our students but to enable them all to be highly employable:

Pathway 1 – Students who will complete triple science, Humanities and/or MFL + options

Pathway 2 – Students who will complete double science, Humanities and/or MFL + options

Pathway 3 – Students who will complete double science, History or Geography + options

Pathway 4 – This is for students who have come to us with little English Language

Aims of the Curriculum

• To be compatible with the requirements of the National Curriculum at Key Stage 3.
• To ensure that students study an academically rigorous curriculum with the opportunity to achieve an appropriate number and type of accredited qualifications.
• To be broad and balanced throughout each Key Stage.
• To allow progression between and through the Key Stages.
• To offer flexibility at Key Stages 3 and 4, by allowing for the needs of the individual to be met, as far as is reasonably possible, in terms of courses on offer and number of subjects.
• To provide for the personal, social, health and citizenship education of students including the preparation of students for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life.
• To provide high quality careers education and guidance and the opportunity for students to keep career pathways open.
• To enable all students to learn and make progress.
• To provide a programme of additional opportunities, activities and experiences, appropriate to the needs of students.

Implementation

There is a curriculum delivery plan for each year.

Staffing and resources are deployed effectively to meet the aims of the curriculum.

Schemes of learning exist which provide subject matter appropriate for the ages and aptitudes of students including those with special educational needs, and so enables all students to have the opportunity to learn and make progress.

An activities programme, published at the start of each term, supports the curriculum aims.

Knowledge and understanding KS3

The focus is not on moving on to new topics or concepts too quickly but to deepen and strengthen understanding and application in a variety of contexts in order to be able to assess mastery over time. Teachers will understand what pupils’ needs are in relation to supporting them to deepen their knowledge and understanding and provide the right differentiated activities that can support mastery over time for all pupils.

• The curriculum is planned to be seamless from key stage to key stage and from year to year
• Teachers know how to ensure pupils have a sound grasp of the basic skills and how these are used to deepen and master more complex uses of these skills, teachers have a clear idea as to what constitutes deeper learning within a given concept, theory or idea.
• Teachers understand how to plan for differentiation and how to support children to take risks allowing pupils to make mistakes or fail to succeed the first time, supporting them so that they build resilience.
• Teachers have a sound repertoire of different pedagogical approaches that encourage reflection, learning conversations and experiential learning.
• With the increase in knowledge and understanding that is now required for the higher grades, and, the singular, terminal exam, schemes of work will have embedded procedures for the revisiting and revising of past work.

Implementation KS3

We have developed a scheme of work comprising well-thought-through sequencing of ideas and planned interleaving of topics.

Emphasis is placed on extended writing practice in all subject areas by doing targeted reading and analysis of longer passages. Numeracy requirements of the science curriculum are developed through KS3 maths and KS3 science focuses on essential practical skills, critical analysis and working on problem solving. There is a significant whole school emphasis on improving reading skills. Talk for writing is used across the school to help students develop and extend their vocabulary and think about what they want to say before committing to writing.

We make sure that the focus of the learning is not only on the curriculum big ideas but also includes wider, purposeful and valuable experiences that prepare pupils for the next stage in their learning and their future lives.

Key considerations in KS3

• Students are grouped according to ability in Mathematics and English in Years 7-8
• In Languages they learn Spanish in Year 7. A class of up to 30 pupils will take Mandarin as their modern foreign language. The Mandarin group are expected to study this language for 5 years and take Mandarin GCSE. They also have an additional two hours of study in the extended day timetable.
• Students that speak an additional language when they join the school will be expected to take this as a GCSE. The DoL MFL will identify these students as soon as they join the school and a plan to support these students will be implemented.
• The DoL MFL will identify students who do not speak English and/or are newly arrived to the country. These students will receive specific intervention internally and externally. Pupils will be assessed and will then join our TEFL programme. When their language is sufficiently well developed that will be integrated into mainstream classes.
• Details of the Key Stage 3 curriculum are published annually on the school website.
• Drama is incorporated into the English curriculum and is run after school as a club. Every year the school puts on a musical.
• Additional points: Specialist tuition for students with a Specific Learning Difficulty
• Students who have a specific learning difficulty, or are particularly vulnerable are supported through a wide range of additional support provided by the SENCO and team of Associate Teachers
• Details of the arrangements for specialist support are contained in the Special Educational Needs Policy.
• The Options process in Year 9.

During Year 9, subject staff begin discussing the focus of the subjects for GCSE. In the Spring Term each student is given an Options booklet detailing GCSE courses, syllabuses, along with general requirements and the compulsory elements. This is taken home to be discussed with parents before the parents Evenings and Options Evening. At the Options Evening the parents are invited to meet Directors of Learning to discuss the options available. The students option sheet is completed. Every care is taken to offer first choices and the options groups are matched to the students’ individual requests.​​​​​​​

Extra-curricular activities are part of the curriculum…

Home learning is an important part of our work with students. In KS3 this is important in order to develop the skills of independent learning that are going to be vital in KS4 when students will be expected to revise, revisit and help to secure their learning ready for the GCSE exams. It is also helping to teach students how to learn so that they can continue to use these skills when they leave school. Our out of hours programme includes a rich variety of additional and extension opportunities. In some cases e.g. Mandarin, this is a core part of the learning which students and parents have agreed to before embarking on the course.

Additionally;

Teaching which is interesting and motivating for all students is a priority. This means that students who are placed in the correct groups will have teaching which is appropriate and stimulating and therefore gives them access to all subjects. A range of vocational subjects will be offered together with activities which develop children’s social and emotional skills where this is appropriate. We actively encourage, promote and support participation in a wide range of local and national competitions.

Post 16

As children become young adults and make the significant step from a Pre-16 to a Post-16 model of education our curriculum is designed to reflect this change. Therefore there is a shift in emphasis towards a model of education which recognises the pupil’s existing skills and provides carefully structured ways of further enabling them to be applied in functional, everyday contexts. In doing this we are aiming to utilise the final element of the student’s statutory educational entitlement, to prepare them as best we can to become active participants in, and contributors to society and achieve the highest degree of personal achievement.

We offer a range of A levels (Art, Geography, Maths, Psychology, Sociology and Biology) and Vocational BTEC qualifications (Criminology, Enterprise, Health and Social Care, IT, Law, Media, Music Technology and Sport).  In addition, there may be subjects available at other schools in our MAT as part of our consortium arrangement.

All students who have not achieved a level 4 in English and Maths GCSE, re-take in line with national guidelines.

We also offer students who have already achieved a level 4 the opportunity to re-take if they need a higher level for university entrance.

Student Leadership

We believe that students should be given a wide range of opportunities to develop and practise leadership skills in preparation for life beyond school. It would be impossible to list all the opportunities students have to take on leadership roles at the school so this is just a flavour of what is currently on offer

Student Leadership at Lyng Hall comprises a student college which includes 3 sub-groups, Community, Charity and Pupil Voice. The other elements of Student College are: Student Newsletter, MVP, MATSL, Literacy Leaders, Sports Leaders, Duke of Edinburgh, Anti Bullying Committee and Debate Club. Members of these sub groups also form the Student Ambassadors Group who represent the school at both internal and external events.

The programme aims to …..

• Empower students to work in partnership with staff towards shared goals.
• Enable creativity to flourish as the school community benefits from the wealth of experiences, ideas, skills and sense of fun that students bring.
• Provide opportunities for students to develop leadership skills through a variety of inspiring, challenging and valued projects which impact positively on learning, teaching and well-being for both students and staff at Lyng Hall School.
• Prepare students for Higher Education and for achieving personal and professional excellence in life after formal education.

Student Leaders are the school’s role models and Student Leaders in Y7 – 11 wear a purple and black tie to distinguish them.  The President and Vice President are elected from Y12 and Y13.  These are significant positions within the school leadership structure and involve regular meetings with senior staff and attendance at the Senior Leadership Team meeting when Student Leadership matters are on the agenda for discussion.