Curriculum Overview

Park Academy West London Curriculum Outline

This  explains the curriculum the Academy is working towards. This outline should be read in conjunction with the more detailed Academy Curriculum Statement which is also found on this website which explains the current curriculum in full.

Curriculum Outline:

Park Academy West London is working closely with all Aspirations Academies to develop a curriculum which achieves the Trust’s vision:

‘Our vision is for an authentic education for the 21st century for children from the age of 2 to 18. We want all students to achieve high levels of success in a broad range of examinations at a variety of ages, whilst at the same time equipping them with the knowledge and skills required to play an active and successful role in today’s highly competitive, fast-changing world’.

Park Academy West London is developing a curriculum which reflects the local community and the particular needs of its students, however, the curriculum structure and aims are driven by:

• The Trust wide KS3 curriculum development, the ‘No Limits: Education for success in the 21st century’,
• The EBacc academic programme at KS4
• The Aspirations Employability Diploma (AED) at Post 16 level
• This curriculum outline developed by Park Academy West London reflects the knowledge and skills, and the local social and employment context that pupils need in order to take advantage of opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. The curriculum will help to powerfully address social disadvantage.

The Park Academy West London Curriculum

The Key Stage 3 curriculum (Years 7 – 9):

In September 2019/20 the Aspirations ‘No limits: Education for success in the 21st century’ curriculum was introduced into Year 7. This has taken 2 years of trust wide planning.  Further information is included later in this document.

The KS3 curriculum offers students a broad and balanced experience.  In Years 8 and 9, all students follow a wide range of subjects which include aspects of Careers, Computing and PSHCEE/RS as part of the curriculum.  Students will also have additional Deep Learning Days to supplement curriculum coverage.  The KS3 curriculum also promotes a wellness curriculum, develops future skills, promotes employability preparation and develops cultural capital.

In September 2020 the intention is to use the ‘No Limits’ curriculum across all of KS3. Students study a broad range of subjects, fully covering the national curriculum, taught as single disciplines and as transdiscipline, in Years 7 to 9.

The Key Stage 4 curriculum (Years 10 and 11):

At the heart of the key stage 4 curriculum is a strong academic core. The KS4 curriculum expects the majority of students to work towards the EBacc range of qualifications at GCSE.  At Park Academy West London we are committed to achieve the Government target of 75% of students studying the EBacc subject combination by 2022.   Currently, 41.4% of Year 11 students are studying the EBacc combination an increase from 7.6% in the previous year.

Students also have the opportunity to follow BTEC programmes and all National Curriculum requirements. The KS4 curriculum also promotes a wellness curriculum, develops future skills, promotes employability preparation and develops cultural capital.

The Key Stage 5 curriculum (Years 12 and 13):

The current post 16 students have for several years followed a curriculum where the majority of students follow 3 or 4 A levels or equivalent, and all Year 12 spend 5 hours per week working with real employers on real projects, this is called the Aspirations Employability Portfolio.

In September 2020 the intention is for all Year 12 students to follow three A levels or equivalent plus the Aspirations Employability Diploma (AED) programme. Some students also follow the EPQ in Year 13.

An Explanation of the No Limits Key Stage 3 Curriculum

In September 2019 the No Limits curriculum was introduced into Year 7 to broaden the curriculum and to ease the transition from a KS2 transdiscipline style of learning, and, following review after one term, a modified version of the curriculum will be used in both Year 7 and Year 8 from September 2020. The Year 9 curriculum will be all single discipline learning in order to prepare students for single discipline learning in KS4

Why we are introducing this curriculum:

• To improve the transition between KS2 and KS3:
  • Improved teaching and learning in Years 7 & 8 following a primary approach to transdiscipline learning
  • Greater continuity of learning
  • Greater sense of belonging – fewer teachers
  • Less fragmentation of the curriculum – less student movement.
• Greater student engagement and challenge
• Higher levels of progress and improved academic results
• Develops a greater depth of knowledge
• Allows greater application of knowledge
• Developing high levels of 21st Century Future Skills
• Greater teacher satisfaction and reduced workload with all ATL planning conducted during the working week.
• Allows greater focus on employability and careers

The Park Academy West London ‘No limits: Education for Success in the 21st Century’ Curriculum Principles

• The curriculum is knowledge rich. All students will acquire knowledge to be remembered and constantly built upon to deepen their understanding. The learning of knowledge is consistently layered and revisited.
• All students receive a broad curriculum.
• A significant amount of learning involves the application of knowledge to an increasingly complex range of contexts, as well as to real world issues, situations, problems and employment.
• All students within the academy follow the same curriculum.
• The transition between KS2 and KS3 is carefully planned to ensure curriculum and subject transition, cohesion of learning styles and an awareness of the importance of creating a sense of worth and belonging in the learning process.
• All learning develops the 11 essential future skills.
• All learning is structured around two approaches:
  • Applied Trans-discipline Learning: Learning across multiple subject disciplines
  • Single-discipline Learning: Learning in a single subject discipline is designed to inform the applied work
• All learning is challenging and engaging resulting in high levels of progress and attainment.
• All learning is authentic to the needs of the 21st century world.
• Literacy is a consistent element throughout all areas of the curriculum. This is enhanced with an appropriate text, fiction or non-fiction, linked with each transdiscipline assignment (from September 2020).
• The curriculum is embedded with careers development and employability experiences centred on the Gatsby Trust Benchmarks.
• The PSHCEE/Wellness curriculum is an important element running throughout the curriculum.
• Teachers plan in teams using the No Limits curriculum planning toolkit.

Applied Trans-discipline Learning means learning between, across and beyond different disciplines that is relevant to the real world and applied to real practical situations. The goal is to access, analyse and synthesise information and knowledge over several disciplines in order to understand the operation and issues facing the world today and in the future. Very rarely in the real world do people operate in only one discipline, the aim of the curriculum is to replicate real world experience to ensure learning is authentic.

Single discipline learning occurs in the form of teacher led, timetabled single subject lessons.

The structure of the KS3 curriculum

Students are taught the full curriculum through several different learning approaches. These are designed to challenge and engage students allowing them to acquire and apply knowledge, whilst also adding cultural capital and developing future skills:

• Single discipline subjects
• Transdiscipline assignments
• Assessment, Presentation and Personal Education (APP) Weeks
• Innovation and Development weeks
• All National Curriculum subjects are taught as both single subject and through the transdiscipline assignments.

In Year 7, the National Curriculum attainment targets for Computing are currently taught through assignments, APP Weeks and Research and Innovation weeks.  It is then sequenced through Year 8 and Year 9 in Science, Maths, Humanities, and Art and Design. From January 2020, Computing will continue to be sequenced through these subject areas as well as be taught as a discrete subject in Years 8 and 9.

In Year 7, RS and PSHCEE are currently taught through assignments and APP Weeks, as well as a tailored Academic Mentoring programme for the year group.  From January 2020, Year 7 students will also have RS lessons as part of their curriculum.  In Years 8 and 9, students have PSHCEE and RS through a carousel as part of their curriculum as well as Academic Mentoring time.  The assembly programme is planned to support to support the delivery of PSHCEE throughout the school.

Currently, English, Maths and Science over all of KS3 receive a total of 11 periods per week (3 in Year 7 and 4 in Years 8 and 9 for much of the year). In all ATL assignments English features significantly and an English teacher is part of the ATL planning and delivery team in Year 7. Science is also a significant feature in many ATL assignments.  From September 2020, all ATL assignments have a fiction or non-fiction book associated with it which all students read. In addition in the APP weeks and Innovation and Development weeks there is opportunity and time for additional support for students needing additional Maths and English support.

The No Limits Curriculum

The curriculum is taught through the regular timetable and the APP weeks. There is full National Curriculum coverage and more. Subject criteria are delivered either through single discipline or transdiscipline learning or both. The transdiscipline learning is designed to widen curriculum coverage
Computing is taught across a wide range of subjects but also forms the central part of a 6 week long 7 periods per week Year 7 assignment which we plan to have computing experts to deliver.
PSHCEE and RS are taught in the APP weeks, as well as a discrete subject from January 2020.
The Wellness Curriculum and Future Skills run through all learning experiences and all subjects.
The ATL assignments always include aspects of the English and often the Maths curriculum.  This knowledge is applied to real world situations in the assignments.
The ATL assignments will apply learning elements from all subjects, particularly Science and are designed to apply knowledge to real world situations.
Cultural Capital is a central part of the ATL assignments.

 

Regular timetable weeks 48 periods per fortnight (33 weeks)

Single discipline Learning

Subject	Science	English	Maths	Art & Design (Art/DT/Computing)	PSHCEE/RS	PE	Performance carousel (Music/Dance/Drama)	MFL	Geography and History
Periods per week	8	9	9	3	2	4	3	4	6

Assessment, Presentation and Personal Education Weeks (APP) (5 of these weeks thought the year)

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Subject Assessments	Performance (A day of drama, music or dance - performing or learning)	PSCHEE/Citizenship/RS	Aspirations Day	Quest For success (Transdiscipline learning)

The Year 9 academic year learning outline

6 week learning block

APP week

6 week learning block

APP week

6 week learning block

APP week

6 week learning block

APP week

6 week learning block

APP week

3 week learning block

Innovation week: Transdisipline - involves workshops, visits and competitions

Subject		Year  7			Year 8
		Delivered through Core Learning (Single disciplines)	Delivered through Applied Trans- discipline Assignments	Delivered in APP weeks	Delivered through Core Learning (Single disciplines)	Delivered through Applied Trans- discipline Assignments	Delivered in APP weeks	Delivered through Core Learning (Single disciplines)	Delivered in APP weeks
Maths	Develop fluency	P	Elements		P	Elements		P
	Reason mathematically	P	Elements		P	Elements		P
	Solve problems	P	Elements		P	Elements		P
English	Reading	P	Elements		P	Elements		P
	Writing	P	Elements		P	Elements		P
	Grammar and vocabulary	P	Elements		P	Elements		P
	Spoken English	P	Elements		P	Elements		P
Science		P	Elements		P	Elements		P
Geography		P	P		P	P		P
History		P	P		P	P		P
MFL		P			P			P
A+D		P			P			P
Design Technology including cooking		P	P		P	P		P
Music		P		P	P		P	P	P
PSHCEE (Including RSE)		P		P	P		P	P	P
RS		P		P	P		P	P	P
Computing		Cross-curriculum	P	P	Cross-curriculum	P	P	Cross-curriculum	P
PE and Dance		P		P	P		P	P	P
Wellness (not NC requirement)		Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum
Drama (not NC requirement)		P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
Future skills		Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum
Employability			Elements	Elements		Elements	Elements		Elements
Cultural capital			Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum		Cross-curriculum	Cross-curriculum		Cross-curriculum

Post 16 Years 12 and 13 (From September 2020)

All students follow A levels or equivalent alongside the Aspirations Centre of Excellence for Industrial Liaison (CEIL) programme.

Aspirations CEIL is a programme designed to help post 16 students prepare for employment and success in a fast changing world. The aim is to develop the future skills required by employers today and in the future. Students will work on real-life assignments alongside real employers. The programme is focussed on the individual development of each student.

* The Aspirations CEIL programme has developed over several years combining the successes of the Aspirations Employability Portfolio, the No limits curriculum, and the Budmouth College CEIL programme

This is a totally unique programme as it involves students not only developing their individual future skills, but also working with real employers on real world problems, enabling them to understand and experience the nature of work in the 21st century.

Outline

All post-16 students in Year 12 will follow three A levels or equivalent plus the Aspirations CEIL. At the end of the year students will:

• have developed an employability portfolio to show examples of their development to use in UCAS and employment interviews
• receive an Aspirations CEIL Diploma (validated by over 100 companies) at Gold, Silver or Bronze level. The Aspirations CEIL Diploma means that the student has ‘achieved professional awareness and employment ready competencies and relate to the quality, depth and cogency of the portfolio evidence presented via iCan.
• be able to use their Aspirations CEIL experiences to follow the EPQ in Year 13.

How the curriculum works in Years 12 and 13 from 2020

• 24 periods per week
• 39 teaching weeks per year (fewer in Year 13 due to exams)
• 5 hours a week spent working with employers on assignments

 

24 period per week model

Subject	A level/BTEC 1	A level/BTEC 2	A level/BTEC 3	Independent Study	CEIL Assignments
Periods per week	4	4	4	7	5

The CEIL assignments in Year 12 last for 12 weeks, they cover employability areas leading to health and medicine, education, engineering and digital technologies. All students work alongside real employers on these real life assignments