Our curriculum is designed with three goals in mind:

• A curriculum that values, supports, and reflects our school community: an ambitious and inclusive curriculum that provides academic excellence for local children.
• A design that allows all our pupils to progress academically: core knowledge is chosen carefully and is at least as ambitious as the National Curriculum. Long-term plans are well thought out, with big ideas and end points selected by experts in each field. Barriers and misconceptions which our pupils typically face in understanding our ambitious content are pre-empted, and strategies are embedded into curriculum design to help them overcome this. Content is deliberately sequenced and spaced to embed knowledge into long-term memory, and assessments are carefully planned to allow teachers to understand the progress of each pupil.
• A design that allows all our pupils to flourish: A relentless focus on reading is underpinned by the regular and purposeful use of accelerated reader which is integrated into our curriculum structure; a personal development curriculum (taught as a standalone subject in Key Stage 3 & 4); an extensive career curriculum which ensures our pupils are future focused; a spiritual development programme shaped by our Christian ethos and a wide range of trips and visits (home and abroad) which have been carefully thought out and sequenced to truly bring cultural capital.

In the secondary phase, our curriculum is arranged across traditional subject areas, all of which engage every pupil by allowing them to aim high, think hard, and work collaboratively to secure knowledge. Clear routines and structures for collaborative learning ensure our classrooms are inclusive spaces where the thoughts and ideas of every pupil are heard. This allows teachers to challenge pupils, assess learning and adapt teaching accordingly. Additionally, deep thinking strategies allow pupils to explore new and existing knowledge through a range of approaches that encourage higher-order thinking and chunking down of information, which both lead to longer-term retention. This retention is aided through retrieval activities which are embedded within and across lessons and also form the basis of our approach to homework at Saint George’s. In lessons, our teachers have high standards for the ways in which pupils communicate their verbal and written answers, as we believe this is an integral part of children flourishing. We also recognise that strong relationships are vital to the success of our pupils, and as a result our teachers openly and actively praise positive learning behaviours.

At the end of Key Stage 3, our pupils move forward with a strong foundation of skills and knowledge across a broad range of subjects. Key Stage 4 offers an equally broad educational experience, spanning both academic and vocational options, and we are proud that our pupils remain in education, employment, or training, with a high proportion of pupils studying with us until the end of Year 13.

To monitor the impact of our curriculum, teachers and leaders regularly assess pupils and adapt their lessons accordingly. Through quality assurance, external partnerships, and stakeholder feedback, we regularly review our curriculum to ensure it continues to give the highest value to our pupils. We are proud that our pupils take powerful knowledge, skills, and wisdom with them when they leave; they carry our Christian values into wider society and are broadminded, articulate, empathetic, and respectful citizens because of their time at Saint George’s.