Curriculum Intent

The Maltby Academy curriculum is designed, delivered and monitored with principles of knowledge and assessment at its core.  The curriculum is aspirational and deliberately challenging and it never assumes that students cannot access complex material.  Rather, it builds on the knowledge acquired in the primary phase and ‘starts with the end in mind’ by considering the skills, knowledge and character required for higher education and employment.  It is a curriculum that promotes and delivers our ‘Key Drivers’ of resilience, aspiration, confidence, responsibility and community with precision and purpose.

The Curriculum Intention at Maltby Academy is to:

• Inspire imagination and develop interests/specialisms/key skills. 
• Provide appropriate challenge through access to complex material and concepts. 
• Provide equality and promote aspiration for all learners irrespective of starting point, learning needs, background and disposition.
• Facilitate positive progression routes through the student’s educational journey into sustainable further/higher education, training and employment.
• Provide relevance to context and community to enable social and economic mobility. 
• Develop successful life-long learners, responsible citizens and confident individuals. 

We believe that all our students should be able to access our curriculum, however, we also understand that some students require more support than others. 

Teachers and leaders will ensure that the needs of all students are met, including:

• High prior attaining students
• Low prior attaining students
• Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds
• Pupils with SEND
• Pupils with English as an additional language (EAL).

SEND provision will be provided as set out in our SEND policy. Further information can be found in our statement of equality and objectives and in our SEND policy and information report.

Our Curriculum Structure

In September 2021, the Academy changed to deliver a 2-weekly timetable of 100-minute lessons from Year 7 to 13.  
In September 2020 we migrated to a 3-year Key Stage 3 curriculum and phasing out a legacy curriculum that was based on a 2-year Key Stage 3. 

Subjects

 

Total Compulsory Hours Per Week: 31.25

Curriculum Implementation

Our curriculum is organised into key themes and topics which are delivered, unless in exceptional circumstances by highly qualified subject specific specialists. Assessment takes many forms from low stakes recall and retrieval practice delivered through ‘sharp starts’, exit ticket plenaries through our ‘Reviews’, formative deep SPA assessments to formal summative trial examinations. Testing is followed by a period of Close the Gap activity through whole class or individual verbal and written feedback. Each department has externally trained examination markers and the development of expert teacher knowledge is central to our professional learning and development culture.

The delivery of our subject curriculum is based on external research; tried and tested techniques which promote a love of learning, develop long term memory and reduce cognitive load.

In order to master the specific elements of Principles of Instruction, learning experiences are shaped and delivered consistently across the academy through the ‘Lesson Cycle’.

The Maltby Academy Lesson Cycle is underpinned by Barak Rosenshine’s ‘Principles of Instruction’ and it is the medium to deliver our curriculum.

Curriculum Impact

The Maltby Academy curriculum is designed to hook students’ interests to produce amongst others, young linguists, geographers, historians and scientists. To achieve this, we place great emphasis on the balance between the professional development and opportunities for collaboration between curriculum leaders and teachers and clear evaluation and accountability. The curriculum is quality assured through quantitative and qualitative measures such as:

• Student participation in extra-curricular activities/enrichment
• Take up and retention at GCSE and Post 16
• Destination data including Post 18 progression
• Student Voice
• Quality and quantity of work in books
• Academy examination performance - attainment and progress

For further information on the curriculum, please email info@maltbyacademy.com