The Curriculum
At Clifton Community School we understand that getting the curriculum right for each and every individual student is the single most important factor in ensuring progress, encouraging positive engagement and raising aspirations.
Intent
At Clifton Community School we want all students to leave able and qualified to play their full part in an ever-changing world, through an ambitious, creative and innovative curriculum which empowers students with the skills, knowledge and attributes to allow them to succeed with the challenges of life beyond their time at school. (in their next phase of education and their working life).
We aim to engender a love of learning, self-belief and aspiration through 4 key intentions:
- Intention 1: Removing barriers to learning
- Intention 2: Developing skills for learning
- Intention 3: Developing personal attributes
- Intention 4:Enriching students’ experiences and broadening their horizons
Intention 1: Removing barriers to learning
We want all our students to go out into the world, and become successful, happy, fulfilled adults who will be good citizens and make a positive contribution to society. The acquisition of basic skills is either at the heart of achieving this or a barrier to learning and prevent students from fully flourishing. Four common barriers, if left unchallenged, will limit the progress, engagement and development of students who access our curriculum.
- Literacy
- Numeracy
- Oracy
- Vocabulary
We remove barriers to learning and support students’ ability to access the curriculum through the development of literacy, numeracy, oracy skills and vocabulary acquisition.
Intention 2: Developing skills for learning (Subject way)
Each curriculum area intends to grow mini subject specialists, for example, mini Geographers, Historians, Linguists and Mathematician through the development of the ‘subject way’. Student knowledge and essential learning skills go hand in hand. Students need to remember with fluency in order to be fully established mini-subject specialists. We strive, at all times, for personal excellence by developing the 5 key skills for success below:
- Recall
- Interpretation
- Creativity
- Analysis
- Evaluation
- Divergent thinking
Intention 3: Developing personal attributes (The Clifton Way)
At the heart of our curriculum is the Clifton Way. This allows us all to promote the attributes our children need in order to develop their independence, responsibility and resilience to have a happy and successful life beyond Clifton.
The Clifton Way promotes:
- Aspiration
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Respect
- Responsibility
- Resilience
- Tolerance
Intention 4: To enrich students’ experiences and broaden their horizons:
Our intent is that all students have a full understanding of how to develop themselves as well rounded citizens, maintain healthy relationships and understand how to keep themselves safe both online and in their day-to-day life. We want all students to know what options are open to them in the future and understand the routes they have in order to progress on their life journey. Our curriculum will include:
- Experiential Learning – Trips, visitors,
- Hands-on Experiences – Practical opportunities in the classroom
- Extracurricular opportunities – sports clubs, School shows
- Wider opportunities – DoE, Residential, Camps international, charity work/involvement
If you have any queries or questions relating to the Curriculum, please contact Mr T. Hardcastle, Headteacher, thardcastle@cliftonschool.org.
Year 7 & 8
Subject | English | Maths | Science | PE | Comp | MFL | Geography |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lessons per week | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Art/Food | Music | Drama/Dance | DT | RE | PHSE | History | |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
*Students requiring extra English or extra Maths will be removed from MFL or Computing.
Year 9
Subject | English | Maths | Science | PE | PSHE | Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | Option 4 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lessons Per Week | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Year 10 & 11
Subjects | English | Maths | Science | PE | Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | Option 4 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lessons Per Week | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
*Students requiring additional support in Y9, 10 & 11 will only study 3 options and receive additional support in the other 2 lessons.
Year 9 Options Blocks
Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | Option 4 |
---|---|---|---|
2 lessons per week | 2 lessons per week | 2 lessons per week | 2 lessons per week |
Spanish History Geography Graphics Childcare Extra English Extra Maths Additional Support | Construction Food Photography Drama Dance Business | Fine Art Textiles Music Technology Engineering Psychology Childcare | PE Music Performance Materials Tech RE Childcare Spanish |
Year 10 Options Blocks
Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | Option 4 |
---|---|---|---|
2 lessons per week | 2 lessons per week | 2 lessons per week | 2 lessons per week |
Fine Art Photography Dance Music Engineering Psychology Child Development | Construction Food Graphics Textiles History Business Drama | Spanish History Geography Computing Extra English Extra Maths Additional Support | BTEC Sport Music Performance Materials Tech Geography RE Child Development Dance Fine Art |
Year 11 Options Blocks
Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | Option 4 |
---|---|---|---|
2 lessons per week | 2 lessons per week | 2 lessons per week | 2 lessons per week |
Art Child Development Dance Engineering Music Technology Music Performance Photography Psychology | Construction Food Graphics Textiles Drama History Business | Computing (ICT) Geography History Spanish Additional Support | BTEC Sport Music Performance Materials Technology Child Development RE Photography |