Curriculum Ambition

We have worked in partnership with stakeholders to produce a curriculum that reflects our values, our context and the needs of our community.

We place learning at the heart of everything we do so to provide an ambitious offer that cultivates successful learners who develop the skills to lead fulfilling lives and play a full part in society. It is vital to us that students are aware of the importance of community and we provide many opportunities to develop this understanding. We were delighted that Ofsted recognised that Downlands is a ‘community school in action as well as in name’.

Our journey as a school has emphasised the importance of setting high expectations and levels of challenge for all and we are proud of the support we offer everyone in our community, particularly disadvantaged learners. We work hard every day to support all students to achieve the outstanding outcomes at 16 that will underpin future success.

Excellent examination results provide the currency for learners to access their next steps. Our ambition goes way beyond this however and we are committed to our ‘Downlands Rocks’ Character development programme which equips all learners with the skills and experiences to live a self-fulfilling life.

Our pastoral curriculum, PSHE, PE safeguarding and careers provision are viewed as fundamental in supporting students to build their own self efficacy and enabling them to understand how to build safe, successful, healthy lifestyles and relationships in the future.

We believe that we are all leaders and invest time in developing our students as leaders of the future. Our prefects help us to keep everyone safe through the day and our student forums contribute to the achievement of our action plan and vision in the important areas of environment, global citizenship, character, wellbeing and teaching and learning.

We value diversity and equality and are aware of the role of our school in a local and global context. We have planned a curriculum that addresses social disadvantage and our ambition is to not only provide equity of opportunity for all but to eliminate gaps between groups of learners.

Leaders, teachers and students understand the links between the skills and knowledge and how subject knowledge links to other subject specialisms. We work closely with primary schools and further education providers to ensure successful progression between key stages.

Key stage 3 is designed to be broad, balanced and engaging curriculum. Practical subjects and the arts are highly valued alongside a strong academic core. The curriculum engages learners so they are inspired to attend school and there is extensive support and intervention for literacy and numeracy skills and extra resources for students behind on entry.

Key Stage 4 is ambitious for all, challenges everyone and provides appropriate pathways for all abilities and interests, including a range of vocational opportunities. We continue to offer a broad, balanced curriculum that does not narrow opportunities for Key stage 5 and post 16.

It is our intent that our curriculum is designed and built around a strong understanding of cognitive science. Schemes of learning are created by planning backwards from clear end points which embed the fundamental knowledge and skills which all students need to retain to be able to be successful learners in their next stage of learning. Prior learning is understood by leaders, teachers and students to be crucial in enabling future learning and in committing knowledge to long term memory; retrieval practice and interleaving are key features of Downlands’ curriculum design.

At Downlands we challenge ourselves to exceed expectations and believe that our dreams can be achieved.

Curriculum Ambition

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