Curriculum Offer

Curriculum Rationale

The curriculum has been designed to deliver a set of learning experiences that meet the needs of our students. Courses across key stage 3 and 4 have been selected that will best prepare our students for life beyond school as well as being able to reintegrate them back into mainstream school. we strive to provide a curriculum that meets the needs of all students as well as one that encourages young people to seek continuous development and improvement, by offering a broad and balanced curriculum, students will be able to meet their full potential. Through this curriculum, students will receive a high quality education and enable them to aspire through the skills and knowledge they will learn at every stage.

Our aim, through our curriculum is to develop young people:  

• who are confident, prepared to take calculated risks, can cope with change and view failure as part of the learning process, they will learn to become more resilient
• who have high expectations of self and an ambitious vision for their future
• who have a passionate work ethic that results in them achieving, and exceeding, their academic potential 
• who are respectful, tolerant and empathetic towards the values and beliefs of others
• who are self-aware and know their own strengths through reviewing and evaluating their progress
• who have a range of transferrable skills for learning life and work including: communication; collaboration and critical thinking
• who are capable of making informed decisions

KS3

At key stage 3 the curriculum has been designed to mirror, to an extent, that of a national curriculum at mainstream school. This has been done so as students are not disadvantaged should they return to mainstream education. Students will study the following subjects:

• Maths
• English language and literature
• Science
• Art
• Drama
• Physical Education (PE)
• Home Cooking Skills
• Humanities
• Enrichment / Relationship Sex and Health Education (RSHE)
• Career Planning

This curriculum has been designed to give students the confidence in their learning so that if they return to school, they are able to access the curriculum successfully.

Key Stage 4

Equally at KS4, students will study a broad and balanced curriculum. They will study subjects such as:

• Maths
• English language and literature
• Functional Skills English
• Science
• Art GCSE
• Arts Award
• Physical Education (PE)
• Business
• Religious Studies
• Citizenship
• Princes Trust
• Home Cooking
• Enrichment / Relationship Sex and Health Education (RSHE)
• Career Planning
• Construction

Alongside this, some students will have literacy and or numeracy interventions in order to help ‘narrow the gap’ by enabling them to better access the curriculum and succeed.

The proposed curriculum will be delivered through pathways that meet the needs of all students. These pathways often include ‘blended’ learning experiences with a combination of academic and vocational learning to ensure students have the opportunity to develop across a range of different learning contexts.  The purpose of these experiences is to help students to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.

The curriculum aims to deliver both excellence in terms of ensuring students acquire a broad range of skills at the highest levels, whilst also delivering equity so that every young person should thrive and have the best opportunity to succeed regardless of their social circumstances or additional needs.

Turnaround

At Orchardside we run a respite provision for mainstream students. Students from either year 7 or 8 whom are at risk of permanent exclusion will be with us for a period of six weeks and then reintegrate back into their school with support. Students on the Turnaround programme will study:

• English
• Maths
• Science
• Art
• Drama
• Physical Education
• Home Cooking Skills
• Enrichment / Relationship Sex and Health Education (RSHE)
• Humanities
• Back to school workshops
• 121 mentoring

Students will have the appropriate screeners during their time at Orchardside for Social Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH).

A holistic report will be produced for the students when they return to school, with a requirement that the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) from both schools are involved in the re-integration meeting.