Astrea St Ivo
Astrea St Ivo
The curriculum, at St Ivo Academy, is defined as ‘the knowledge, skills and values that students are expected to learn, the units and lessons that are taught, the planned sequence of instruction, the resources used to support teaching, and the assessments used to evaluate learning’.
Curriculum intent: aims and purpose
Our aim is to deliver a curriculum which equips young people with powerful knowledge, maximises cognitive development, develops the talent of the individual, and nourishes the whole person. It aims to enable all students to fulfil their potential, seeking to secure the best possible learning, progress, outcomes, experiences and personal development for each young person for whom we have responsibility. Further, the curriculum embraces the Astrea Trust core values of scholarship, curiosity, tenacity, respect and responsibility.
The curriculum seeks to enable the study of powerful knowledge, thereby immersing students in ‘the best that has been thought and said’ to induct them into the conversations of humankind. Education provision should confer the benefits to all, and powerful knowledge ensures that people are not trapped by the limits of their starting points and experiences.
We believe that our intent is best achieved by implementing a broad and balanced, knowledge-rich curriculum, and a strong personal development programme. The subject curriculum is designed to help students understand and make meaning of the world around them, and to take them beyond their everyday knowledge and experiences. Intellectual curiosity and resilience are developed through a curriculum taught by subject staff who impart the powerful knowledge and cultural capital that place students in a strong position to question and debate the world around them.
Our provision is tailored so that all students, whatever their background and ability, can follow suitable pathways, from Years 7 through to Year 13. These aims to maximise their chances to make progress in their learning, and achieve academic excellence and success in public examinations, as well as promoting positive personal development and emotional wellbeing. This will enable them to successfully access the next stage of their lives.
Our curriculum at Key Stage 3 (years 7 to 9), Key Stage 4 (years 10 and 11), and Key Stage 5 (years 12 and 13) is clearly structured, by subjects, and sequenced in a way that ensures systematic and thorough teaching.
All students will study a broad curriculum from Year 7, which includes English; mathematics; the sciences; modern foreign languages; geography; history; art; design technology; food technology; music; drama; dance; computer science; religion, philosophy and ethics; personal, social and health education; and PE. During Year 9, students are given the opportunity to make preferences in optional subjects that will make up part of their GCSE curriculum at Key Stage 4.
Our curriculum is compliant with our duties in the Equality Act 2010 and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014: our curriculum is accessible for those with disabilities or special educational needs and over time increases the extent to which those students participate in the school’s curriculum.
In addition to the subject curriculum, we are committed to providing a wide range of extra-curricular and personal development opportunities. Further, we instil in students the need to work hard, be kind, and achieve more, combined with being ready to learn, hold high aspiration, and being responsible, respectful and safe for themselves and others in the community.
Please click here to view our full Curriculum Statement, which includes details of subjects at each key stage.
To find out more about the curriculum offered at St Ivo Academy, please contact the relevant Head of Department or Dr M Craig, Vice Principal (curriculum). Contact details can be found on the contact us page.