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Curriculum Overview

At Coundon Court, we work tirelessly to ensure that our students have a Quality of Education that will open as many doors as possible for our students.

We provide students with an ambitious curriculum that provides a broad and balanced experience, designed for our students. Above all, our curriculum is centered on the Coundon Court student, striving for academic excellence in public examinations as well as rewarding enrichment achievements both within school and within the wider world.

Our curriculum is far more than the delivery of a statutory range of subjects; it provides students with learning experiences that students will take with them for life: learning how to `think like a historian` or `think like a designer` for example.  As Christine Counsell said “A curriculum exists to change the pupil, to give the pupil new power.” Knowledge is power and we want our students to leave Coundon Court with the power to achieve a fantastic future for themselves.

Our Curriculum has been designed around the following principles:

  1. Knowledge is powerful: “what” we deliver has been justified; sequencing, interleaving and retrieval of key knowledge has been planned carefully in order for students to know more, remember more and do more.
  2. Mastery: we believe students can continually improve and get better at knowing more, remembering more and doing more. We value modelling and deliberate practice to implement our rich curriculum to support student growth.
  3. Experiences beyond the curriculum:  Wider opportunities provide additional knowledge to support our students in making positive contributions to our community, city and beyond; giving our students the “tools” to direct their own lives and live a great life.  

We are aware of the importance of curriculum refinement at Coundon Court and our Learning Team Leaders use their time with their faculties for an ongoing evaluation of the curriculum: discussing areas of strengths, areas for development and further enhancements that could be made to give our students the best learning experience, one they will remember. Our experienced Learning Team Leaders use their subject knowledge and subject research as well as their discussions with colleagues at other schools to ensure that their subject area provides our students with the ambitious, broad and balanced, knowledge-rich curriculum that we have established at Coundon Court. 

The Core Aims of our Curriculum:

  • To ensure that our students gain the powerful knowledge they need to access the next stage of their education: University, Higher Education or an Apprenticeship
  • To deliver a curriculum that is knowledge rich in all subject areas
  • To effectively sequence the curriculum, with a strong emphasis on retrieval practice and interleaving, in order to ensure that the curriculum is seen as a progression model across the 5 or 7 year journey that students take at Coundon Court
  • To provide students with the powerful knowledge they need to build a strong cultural capital which enables students to be active citizens in and outside of their community.

Supporting all Students

The learning experience of all students is at the heart of everything we do at Coundon Court; the Quality of Education for our students is at the forefront of our curriculum design and Teaching and Learning strategies. We provide support for all of our students at a number of levels in order to ensure that all student are able to achieve their full potential at Coundon Court:

  • Quality First Teaching is our focus for all- tasks and activities are carefully sequenced and delivered in order to allow students to build on their knowledge and understanding, making the progress they need in the classroom setting, with all students accessing the same level of powerful knowledge needed in each subject area
  • Effective modelling of tasks and activities to ensure that all students are able to access the learning and be successful: using I do, We do and You do as a teaching strategy in order to build knowledge and scaffold support before completing independent work.
  • Students who require additional support in Literacy and Numeracy in order to be ready to access their Secondary Education receive additional support outside of lessons in order to close the gaps in their knowledge using small group work to support their learning.
  • The Coundon Way of consistency and clarity is evident across all classrooms with teachers all using the same structure across their lesson as well as the same common language of SLANT to ensure classroom expectations are met at all times and the cognitive load on our students is reduced in order for all students to achieve success.

Key Stage 3 Coundon Court Curriculum

At Key Stage 3, the Coundon Court curriculum doesn’t just offer the full National Curriculum to our students but it provides a knowledge rich curriculum that promotes a love of learning across a wide range of subjects. Our curriculum has been set up to promote the EBacc experience at Key Stage 4 as part of the 5 to 7 year journey that students will take across their time with us at Coundon Court. At Coundon Court, we recognise the importance of our students being able to compete with others on both an academic and a personal and social level in order to achieve success in their lives.  Coundon Court students are immersed into their subjects to gain a full learning experience that focuses on more than statutory requirements and underpins the core aims of our curriculum: giving students the powerful knowledge they need to be an active citizen with a full understanding of the world around them.

At Coundon Court, we have a three-year Key Stage 3 that promotes the value and importance of all subjects as individual disciplines giving students access to an exciting curriculum throughout their time in Key Stage 3. In Year 9, our students are supported to engage in selecting their subject areas for further study at GCSE. This process is carefully managed through a tailored programme, support from tutors or the SEND team where needed and additional interview opportunities with the Senior Leadership team in order to ensure that all students have the best chance to achieve during the next stages of their education. It is important to note that whilst we are committed to ensuring that all students in Year 9 achieve the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum and meet the demands of the powerful knowledge that our Learning Team Leaders have selected, we also use Year 9 to begin the bridge into GCSE in our English, Maths and Science lessons to support our students when they do begin their courses.

All of the above curriculum plans ensure that no students is left behind and all are able to make progress.

Curriculum Structure at KS3 (Year 7 to 9)

Periods per week

Subject

Year 7

Year 8

Year 9

English

4

4

4

Mathematics

4

4

4

Science

4

4

4

French or Spanish

2

3

2

Geography

3

3

3

History

3

3

3

Drama

1

1

1

Music

1

1

1

RE

2

1

2

Art

2

2

2

Design

1

2

2

IT

1

1

1

PE

2

2

2

 

Key Stage 4 Coundon Court Curriculum

At Coundon Court, our Key Stage 4 curriculum has been developed to ensure that students study a range of qualifications that meet the new national Progress 8 measure: the benchmark statistic which all schools are measured against and requires students to take GCSEs in the core subjects of English Language, English Literature, Mathematics and Science. In addition to these subjects, students study Geography and/or History as well as a Modern Foreign Language. Finally, students can choose the remainder of their subjects from the option blocks as detailed above. Our students deserve an ambitious and ambitious curriculum that mirrors the ambition that we have for them however it is also important that students are able to tailor their educational journey to align with their personal strengths and future career prospects-the breadth of our curriculum allows students to do just that. In addition, students also experience non-examined Core PE and Core RE/Personal Development as timetabled lessons to ensure students are gaining important lifelong messages.

Students who may need support will follow a suite of qualifications that will allow them to be successful in their chosen destination at Post 16. These qualifications will support our SEND students with their future career pathways and provide them with the additional support they need to ensure their route through their examined years is successful. As always, our SEND team will support students who need additional support through tailored intervention sessions and our pastoral teams will reflect this work in academic mentoring sessions especially surrounding exam related stresses and how to alleviate those.

As the Year 11 academic time progresses, students will experience an extended school day in which they will receive support in core subjects through targeted support or revision as well as targeted sessions on what effective revision looks like and how to plan effective revision at home.

The Key Stage 4 curriculum offer is detailed below. As you can see, students have a 30 period week; the number in brackets shows the number of 50-minute learning sessions each student receives per subject. The majority of our lessons are double lessons e.g. 1x100 minute session to allow us to effectively deliver and provide opportunities to meet our Coundon Lesson Teaching Framework. Please see our Teaching and Learning page for more details of this.

Key Stage 4 Curriculum

English Baccalaureate (EBacc) Ambition
2 choices from
Core
Humanities
Modern Foreign Languages

GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature (4)

GCSE Mathematics (4)

GCSE Combined Science - Trilogy (4)

RE / Personal Development (1)

Physical Education (1)

Geography (4) or History (4)

French (4) or Spanish (4)

GCSE Art (4)

GCSE Business (4)

GCSE Computer Science (4)

GCSE Drama (4)

GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition (4)

GCSE Geography (4)

GCSE History (4)

Cambridge Natoinal Creative iMedia (IT)

GCSE Music (4)

GCSE PE (4)

GCSE Photography (4)

GCSE Product Design (4)

GCSE Sociology (4)

 

All of our Learning Team Leaders have designed their curriculums to be a progression model for our students in order to ensure no student is left behind and all are able to make progress.

Key Stage 5

Our Key Stage 5 curriculum offers students the opportunity to choose 3 or 4 subjects from five option blocks. Each option block is scheduled for 6x50 minute periods per week.  We have a diverse range of academic and vocational subjects that provide appropriate pathways for their desired destination Post 18 whether this be University, an Apprenticeship or further training/employment.

Key Stage 5 Subject Allocation

Subject

Qualification

Applied Criminology (Diploma)

Vocational

Applied Science (BTEC National)

Vocational

Art & Design (Fine Art)

Academic

Art & Design (Photography)

Academic

Art & Design (Textiles)

Academic

Biology

Academic

Business

Academic

Chemistry

Academic

Computer Science

Academic

Economics

Academic

English Language and Literature

Academic

English Literature B

Academic

Further Maths

Academic

Geography

Academic

Health & Social Care (Cambridge Technical)

Vocational

History

Academic

IT (Cambridge Technical)

Vocational

Maths

Academic

Media

Academic

Music

Academic

Physical Education

Academic

Physics

Academic

Politics

Academic

Product Design

Academic

Psychology

Academic

Sociology

Academic

 

Students may also retake GCSE Maths or English, this is particularly important if students have not achieved a grade 4 in Key Stage 4.

In addition to their subject choices and tutor time, students also receive a morning of Study Skills. This is delivered by our experienced Sixth Form Learning mentors and its planned curriculum covers topics such as effective revision techniques, promoting good study habits, personal development and healthy relationships in addition to an extensive careers programme that covers all Post 18 options and welcomes a number of external visitors.

At Coundon Court Sixth Form we use all timetabled opportunities to develop employability skills that Post 18 providers will be looking for. These include communication, teamwork, leadership, taking responsibility, problem solving, reflective thinking and independent enquiry. Please see our Sixth Form prospectus for more details.

Curriculum beyond the classroom

At Coundon Court, the curriculum beyond the classroom is just as valuable as the curriculum inside our classrooms. With a huge array of opportunities available to our students, we believe that every students should leave Coundon Court with invaluable learning experiences of memories that will last a lifetime. These include school trips, visiting speakers, House competitions and school clubs. Every student has the opportunity for a breadth of education that will prepare them well for the challenges associated with becoming an adult. This will also ensure our students are not only academically successful but have the knowledge and experiences that will enable them to direct their own lives and have a successful life.

Our Coundon Court Lesson Framework allows our curriculum to be implemented effectively to support all of our students in being successful. It is built upon our core values of hard work, kindness and respect.