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Southfields Academy

Southfields Academy

Curriculum

To view the courses offered by our curriculum areas, select from the menu to the right.

Southfields Academy Curriculum

Southfields Academy has an outstanding and diverse curriculum which aspires to respond to the local and national agenda in order to ensure all our students receive a high quality learning experience at all times.

Our curriculum is the vehicle to allow our students to become:

  • Confident and successful individuals who enjoy learning, make ambitious progress and achieve high quality and meaningful qualifications.
  • Responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society including their local community and the wider international world in which they exist.

Our conversion to academy status has enabled us to ensure that the needs of our students drive our curriculum provision at all times.  Whilst confirming our commitment to the broad and balanced principles of the national curriculum, we also celebrate and use our strengths to drive excellence and innovation.

We believe wholeheartedly that in order to access a broad and balanced curriculum, all students need to be confident and proficient in the basic skills of reading, writing, communication and mathematics and these are given the highest priority at all times.

Finally, we consider it critical equal opportunities are promoted and realised at all levels of the curriculum provision and that this is integral to outstanding practice.  Whilst we provide extensive individual and small group withdrawal support where necessary, our curriculum is one which celebrates inclusion at all times, and we firmly believe that our diversity as a school ultimately enriches and enhances our curriculum for the benefit of all.

Our approach to the curriculum is encapsulated below.

Beyond the formal curriculum

The school curriculum is not narrowly constrained within formal lessons but extends to a vast array of extra-curricular opportunities at the end of the school day. All students have access to and are actively encouraged to take part in an extensive programme, which seeks to extend their learning and widen their life experiences.

Work Related learning is any planned activity that uses the context of work to develop knowledge, skills and understanding useful in work. Through work related learning activities, the school seeks to develop the employability skills of young people, provide them with the opportunity to ‘learn by doing’, raise standards of achievement and encourage positive attitudes to lifelong learning. Opportunities will be provided both within our various curriculum areas and as planned activities within our enrichment programme. All students have the opportunity to take part in a formal work experience at the end of Year 10 and Year 12 and in some vocational areas work experience is embedded into the curriculum as a weekly activity.

The Curriculum offer

All of our students enjoy a broad and balanced curriculum and as an inclusive school, we have high expectations for all of them. Our aim is also to ensure that students have a breadth of experience. As such, we teach our students in mixed ability classes for many of our KS3 subjects, with the exception of English and only set in KS4 for Core Subjects. Within the mixed class environment, teachers differentiate work to stretch the ablest and break learning down for those who may be finding it harder.

In addition to timetabled lessons, we also teach and inspire students through assemblies and our daily pastoral programme and the 6th Form and International Group Tutorial Programme.