At Academy Transformation Trust, we believe that it is our core responsibility to ensure that students have access to the very best education possible. One of the most fundamental and influential aspects of a child’s education is the curriculum that they have access to. The power of curriculum is immense. It has the power to not only transform an individual, but to also transform whole communities and shape their understanding of the world and their place in it. Therefore, it is imperative that the curriculum on offer within our academies is truly world class and gives students access to powerful knowledge that takes them far beyond what their own individual experience ever could. In order to achieve this we must ensure we expose all students ‘to the best that has been thought and said and engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement’. To truly transform lives we must not only show students what is possible but inspire and instil the confidence in them to go out and do it.

All learners in our academies will experience a curriculum that​:

  1. is ambitious and enjoyable through knowledge and skills developed from Foundation Stage to Post 16 and Adult provision. ​
  2. is knowledge rich, ensuring access to a wide, global cultural capital – thus maximising lifetime opportunities. ​
  3. is inclusive, nurturing and tailored towards the needs of the individual. ​
  4. is focused on developing the very best oracy, literacy, numeracy and digital skills – enabling access to the widest learning and the very best careers possible to ensure we develop global citizens.​
  5. is enriching, ensuring all experience a rich variety of cultural, artistic and sporting activities. ​
  6. is broad in terms of coverage and (at least) encompassing the breadth of the 2014 English National Curriculum. ​
  7. celebrates the uniqueness of each educational setting in terms of localised knowledge and skills. 
  8. develops character, personal pride and the highest moral standards. ​
  9. celebrates diversity, challenges injustice, promotes equality and encourages the creation of a better world. ​
  10. is delivered by well-qualified, forward-thinking, skilled, passionate professionals.

Sun Academy Bradwell uses the National Curriculum as it’s basis for the programmes of study it delivers. The knowledge and skills are implemented through the new Building Block curriculum which ensures a comprehensive and sequential schemata.

Underpinning all curriculum activities is the academy’s mission to ensure pupils have memorable experiences that inspire a love of learning, to develop passionate, confident and inquisitive learners; never giving up on growing within each child a ‘can do’ attitude that is resilient and fears no challenge; and enabling all children to feel part of a wider community, and develop a greater understanding and respect of differences and uniqueness. By upholding these values, we ensure pupils can take advantage of opportunities, responsibilities and experiences that life has to offer.

All pupils experience external visits, educators and a curriculum that immerses them in the wider community. These range from the ‘Sunrise to Sunset’ project (Early years engagement with dementia ward at the local nursing home) to the annual covenant of improving the community environment by flower planting and tidying up the local area.

Intent

No matter what the starting or end points, all pupils will have the building blocks (knowledge, skills and enrichment) to experience and access all forms of people, places and principles. They will develop a love of learning, a ‘can do’ attitude and understand their roles in a wider community.

Implementation

There is a strong belief in teaching in detail and depth on any one topic (resulting in a blocked subject/concept approach) in order to secure pupils knowledge and allow logical application and skill development. Each cycle has a well thought out constructed sequence with each block leading logically into the next steps in learning this ensures that links and natural synaptic associations are created.

• MTPs set out the aims to be implemented and evaluate against those expectations. Professional autonomy is given to the interpretation and teaching opportunities taken from these.
• Subject blocks/concept include cultural opportunities to study famous people and their works, visit cultural, historical and spiritual places and experience/practice cultural activities. Such activities have included visiting the Regent theatre, studying Shakespeare and performing with the Halle orchestra. These hands on, experiential opportunities begin to assist some of the social disadvantage some of our pupils may encounter.

Impact

Knowledge organisers, pop quizzes and subject/concept block teacher assessments are undertaken to check understanding. Pupil conferences and book scans are also used to establish the knowledge and skills children have acquired. Alongside the formative assessment there are termly summative assessments to establish the impact on reading, writing and mathematics.