Curriculum Overview

At Orchards Academy, our curriculum is designed to provide a comprehensive and enriching educational experience that builds knowledge and skills progressively across each key stage. With a 50-hour fortnight, our structured timetable ensures a broad and balanced education, fostering academic rigour and a love of learning from Year 7 through to Year 11.

Here’s a breakdown of the subjects studied and their weekly hours for each year group:

Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9): Building Foundations

In Key Stage 3, students engage with a wide range of subjects, ensuring a solid foundation across all disciplines and encouraging exploration of new interests.

• Year 7 (Total Weekly Hours: 25)
  • Core Subjects: English (4 hours), Maths (4 hours), Science (3 hours)
  • Humanities: Geography (2 hours), History (2 hours), RE (1 hour)
  • Arts & Technology: Art (1 hour), Computer Science (1 hour), Drama (1 hour), DT (1 hour), Music (1 hour)
  • Physical & Personal Development: PE (2 hours), PD (1 hour)
  • Languages: Spanish (1 hour)
• Year 8 (Total Weekly Hours: 25)
  • Core Subjects: English (4 hours), Maths (4 hours), Science (3 hours)
  • Humanities: Geography (2 hours), History (2 hours), RE (1 hour)
  • Arts & Technology: Art (1 hour), Computer Science (1 hour), Drama (1 hour), DT (1 hour), Music (1 hour)
  • Physical & Personal Development: PE (2 hours), PD (1 hour)
  • Languages: Spanish (1 hour)
• Year 9 (Total Weekly Hours: 25)
  • Core Subjects: English (4 hours), Maths (4 hours), Science (3 hours)
  • Humanities: Geography (2 hours), History (2 hours), RE (1 hour)
  • Arts & Technology: Art (1 hour), Computer Science (1 hour), Drama (1 hour), DT (1 hour), Music (1 hour)
  • Physical & Personal Development: PE (2 hours), PD (1 hour)
  • Languages: Spanish (1 hour)

Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11): Specialisation and Depth

In Key Stage 4, students continue with core subjects while beginning to specialise in subjects aligned with their interests and future aspirations, preparing them for further education or careers.

• Year 10
  • Core Subjects: English (5 hours), Maths (5 hours), Science (5 hours)
  • Optional/Specialist Subjects (Weekly Hours):
    • 3D Design: 3 hours
    • Computer Science: 3 hours
    • Drama: 3 hours
    • Fine Art: 3 hours
    • Food: 3 hours
    • History: 3 hours
    • IT: 3 hours
    • Music: 3 hours
    • PE: 3 hours (plus an additional 1 hour for another PE option)
    • Photography: 3 hours
    • Spanish: 3 hours
    • Statistics: 3 hours
    • Textiles: 3 hours
    • Triple Science: 5 hours
  • Note: Students would typically choose a selection of these optional subjects in addition to their core studies.
• Year 11
  • Core Subjects: English (5 hours), Maths (5 hours), Science (5 hours)
  • Optional/Specialist Subjects (Weekly Hours):
    • 3D Design: 3 hours
    • Computer Science: 3 hours
    • Drama: 3 hours
    • Fine Art: 3 hours
    • Food: 3 hours
    • Geography: 3 hours
    • History: 3 hours
    • IT: 3 hours
    • Music: 3 hours
    • PE: 3 hours (plus an additional 1 hour for another PE option)
    • Photography: 3 hours
    • Spanish: 3 hours
    • Statistics: 3 hours
    • Textiles: 3 hours
    • Triple Science: 5 hours
  • Note: Similar to Year 10, students continue with their chosen optional subjects alongside core studies.

This structured curriculum ensures that all students at Orchards Academy receive a well-rounded education, preparing them with the knowledge, skills, and values to succeed academically and contribute meaningfully to society.

At Orchards Academy, our ambitious curriculum intent is brought to life through a meticulously planned and consistently applied approach to teaching and learning. Our implementation strategy ensures that every lesson, every interaction, and every opportunity contributes to our students' holistic development, fostering academic rigour, a deep love of learning, and the personal attributes necessary for future success. We are committed to the TKAT learning approach, ensuring that our teaching practices empower all learners to achieve greatness.

Our teaching and learning practices are built upon a clear framework, guiding students through a structured learning journey designed to maximise knowledge acquisition, retention, and application. Each phase is crucial in ensuring deep understanding and sustained progress and may happen over a sequence of lessons depending on the subject matter or progress of the learner.

"Flashback five":

Activating Prior Knowledge

Every lesson at Orchards Academy begins with a focused "Retrieval" task. This immediate activity serves to recap prior knowledge, consolidate previous learning, and instantly engage students in the day's topic. It ensures students are ready to learn from the moment they enter the classroom, fostering independence by encouraging them to refer to previous work and resources.

"Explore and Enquire":

Knowledge Presentation

New knowledge is presented in a clear, structured, and stimulating manner that supports all learners. Core concepts are explicitly signposted, and new vocabulary is taught directly. Teachers use sparse, focused slides, key images, maps, clips, or text to contextualise information, ensuring clarity and accessibility for every student.

"Making it stick":

 Responsive Teaching

Teachers consistently pause to check the understanding of all students before moving on. This vital phase utilises a range of live assessment strategies, including questioning, low-stakes quizzes, production tasks (e.g., writing, setting up an experiment), talk, hinge questions, and mini-whiteboard responses. This immediate feedback loop informs subsequent teaching.

"Adaptive Practice":

Tailored Support & Challenge

Based on ongoing checks for understanding, teachers make planned adaptations before the lesson and "live" during the lesson. This includes scaffolding tasks, providing models (often with visualisers), re-explaining concepts, offering analogies, and providing targeted support from peers or support staff. Our aim is to ensure every student is ready to move on, addressing any misconceptions proactively.

"Metacognitive Talk":

Modelling Thinking

Teachers consistently model successful approaches using "metacognitive talk." This involves explicitly verbalising thought processes, problem-solving strategies, and decision-making. By sharing their own thinking, teachers provide clear examples and deepen students' understanding of how to approach learning and problem-solving, not just what the answer is.

"Deliberate Practice":

Demonstrating Mastery

Students are given regular opportunities to demonstrate what they "know." This phase involves completing plenaries or exit tasks that allow students to consolidate their learning and show their understanding of the key knowledge from the lesson. It provides clear assessment points for both students and teachers.

"Live Marking and Feedback":

Immediate Impact

During the lesson, teachers provide in-the-moment feedback and guidance based on student work. This immediate, actionable feedback, often prioritising Pupil Premium students, allows students to make changes, correct errors, and improve their work as they go, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

"Extension and Challenge":

Fostering Greatness

We believe no student should sit unchallenged. Our curriculum provides consistent opportunities for extension and greater depth work both during and after lessons. For our most able students, we proactively assess prior knowledge and provide resources or opportunities for them to delve deeper, translate knowledge across different forms, or even present to the class, ensuring they are consistently stretched and inspired.

We empower our students to be active participants in their learning journey:

• Ready to Learn: Students are expected to enter the classroom quietly, on time, and prepared with equipment, ready to actively engage with new knowledge.
• Active Participation: Students are encouraged to be active during teacher talk through note-taking, participating in cold-call questioning, and verbally rehearsing answers.
• Knowledge Capture: Students utilise knowledge capture tools like mind maps, dual coding, and effective note-taking to support their learning.
• Seeking Feedback & Improvement: Students are encouraged to seek feedback, make improvements, and check their own work against academy standards.
• Independent Application: Students are expected to work independently to demonstrate their understanding and utilise resources effectively.

Through this robust implementation framework, Orchards Academy ensures that our curriculum intent translates into powerful learning experiences for every student, preparing them not just for examinations, but to be inquisitive, knowledgeable, and impactful citizens ready to shape a better future.