Curriculum
If you require further information on the curriculum please contact Mrs Hickin, Assistant Head at the Academy.
generalenquiries@priorycity.co.uk
The Curriculum at Lincoln Academy
Our overarching curriculum intent is to improve the life chances of our pupils so they become true citizens of the world, who are well placed to pursue a life of their own choosing.
The recent pandemic lockdown periods have given us the opportunity to focus our efforts on the most crucial academic knowledge that our students need to make progress over time. They have also allowed us to assess which elements of our wider curriculum can continue to effectively meet our aims and develop our values and attitudes. Students were prepared for working remotely. Subject areas and year teams have carefully sequenced our curriculum to productively use this format of delivery.
As we move forward we are determined that our students learn positive lessons from their time in lockdown by recognising their achievements and character development. We are also passionate about addressing the challenges that many have faced. Our ‘Recovery Approach’ emphasises existing elements of our work and is based around four key areas.
- Supporting student wellbeing, positive mental health and deepening our approach to global citizenship
- Addressing aspects of the taught curriculum where progress has not been as rapid as usual, especially in relation to accessing the taught curriculum though language for learning and numeracy.
- Providing extended curriculum activities that allow students to be proud of themselves, offer new experiences and that ignite their dreams for life.
- Emphasising our culture of warmth and order. Further developing our ‘Pyramid of Warmth’ and encouraging success in our Lincoln Passport.
Lincoln’s knowledge engaged curriculum also embeds our core Trust values of:
- Wisdom – nurturing deeply cultured reflective and philosophical thinkers of the future
- Curiosity – Empowering intellectual curiosity, active learning and inquisitiveness
- Generosity – Fostering empathy, mutual respect and courtesy in a global community
- Courage – Championing integrity, resilience and the value of personal endeavour
- Passion – Inviting a sense of awe and wonder, moral conviction and ambition
These are manifest through and align to our Lincoln attitudes of Working hard, Dreaming Big, Being Kind, Keeping Going and Being Proud.
In addition our curriculum:
- Provides a coherent knowledge base that is appropriately powerful, clearly constructed and thoughtfully sequenced, in order to allow students to achieve and become increasingly creative.
- Assesses knowledge, understanding and skills in an intelligent, supportive and proportionate manner.
- Supports a predominantly subject focused approach that provides a meaningful experience used to build the cultural capital of every pupil.
- Develops pupils’ cognitive ability in order for them to learn, retain and recall knowledge and develop metacognitive ability in order that they monitor and purposefully direct their learning.
- Regardless of background, builds a strong academic subject focused offer, alongside high quality industry linked vocational provision, that provides equality of opportunity and a focus on the needs and interests of all pupils.
- Is united by a common approach to optimising pupils’ spoken language, reading, writing and vocabulary in every subject [supported by our COVID19 recovery approach]
- Celebrates meaningful, inspiring and life-changing experiences that enable pupils to:
- maximise levels f self-worth and cultural capital, [supprted by our COVID19 recovery approach].
- successfully plt their route within an increasingly diverse, numerate and digital economy,
- play a meaningful rle in their local, national and international communities
- be part of activities within and beyond formal timetabled arrangements that are memorable, inspiring, life-changing and that lead to the pursuit of happy, healthy and successful lives[supprted by our COVID19 recovery approach].
Curriculum Structure
In year 7 and 8 our students follow a curriculum in mixed ability classes. They study lessons in English, mathematics, science, French, history, geography, world views, physical education, art, technology (including computing), performance and language for learning. Our curriculum in years 7 and 8 contains a substantial element of English and mathematics. These ‘enabling subjects’ are crucial in providing the platform for strong outcomes across the curriculum. Ensuring that our students are literate and numerate is our priority.
A small number of students have an appropriately amended curriculum to include language for learning intervention as reading and comprehension direct instruction, numeracy support and/or expressive writing support. These foci improve students’ confidence and ability, allowing them to thrive in other curriculum areas. [supported by our COVID19 recovery approach]
In our ambition to secure an academically rigorous curriculum for all our students, we aim to increase our English Baccalaureate (EBacc) entry levels (English Baccalaureate (EBacc) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). Year 9 study a core curriculum comprised of lessons in English, mathematics, science, French, history, geography, world views and physical education. A significant proportion of curriculum time is allocated to English and mathematics as enabling subjects and our priority of improving language across the curriculum is exemplifies this further. In Year 9 we are also determined to foster depth a of knowledge that provides the basis for genuine creativity. To this end students are supported to make two guided selections. These guided selections of design technology, food technology, art, computer science, music or drama, complements the core curriculum.
Essentially, the rigour of our curriculum is reflected in an academic model, accompanied by a small degree of choice. We believe in powerful knowledge leading to creativity and the depth of study this offers, supports that intent.
Students in years 10 and 11 follow a core curriculum of lessons in English, mathematics, science, physical education and world views together with four guided selections from French, geography, history, sports science, health and social care, information technology, computing, business studies, engineering, design technology, food and nutrition, art, photography, music, drama and triple science.
Guided selections are made in liaison with families and Academy staff to build a bespoke negotiated curriculum for each student.
In Years 12 and 13 students can follow a range of subjects at our Academy. These include Advanced level Biology, Geography, Chemistry, English, mathematics, art and history and Level 3 vocational qualifications in health and social care, business studies, information technology, sports studies, applied science, law, engineering. Within our Trust we are also able to offer provision for our students to engage with the shared sixth form at The Priory Academy LSST who can additionally offer Advanced levels in physics, Sociology, Psychology, Government & Politics, chemistry, biology, French, geography, economics, music and religious studies. We also offer one year Level 2 full-time courses for Year 12 students in construction and motor vehicle mechanics.
Our students are engaged with our Trust Values and Academy Attitudes though their entire curriculum including through our Lincoln Passport rewards and Subject Champion recognition systems in years 7 to 11.
Our Global Citizenship curriculum encompasses our Personal, Social, Health Education programme, which in turn covers the elements of our approach to Personal Development through areas such as:
- Health and Wellbeing - including negative effects of drugs, tobacco, alcohol; promoting a positive mental, physical and emotional wellbeing; online safety; first aid; sexual health and fertility; managing risk and personal safety; self-concept.
- Relationships - including positive relationships (family, friendship and intimate); relationship values; consent; contraception and parenthood; social influences (positive and negative); bullying, abuse and discrimination.
- Living in the Wider World – including learning skills; choices and pathways; work and careers; financial choices; media literacy and resilience.
Extra-Curricular provision also forms a key component of life at Lincoln with activities, clubs, teams, visits and trips fitting into four categories; Enrichment; Enabling; Embedding and Extending.
We are constantly reviewing and evaluating our curriculum to meet the needs of all years and student groups.
In year 7 and Year 8
|
Subject |
Lessons per 2 weeks |
|
English |
8 |
|
Mathematics |
8 |
|
Science |
6 |
|
French |
4 |
|
Geography |
4 |
|
History |
4 |
|
World Views |
2 |
|
Physical Education |
4 |
|
Technology (inc Computing) |
4 |
|
Art |
2 |
|
Performance |
2 |
|
Language for Learning |
2 |
In Year 9
|
Subject |
Lessons per 2 weeks |
|
English |
8 |
|
Mathematics |
8 |
|
Science |
8 |
|
Geography |
4 |
|
History |
4 |
|
World Views |
2 |
|
Physical Education |
4 |
|
French |
4 |
|
Guided Selection (1) |
4 |
|
Guided Selection (2) |
4 |
In Year 10 and Year 11
|
Subject |
Lessons per 2 weeks |
|
English |
8 |
|
Mathematics |
8 |
|
Science |
8 |
|
World Views |
4 |
|
Physical Education |
2 |
|
Guided Selection (1) |
5 |
|
Guided Selection (2) |
5 |
|
Guided Selection (3) |
5 |
|
Guided Selection (4) |
5 |
Implementing our Knowledge Engaged Curriculum
Our lessons are based on these four cornerstones of great teaching:
Knowledge
We explicitly teach powerful knowledge which takes our students beyond their own experience. Powerful knowledge gives students the cultural literacy they need to become true citizens and further their personal aspirations and ambitions.
Through the enacted curriculum there is an expectation that students retain what they have been taught in their long-term memory (schema). We present new material in small steps with student practise after each step. We sequence concepts in small steps so students can assimilate new learning, connecting it to what they know. We devote time to practise to secure a high success rate, guided at first followed by independent. Throughout we systematically interrupt forgetting, because we forget what we do not revisit, using retrieval practise.
Modelling
Explaining and modelling are vital elements of our Lincoln lesson enabling students to develop their knowledge and understanding of the curriculum. A central feature of many of our lessons is live modelling coupled with metacognitive talk. Through the narration of thought processes, we aim to make the implicit thinking explicit for our students.
We anticipate the possible challenges students may encounter and plan and support accordingly using scaffolds. Scaffolds maybe provided on a detailed (e.g. word lists, sentence starters, knowledge organisers etc) or overview level (e.g. essay structure strips, checklists etc).
Questioning
We use a variety of questioning techniques to develop or consolidate understanding from prior learning. A Lincoln lesson encourages all students to be active listeners and learners. As such, cold calling and mini whiteboards are a classic feature of lessons at Lincoln Academy. We encourage and support our learners to provide the optimum answer through providing opportunities to rehearse and upgrade responses. In a Lincoln lesson, student responses are further explored to encourage deeper thinking using probing and process questions.
Feedback
Feedback is at the heart of Maximising Learning and essential to every aspect of it. Pro-active and re-active learning, links to prior learning, reflection on learning and link to future learning are all strengthened by quality feedback. Our approach to feedback is based on the research into best practice provided by the Education Endowment Foundation which shows us that:
- Feedback is most effective when it is timely;
- Feedback is most effective when it is frequent;
- Feedback is most effective when it is acted on by the teacher and student.
Our feedback guidelines are built on the following core principles:
- Feedback should be focused on moving learning forward;
- Feedback must be given as close to the point of teaching as is possible and sustainable;
- Rich and regular feedback must incorporate more than written marking;
- Feedback should lead to responsive teaching.
Departments will set out their own assessment and feedback models. However, the following principles of effective feedback are deployed:
Live Feedback (for Pro-active and Re-active Learning)
The most valuable feedback is given live at the point of teaching. This immediate action can have immediate impact on student progress.
Whole class verbal feedback (for Link to Prior Learning and to provide Challenging Learning Activities)
At the end of a sequence of lessons or assessment a feedback sheet can be used to prepare whole class feedback. This technique allows teachers to engage with the details of students work rapidly, identify strengths, areas for improvement, including the identification of common misconceptions, spelling and technical errors and present the feedback to the whole class.
Assessment feedback (for Refection on Learning, Link to Prior Learning and to Link to Future Learning)
Each department has an assessment model which sets out the frequency of assessments and ways in which feedback will be provided.