Curriculum intent

Our curriculum at Our Lady’s Catholic College is intended to be ambitious and offer equality of opportunity to all. Our mission is to give every one of our young people the holistic education that enables them to live life to the full. Central to enabling that fulfilment is helping them develop wisdom, as well as knowledge, so that their future choices will enhance their lives and the lives of others. We believe that our curriculum is responsible for nurturing a sense of wonder in the world we live in.

We aim to develop young people to become literate, numerate, confident, and aware of their uniqueness, with a passion for learning the arts, humanities, languages, sciences and technologies. We aim to instil in pupils an awareness of their uniqueness, their place in the world and a love of God, neighbour and the environment. Our hope is that we nurture the potential of our pupils so that they can find their vocation and take their place as responsible members of our communities and society.

Our Lady’s is a community inclusion and diversity. We welcome pupils from over 28 feeder primary schools and work in partnership with parents, parishes and employers for the education and formation of the young people in our care. Our aim is to provide an environment where all our pupils flourish and are valued for their uniqueness and God-given gifts and talents.

Our Lady’s is a teaching community which strives to develop effective and reflective practitioners who remove learning barriers for all pupils. We are acutely aware of how our pupils learn and what each learner needs in order to become the most successful learners. As such, we actively ensure that all groups of pupils are able to share in a learner-centred curriculum.

At Our Lady’s we are aware that not all learners are the same and that each pupil will experience different barriers to their learning. It is the mission of the teachers at Our Lady’s Catholic College to be well-informed practitioners in order to understand how to remove as many of these barriers to learning as we can. For this reason, research-based teaching and practices are central to how we develop our thinking and teaching approaches. This is supported by our approach to CPD and our Personal Professional Development cycle, which encourages and allows our staff to explore their own practices in order to reflect and improve on them in a research-based approach.

At Our Lady’s we aim to ease any disadvantages that our pupils may have. We firmly believe that the development of the whole child is fundamental to our mission. Throughout the curriculum there are opportunities for pupils to develop their spiritual lives, their moral selves and to appreciate cultural capital and social diversity. We want them to develop their character, their social skills and leadership. A wide range of extracurricular activities is offered to enhance and enrich the curriculum (educational day visits, overseas study experiences, retreats, and lunchtime and after-school clubs).

Curriculum construction overview

Our aim is that all students experience a broad and balanced curriculum in their first three years. We have an academic approach to the curriculum to prepare for KS4 which encompasses the core subjects of English, maths and science, plus RE, history, geography and languages. Additionally, students study practical and creative subjects; PE, technology, including resistant materials & Food and nutrition, and also art, drama and music. We consider these subjects an important part of their education, hence the decision to maximise these over the three-year key stage. We believe that all students should have full access to this range of subjects to inspire and develop them as individuals, throughout their learning journey.

Curriculum Offer	Year 7	Year 8	Year 9	Year 10	Year 11
English	8	8	8	9	9
Maths	7	7	8	8	8
Science	6	6	6	10	10
PSHE	1	1	1	1	1
RE	6	5	5	5	5
PE	4	4	3	2	2
Technology	3	2	2	Changes to PD and Food options
Ebacc Subjects
French	4	3	4	5	5
Spanish	N/A	3	4	5	5
History	3	3	4	5	5
Geography	3	3	4	5	5
Computing	2	2	2	5	5
Options Subjects
Music	1	1	3	5	5
Art	2	1	3	5	5
Drama		1	3	5	5
Dance	Within PE			N/A	5
Business				5	5
Food and nutrition				5	5
Product Design				5	5
Child Development				5	5
Health & Social Care				5	5
Work Skills				N/A	3

                                                                                 KS3 setting

Our curriculum groups run in two parallel bands, (S)iena and (A)ssisi Band, with two (C)arlo Acutis classes in Years 7 & 8, named after our Heroes of Faith. In September 23, we changed the setting in Years 7 & 8 as follows to respond to the spread of ability which we found too great in parallel bands. E.g. A set across the Year group (7C1) for the highest attainers, and the lowest attainers in a set across the Year group (7C2) .This follows on in Year 8. In year 9 our S and A bands are parallel.

Setting and banding example below:

• 7C1(highest attainers across the year group) 
• 7S1 parallel to 7A1   
• 7S2 parallel to 7A2 
• 7S3 parallel to 7A3  
• 7C2(lowest attainers across the whole year group) 

KS4

The curriculum follows the Progress 8 model. In Year 10, students study the core subjects of English, Maths and Science. RE is also compulsory. Students have a choice of Geography, History, French and Spanish plus a choice of options from a range of GCSEs and vocational subjects. In Year 11, a small minority of students did not take an EBacc subject. Instead, they do the Work skills BTec and an ICDL.

We want to develop self-motivated and mature young people who enjoy learning.  Within the Romero/Teresa Pathway, students will study in sets and follow the curriculum we feel is appropriate for them. For all groups, we offer:

• Core subjects at GCSE to ensure good basic qualifications for all pupils.
• An appropriate number of courses, both GCSE & BTec, according to ability and aspiration.
• Achievable and appropriate goals for everyone.
• Courses that enable students to progress on to their chosen career path.