Curriculum

Daylesford Academy follows the National Curriculum where appropriate, although content is adapted to meet our pupils’ needs. All pupils are taught core subjects – English, Maths, Science (From October 2022) and ICT and Humanities (Taught throughout the curriculum at KS3 and KS4) and a selection of foundation subjects. The development of life skills along with developing appropriate skills for the world of work are a key focus for all pupils as they move throughout the school.

Our curriculum offers subject specific learning, therefore, pupils move around the school for their lessons. Our curriculum has been broadened in order to continue to promote Life Skills and Employability as well as allowing greater and more varied levels of personalisation and differentiation to take place. We have done this through the introduction of Careers education in the form of drop down days, specific lessons dedicated in PSHE slots and work experience for our KS4 pupils. This structure allows us to embed the work we do within our curriculum, to prepare pupils for adulthood, and the word of work. In KS4 we aim to accommodate pupil choice as far as possible.  We offer Food Technology Level 1 & 2, Music Technology Level 1 & 2, BTEC PE, PSHE, Asdan Awards and Art GCSE alongside English GCSE, Maths GCSE and Science GCSE (From October 2022) and Entry Level Courses.  If there is a specific area our pupils wish to study we implement this through working with local colleges for courses such as hairdressing, mechanics and construction.

Pupils access Accelerated Reading to enhance their ability in other areas of the curriculum and improve opportunities Post 16.  This is addressed through intervention sessions.

Social Emotional Mental Health & Well-being, Spirituality and British Values are supported and promoted through a strong pastoral system of care, the PSHE curriculum, daily 20 minute form sessions and therapeutic interventions.  The combination of these Learning and Teaching experiences support pupils with their learning surrounding social skills and strategies around self-regulation. Cross curricular skills are maximized where appropriate. ICT is delivered discreetly through curriculum subjects. The Rewards programme along with all other aspects of learning outside of the classroom promote and develop life skills and employability.

We run various trips and visits throughout the academic year which provides extremely positive learning experiences for those who attend. We also hold learning events such as Sports Week, History Week and World Book Day. The Creative Arts are promoted through the visual celebration of pupils’ art work displayed around the school.

Pupils learning is assessed and baselined on entry to the school.  We use both formative and summative assessment throughout their time in school to ensure that each child makes maximum progress and intervention actions for children who are not.

During Year 11 the majority of students undertake work experience to widen their skills of the world of work.

Future destinations for our students are varied and dependent on the nature of the courses offered.

These include:

Solihull College, Nova Training and Birmingham City College

Different colleges offer different courses and need to be researched in good time by attending Open Days and Evenings.

We cater for a small number of our pupils through a combination of remote and face to face provision. This is for pupils with the most complex needs and behaviours. This form of provision is a for a small number of complex needs pupils who have not been able to access learning/education in a previous setting or in our main school. The aim is to provide these pupils with a small team of consistent adults and a truly personalised curriculum offer. The work set and the strategies used to support them is specifically tailored to their needs, through highly differentiated, small-steps and flexible teaching and learning.

Please ‘click’ on the Curriculum Links on this page in order to see what your child is being taught and the knowledge they are expected to retain at each stage of their learning journey.

If you have any questions regarding the curriculum, please contact the school and we will put you in touch with the subject teacher.