Learning Curriculum Policy

Applies to:

• the whole school including out of school care, the afterschool clubs, the holiday club and all other activities provided by the school, inclusive of those outside of the normal school hours;
• all staff (teaching and support staff), the proprietor and volunteers working in the

Availability

• This policy is made available to parents, staff and students in the following ways: via the School website, and on request a copy may be obtained from the School

Monitoring and Review:

• This policy will be subject to continuous monitoring, refinement and audit by the Head Teacher and Directors.
• It is intended that the review and development of the curriculum will support enthusiastic and inspirational The process of review plays a key role in the continuing professional development of the teaching staff.
• The head teacher monitors the way in which subjects are taught throughout the They examine long- term and medium-term planning, and ensures that appropriate teaching strategies are used. They also have responsibility for monitoring the way in which resources are stored and managed.
• The Directors  are  responsible  for  monitoring  the  way  in  which  the  school  curriculum  is The team reviews each subject area during its cycle of review and development.
• The Head Teacher is responsible for the day-to-day organisation of the She monitors the weekly lesson plans for all teachers, ensuring that all classes are taught the full requirements of the School Curriculum, and that all lessons have appropriate learning intentions, addressing the needs of all students.
• The Directors undertake an annual review of this policy and of the efficiency with which the related duties have been discharged, by no later than one year from the date shown below, or earlier if changes in regulatory requirements or best practice guidelines so require.

Introduction

Our school’s curriculum comprises all the planned activities that we organise in order to promote students learning, and their personal and social development. It includes not only the formal requirements of the Curriculum, but also the various activities that the school organises in order to enrich the children’s experience. It also includes what is sometimes referred to as the ‘hidden curriculum’ – what the children learn from the general climate and culture of our school, and the way they are treated and expected to behave. We want children to grow into positive, responsible people, who can work and co-operate with others while at the same time developing their knowledge and skills, in order to achieve their full potential.

We ensure that the teaching at the School:

• enables students to acquire new knowledge and make progress according to their ability so that they increase their understanding and develop their skills in the subjects taught;
• fosters in students the application of intellectual, physical or creative effort, interest in their work and the ability to think and learn for themselves;
• involves well planned lessons and effective teaching methods, activities and management of class time;
• shows a good understanding of the aptitudes, needs and prior attainments of the students, and ensures that these are taken into account in the planning of lessons;
• demonstrates appropriate knowledge and understanding of the subject matter being taught;
• utilises effectively classroom resources of an adequate quality, quantity and range;
• demonstrates that a framework is in place to assess students’ work regularly and thoroughly and use information from that assessment to plan teaching so that students can progress and
• utilises effective strategies for managing behaviour and encourages students to act responsibly.

We value the breadth and range of our curriculum. We aim to foster creativity in our children, and to help them become independent learners.  The Directors of the School ensure that the school has a framework for student performance to be evaluated, by reference both to the school’s own aims as provided to parents and also to national norms. Above all, we believe in making learning fun. The School ensures that the curriculum gives all students experience in linguistic, mathematical, scientific, technological, human and social, physical and aesthetic and creative education.

Linguistic: This area is concerned with developing students’ communication skills and increasing their command of language through listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Mathematics: This area helps students to make measurements and calculations, to understand and appreciate relationships and patterns in number and space and to develop their capacity to think logically and express themselves clearly. Their knowledge and understanding of mathematics is to be developed in a variety of ways, including practical activity, exploration and discussion.

Scientific (including General Science which covers aspects of biology, chemistry and physics): This area is concerned with increasing students’ knowledge and understanding of nature, materials and forces and with developing the skills associated with science as a process of enquiry: for example, observing, forming hypotheses, conducting experiments and recording and interpreting their findings.

Technological (including Art, Design and ICT): Technological skills can include information and communication technology (ICT); developing, planning and communicating ideas; working with tools, equipment, materials and components to produce products which the students are proud of and evaluating processes and products.

Human and Social (including Geography, History, Ethics, and Philosophy, Politics and Religious Studies at a level appropriate to the child’s development): This area is concerned with people and with their environment, and how human action, now and in the past, has influenced events and conditions. In our school, the subjects of history and geography make a strong contribution to this area.

Physical (including PE, Dance and an extensive extra-curricular programme): This area aims to develop the students’ physical control and co-ordination as well as their tactical skills and imaginative responses, and to help them to

evaluate and improve their performance. Students should also acquire knowledge and understanding of the basic principles of fitness and health.

Aesthetic and creative (including Art): This area is concerned with the processes of making and inventing. There are aesthetic and creating aspects of all subjects, but some make a particularly strong contribution, including ICT and the study of literature, because they call for personal, imaginative, and often practical, responses. Students are encouraged to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.

Aims and objectives

The aims of our school curriculum are:

• to enable all children to learn and develop their skills to the best of their ability;
• to promote a positive attitude towards learning, so that children enjoy coming to school, and acquire a solid basis for lifelong learning;
• to teach children the basic skills of literacy and numeracy;
• to enable children to be innovative, to use ‘thinking’ and problem solving skills, and to be independent learners;
• to develop children’s skills of team work and the ability to work in collaboration with others;
• to enable children to understand and appreciate the arts, and give them opportunities to develop their own artistic and creative abilities;
• to teach children about the developing world, including how their environment and society have changed over time;
• to help children understand Pakistan’s cultural heritage;
• to enable children to appreciate and understand the importance of scientific and technological discoveries and development;
• to give children an awareness and experience of communicating in languages other than Urdu;
• to teach children ICT skills and to apply these skills across the curriculum to support their learning;
• to appreciate and value the contribution made by all ethnic groups in our multi-cultural society;
• to enable children to be positive citizens, contributing to the society in which they live;
• to teach children to have an awareness of their own spiritual development, and to distinguish right from wrong from an early age;
• to help children understand the importance of truth and fairness, so that they grow up committed to equal opportunities for all;
• to enable children to have respect for themselves and high self-esteem, and to live and work co-operatively with

Auditing our curriculum: teaching and learning

We ask ourselves the following questions when auditing our current performance:

• How well are we doing?
• How do we compare with similar schools?
• What more should we aim to achieve?
• What must we do to make it happen?

When evaluating the quality of the curriculum, we consider:

• the impact of the curriculum on students’ academic and personal development and in preparing them for the opportunities, choices, responsibilities and experiences of adult life; academic and personal development and well-being;
• the contribution of the curriculum to the school’s particular ethos and aims and the impact on students’ academic and personal development and well-being;
• the extent to which the curriculum is enriched by extra-curricular opportunities and through collaboration with other schools and organisations, including, for example, to provide appropriate careers guidance for our senior students;
• how well curriculum planning is supported by appropriate schemes of work, builds systematically upon students’ prior experience and plans for progression;
• the extent to which the curriculum is enriched by extra-curricular opportunities and through collaboration with other schools and organisations, including, for example, to provide appropriate careers guidance for our senior students;
• the views of our students, parents and staff;

Standards of attainment

We carry out data analysis each year and use the data provided to find out how well students in our school are achieving.. We analyse the statistics to help answer the following questions:

• Do students perform better in some subjects than others?
• Are there significant differences between boys’ and girls’ performances?
• How well are the more able students doing, and do enough students achieve the higher levels?
• Can we identify any groups of students who may be underperforming?
• Can we identify any groups of students who may be doing well?
• How do expectations and estimates compare with final results?

The Learning Environment

We believe that a purposeful and structured learning environment is essential in promoting high standards. A positive caring environment and culture will promote positive self-esteem and confidence. Organised resources, displays of student’s work, stimulating materials and bright, colourful language enriched and interactive displays all help to provide the optimal learning environment. We ensure that all tasks and activities that the students perform and the environment in which they learn are safe. When we plan to take students out of school, we follow a strict set of procedures to ensure safety: where applicable the venue is visited, risk assessments are completed, and various permissions are obtained. Parents/guardians are informed, and their permission obtained before the visit takes place. Appropriate adult to student ratios are maintained according to the children’s ages.

Teaching assistants and other adult helpers are deployed as effectively as possible. Sometimes they work with individual students and sometimes they work with small groups. Our school is an attractive learning environment. We ensure that all students have the opportunity to display their best work at some time during the year. We believe that a stimulating environment sets the climate for learning, and an exciting classroom promotes independent use of resources and high-quality work by the students. All our teachers reflect on their strengths and weaknesses and plan their professional development needs accordingly. We do all we can to support our teachers in developing their skills, so that they can continually improve their practice. We conduct all our teaching in an atmosphere of trust and respect for all.

Effective learning

We acknowledge that people learn in many different ways, and respond best to different types of input (visual, auditory and kinaesthetic); we must therefore deliver teaching in different ways to address the needs of all our learners. We ensure the best possible environment for learning by developing a positive atmosphere in which students feel safe and feel they belong, in which they enjoy being challenged, but in which they enjoy learning, and know that they will succeed (because they know the challenge will have been set at the right level). All teaching is structured to maximise learning opportunities and lessons are planned in accordance with the following principles:

• The teaching should build on previous learning.
• It should give students the ‘big picture’ of the
• The teacher should explain the learning objectives, and why the lesson is
• Our accepted procedure is the inclusion of learning objectives both in lesson planning and also as statements in the children’s workbooks.
• The lesson should be presented in a range of
• It should allow opportunities for the students to build up their own understanding through various
• It should allow opportunities for the students to review what has been learnt.
• It should have built-in opportunities for feedback to the students, celebrating success and reviewing learning
• The teaching should indicate what the next step in the learning will

We offer opportunities for students to learn in different ways. These include:

• Investigation, practical tasks and problem solving;
• applying knowledge gained to create something new;
• research and finding out;
• group work;
• pair work;
• independent work;
• whole-class work;
• asking and answering questions;
• use of ICT;
• fieldwork and visits to places of educational interest;
• the use of guest speakers and parents talking about current events, cultural or religious celebrations and their careers or interests
• watching television, film and responding to musical or tape-recorded material;
• debates, role-plays and oral presentations;

We encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning, to be involved as far as possible in reviewing the way they learn, and to reflect on how they learn – what helps them learn and what makes it difficult for them to learn. Assessment and marking are an integral part of the teaching and learning process. As outlined in the Assessment Policy, informal formative assessment takes place continuously in the classroom and comprises of:

• effective teacher questioning;
• observations of learning;
• analysing and interpreting evidence of learning to inform future planning;
• sensitive and positive feedback to students;
• individual target setting: SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and given in time);
• students understanding how well they are doing and how they can

Effective Ethos and Classroom Environment

Each of our teachers makes a special effort to establish good working relationships with all students in the class. We treat the students with kindness and respect. We recognise that they are all individuals with different needs, but we treat them fairly and give them equal opportunity to take part in class activities. All our teachers follow the school policy with regard to discipline and classroom management. We set and agree with students the class code of conduct. We expect all students to comply with these rules that we jointly devise to promote the best learning opportunities for all. We praise students for their efforts and, by so doing, we help to build positive attitudes towards the school and learning in general. We insist on good order and behaviour at all times. When students misbehave we follow the guidelines for sanctions as outlined in our school behaviour policy. We aim to provide a learning environment which:

• is challenging and stimulating;
• is peaceful and calm;
• is happy and caring;
• is organised and well-resourced;
• makes learning accessible;
• is encouraging and appreciative;
• is welcoming;
• provides equal access and inclusion;
• provides a professional working

Enrichment opportunities

All students have the opportunity to develop existing interests and nurture new ones through a variety of clubs and enrichment activities, which operate after school. These reflect the talents and interests of the staff and students. The extra-curricular clubs range from origami and chess to recorders and lacrosse.

The Quality of Teaching

The Head Teacher carries out book appraisals, whereby books are checked for consistency of marking and being up to date. Planning appraisals are carried out by the Head Teacher who checks planning is up to date and evaluated. All teachers are observed working with classes once or twice a year. The criteria that we use have been agreed by all teachers, and are part of our teaching and learning policy. The teacher and the observer follow the observation with a discussion. The observer notes the strengths and areas for development, and gives a copy of this information to the teacher. She uses the information gained from this monitoring process to help identify common development points which can be addressed in the school’s training programme for continuing professional development. The purpose of the teaching at AQ Khan Schholing system l:

• enables students to acquire new knowledge and make progress according to their ability so that they increase their understanding and develop their skills in the subjects taught;
• fosters in students the application of intellectual, physical or creative effort, interest in their work, and the ability to think and learn for themselves;
• involves well planned lessons and effective teaching methods, activities and management of class time;
• shows a good understanding of the aptitudes, needs and prior attainments of the students, and ensures that these are taken into account in the planning of lessons;
• demonstrates appropriate knowledge and understanding of the subject-matter being taught;
• utilises effectively classroom resources of an adequate quality, quantity and range;
• demonstrates that a framework is in place to assess students’ work regularly and thoroughly and use information from that assessment to plan teaching so that students can progress;
• utilises effective strategies for managing behaviour and encouraging students to act responsibly.

Assessment

We have an effective framework in place to assess students’ work both regularly and thoroughly. We use the information gathered through our range of assessment methods (both summative and formative) which provides cognitive ability tests, allowing us to assist students to perform better. A range of unit assessments in Maths and Science are also used to inform our planning and in modifying our teaching so that students can make progress. We also have a framework for evaluative student performance through the use of the summative assessments mentioned above.

We also ensure that our framework for student performance is evaluated, by reference either to both our own school aims as provided to parents and, where appropriate, the assessments taken.

Organisation and planning

We plan our curriculum in three phases. We agree these plans over each key stage. This indicates what topics are to be taught in each term, and to which groups of children. Our three phases are split as follows:

Our long-term plans give an annual overview of what content of the curriculum will be taught with teachers extracting from the appropriate year groups curriculum that which they aim to cover. The Head teacher is responsible for ensuring  that long term and  medium term plans are in place and  enable students skills, knowledge and understanding to develop progressively. Assessment strategies are built in. All staff follow an agreed marking policy. Teachers plan individual lessons and include the learning intention and success criteria.

Through our medium-term plans we give clear guidance on the objectives and teaching strategies for each topic. Our short-term plans are those that our teachers write on a weekly or daily basis. We use these to set out the learning intentions for each lesson, to plan the learning activities in which students will be engaged, to make clear how learning may need to be differentiated for groups of different abilities or learner types, to plan assessment opportunities and to identify what support and resources will be needed by the students.

We believe that students learn most effectively when they are able to understand connections between different areas of their experience. We want them to acquire transferable skills which can be applied in any area of knowledge or understanding. Children do not see their world in discrete compartmentalised boxes, but, rather, as a whole spectrum of experience. For this reason, wherever possible, we have a ‘cross-curricular’ approach to learning, planning topics or themes which will embrace a range of National Curriculum subjects, including the application of literacy and numeracy skills.

The aim is to ensure that subjects are linked where possible so that learning is meaningful to children. Themes can have a bias towards History, Geography, Science or indeed any subject but the year is planned to ensure coverage of all subjects. ICT is integrated throughout.

There are many times, however, when discrete, subject-related skills or knowledge cannot be easily addressed through such a cross-curricular approach, and separate subject-based lessons also feature in our planning. Curriculum coverage is regularly reviewed to ensure that, however the curriculum is planned and taught.

We recognise that children learn at different rates and sometimes have learning needs which come from an earlier or later curriculum stage.

The Early Years – Nursery and Kinder Garden

Our curriculum planning focuses on the Early Learning Goals, as set out in these documents, and on developing children’s skills and experiences.

The Foundation Stage curriculum is organised into seven areas of learning:

• Communication and Language
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Physical Development
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

We believe learning is holistic  and none of the mentioned  areas  of learning  can  be  delivered  in isolation from the others. All areas are delivered through a balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities. One experience may provide children with opportunities to develop a range of competencies, skills and concepts across several areas of learning. Each area of learning works towards a number of relevant Early Learning Goals, which most children are expected to achieve by the end of the Stage. Our school fully supports the principle that young children learn through play, and by engaging in well planned and structured activities.

Time allocation

• The timetable is constantly under review and is subject to changes in staff and in staff The aims of our timetabling policy are to ensure that every student has access to all areas of the timetable.
• The time allocation for computing is incorporated into the planning for other areas of the curriculum where

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development (SMSC)

In our school we plan and provide effectively in order to develop students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness. Students of all faiths and belief systems are encouraged to strive for academic excellence and a spirit of open and shared enquiry, whilst developing their individual potential and qualities of character so they can make a positive contribution to the world. Students are guided towards distinguishing right from wrong, to respect the law and towards acting consistently with their beliefs and with a view to the consequences of their own and others’ actions. In addition our school:

• Leads students towards becoming confident and positive contributors to their community and effective users of its services and facilities according to their maturity;
• Enables students to gain insights into the origins and practices of their own cultures and into those of the school and wider community;
• Takes steps to ensure that the students appreciate racial and cultural diversity and avoid and resist racism;
• Ensures that students are able to understand and respond to risk, for example risks associated with extremism, new technology, substance misuse, knives and gangs, personal relationships and personal safety;
• Enable students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem, self-confidence and sense of personal agency;
• Encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative and understand how they can contribute to community life;
• Provides students with a broad general knowledge of public institutions and services in England;
• Assists students to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures in a way that promotes tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions;
• Encourages students to respect the fundamental values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs;
• Precludes the promotion of partisan political views in the teaching of any subject in the

We also take such steps as are reasonably practicable to ensure that if political issues are brought to attention of students:

• while they are in attendance at the school;
• while they are taking part an extra-curricular activities which are provided or organised by or on behalf of the school; or
• in the promotion at the school, including through the distribution of promotional material, of extra-curricular activities taking place at the school or elsewhere;
• they are offered a balanced presentation of opposing

Personal, Social, Health, Economic and Citizenship Education

The School is committed to providing a comprehensive programme for all its students, which is appropriate to their age and needs. Responsibility for developing and implementing this programme rests with the Head Teacher. Each child’s education informs all aspects of the school day. The form this takes ranges from the way we treat each other to planning food technology lessons based on individual’s cultural heritage. We have a cross-curricular approach, and its associated objectives may be addressed in Topic, Circle Time, Drama, Philosophy, Assemblies or other curriculum areas. Our structured play sessions are specifically tailored to the needs of the group, from working with a child coping with parallel play to facilitating turn taking and initiation. We ‘help students achieve more’ by ensuring that all students are given the opportunity to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being.

We provide positive experiences through planned and coherent opportunities in the curriculum, extra-curricular activities and through interactions with teachers and other adults for our students. Our range of artistic, sporting and other cultural opportunities is available to students through the curricular and extra-curricular programme, and their participation in these opportunities. We plan our personal, social and health education and citizenship

through assemblies, Philosophy and ‘circle time’ to help our students acquire values and skills to enable them to develop independence and choose their path in life. The School seeks to:

• develop an ethos and environment which encourages a healthy lifestyle for students;
• use the full capacity and flexibility of the curriculum to help students to achieve safe and healthy lifestyles;
• ensure that food and drink available across the school day reinforces the healthy lifestyle message;
• provide high quality Physical Education, with teachers, and sport to promote physical activity;
• promote an understanding of the full range of issues and behaviours which impact upon a lifelong health and well-being.

We aim for our students to understand and appreciate the range of different cultures and faiths in modern democratic Pakistan. We use our schemes of work and other plans which enable students to develop an understanding of public services and institutions and to take their place in modern democratic society. We provide a range of quality opportunities for students to take on responsibility in school and make a positive contribution to the school, local and wider communities.

The Head Teacher

The AQ Khan Schooling system Schools wish to involve all staff in planning and developing all areas of the curriculum. In their area, they must:

• provide a strategic lead and direction;
• support and offer advice to colleagues;
• monitor child progress in their subject area;
• provide efficient resource management;
• reviewing planning
• learning scrutiny: consider standards across all abilities and ages (with colleagues);
• resourcing: ensure resources are appropriate/suitable stored/labelled etc;
• identify shortfalls in resources: gaps in provision, ensuring resources in school are used;
• evaluate value for money when resources are purchased and deployed;
• informal monitoring during year – displays, use of resources, photographs, student interviews and feedback
• review and update Scheme of Work for the subject, if necessary;
• arrange school based training, or team teaching, if needed;
• attendance at local conferences and courses, if appropriate;
• dissemination from courses/action research/newsletters, where appropriate;
• provide articles for the school newspaper and website;
• commit to personal professional development in the area of responsibility;
• annually evaluate curriculum policy and related processes.

Each teacher reviews the curriculum plans for their year ensuring that progression is planned into schemesofwork.

Students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

The curriculum in our school is designed to be accessed by all children who attend the school. If we think it necessary to modify some children’s access to the curriculum, in order to meet their needs, then we do this only after their parents have been consulted. If a child has a special need, our school complies with all legislative and best practice requirements to meet these individual needs. If a child displays signs of having special needs, then his/her teacher makes an assessment of this need. In most instances, the teacher is able to provide the resources and educational opportunities that meet the child’s needs, within normal class organisation If a child’s need is more severe, we consider the child for a statement of special educational needs, and we involve the appropriate external agencies in making an assessment. We always provide additional resources and support for children with identified special needs.

Our curriculum is well planned for each age group and key stage and ensures that students of all abilities, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities are able to acquire knowledge and  understanding, develop and practise new skills, and make progress in a range of areas of learning.  We design our curriculum to

ensure that it is broad, well balanced and covers all the required areas of learning. We modify our curriculum and teaching to meet the needs of individuals and groups of students including our gifted and talented and disabled students or those with a special educational need. If children in our school have disabilities then we are committed to meeting the needs of these children. All reasonable steps are taken to try to ensure that disabled children are not placed at a disadvantage compared with non-disabled children. Teaching and learning are appropriately modified for children with disabilities.

Expectations of Staff

Staff are expected to actively promote the curriculum aims by:-

• having high expectation of students;
• employing a variety of learning and teaching methods;
• having appropriate knowledge and understanding of the subject matter being taught;
• ensuring that students are enabled to access the curriculum and given opportunities to be successful;
• having a good understanding of the aptitude, needs and prior attainments, of the students and ensuring that these are taken into account in the planning of these lessons;
• delivering lessons which build upon previous experience, providing continuity and progression;
• providing learning opportunities which offer depth and challenge and motivate and inspire students;
• utilising effective classroom resources of a high quality, quantity and range appropriate to the learners͛ needs;
• involving students in the process of learning, by discussing work, giving regular formative feedback through discussion, assessment and marking, negotiating targets and encouraging students to evaluate their personal achievements;
• developing students͛ skills to become independent learners;
• encouraging, rewarding and valuing achievement and effort, both formally and informally, through praise in the learning environment;
• working in partnership with students, staff and parents to achieve shared goals;
• keeping parents/carers regularly and fully informed about the progress and achievements of their students through reports and parents

In our school the most important role of teaching is to promote learning in order to raise students’ achievement. For us, teaching includes lesson planning, the implementation of plans, as well as marking, assessment and feedback. It also includes support and intervention strategies. In assessing the quality of the teaching in our school we take account of the evidence of students’ learning, achievements and progress over time. When evaluating the quality of teaching in our school, we consider how successful the teaching is in promoting the learning, progress and personal development for every student by:

• extending the previous knowledge, skills and understanding of all students in a range of lessons and activities over time;
• enabling students to develop skills in reading, writing, communication and mathematics ;
• enthusing, engaging and motivating students to learn;
• using assessment and feedback to support learning and to help students know how to improve their work;
• differentiating teaching, by setting suitably challenging activities and providing support for students of different abilities, including the most able and disabled students and those who have special educational needs, so that they can all learn well and make progress;
• enabling students to apply intellectual, physical or creative efforts and develop the skills to learn for themselves and setting high expectations;
• setting appropriate homework;
• using well-judged and effective planning and teaching methods, deploying appropriate resources, managing class time and other adults in the classroom and drawing on good subject knowledge and expertise to enable students to make good progress;
• using effective strategies for managing behaviour and encouraging students to act

We use lesson observations by colleagues and teacher self-evaluation which takes account of:

• how well challenging tasks are matched to students’ learning needs and successfully engage all students in their learning;
• how well students understand how to improve their learning as a result of frequent, detailed and accurate feedback from teachers following assessment of their learning;
• students’ attitudes to learning, behaviour and relationships in the classroom;
• the promotion of students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Direct observation must be supplemented by a range of other evidence to enable inspectors to evaluate the impact that teaching has had on students’ learning. Such additional evidence should include:

• observing some lessons jointly with senior staff before discussing them also with the teacher who has been observed;
• discussing with students the work they have done and their experience of teaching and learning over longer periods;
• discussing teaching and learning with staff;
• taking account of the views of students, parents and carers, staff and placing authorities, where appropriate;
• taking account of the school’s own evaluations of the quality of teaching and its impact on learning;
• scrutinising the standard of students’ work, noting how well and frequently marking and assessment are used to help students to improve their learning;
• the level of challenge

Disapplication

The School has the right to respond  to individual needs by modifying  the curriculum programmes. It will allow a student to participate in extended work-related learning, allow a student with individual strengths to emphasise a particular curriculum area, allow a student making significantly less progress than other students of his/her age to consolidate his/her learning and progress across the curriculum. Decisions will only be made after discussion with the parents.

Cultural education and appreciation of diversity

The School includes aspects of cultural education in many specific and cross-curricular ways. All students are encouraged to develop an awareness of equality of opportunity.

Political education

The promotion of partisan political views in the teaching of any subject in School is forbidden by law. Political issues are introduced through current affairs, and are presented in a balanced manner.

Physical Education

All students are expected to take part in the school’s Physical Education programme. Students can only be excused for medical reasons, for which a note from a parent will suffice, or other reasons agreed with the school.

Extra-curricular activities

The School has an extensive programme of activities that take place outside the formal curriculum.

Learning outside the classroom – educational visits/off-site activities

Integral to our curriculum is a wide range of educational experiences that extend beyond the classroom door. The School curriculum offers a series of educational journeys that deepen the students’ understanding of the world around them. Trips extend students’ knowledge of past and present

Homework

Homework is given to students at different stages of their development. We recognise the importance and value of homework as an extension and consolidation of class work. Teachers ensure that an appropriate level  and standard of homework is regularly set and marked so that learning outcomes may be consolidated and the needs of individual students identified andmet.

Academic Excellence and Entrance Examinations

Whilst accepting the need to prepare its students for their next School education, we also strive to ensure that the pursuit of these goals is consistent with achieving the other goals set out in this policy.

Communication with Parents and Guardians

We believe that parents and guardians have a fundamental role to play in helping students to learn. We do all that we can to inform parents and guardians about what and how their students are learning by:

• holding parents’ evenings to explain our school strategies;
• holding an informal parents’ evening
• sending information to parents and guardians, through diaries, contact books, emails, ;
• forming parents in advance what topics they will be studying that term and what resources will be needed
• meeting regularly with parents and guardians in which we explain the progress made by each child and indicate how the child can improve further ,e.g. target setting;
• explaining to parents and guardians how they can support their students with We suggest support for older students with their projects and investigative work;
• being available – we have an open door

We believe that parents and guardians have the responsibility to support their students and the school in implementing school policies. We would like parents and guardians to adhere to the Parent School Contract (Terms and Conditions).  These include:

• ensure that their child has the best attendance and punctuality record possible;
• do their best to keep their child healthy and fit to attend school;
• inform the school if there are matters outside of school that are likely to affect a child’s performance or behaviour at school;
• promote a positive attitude towards school, staff and learning in general;
• ensure homework is completed to the best of the child’s ability.