The curriculum at Swanwick Hall School

We believe in offering a curriculum which

• Inspires students to want to learn, do well and have high aspirations for their future lives
• Enables all students of all abilities and backgrounds to achieve to the highest possible level
• Equips students with the knowledge and skills and nurtures the mindset and personal attributes that they will need to thrive and flourish in life.

We do this by

• delivering a broad and balanced curriculum, with EBacc subjects at the heart of it, and in which the intrinsic value of all subjects is recognised
• developing students’ knowledge and skills in all subjects in a coherently planned, cumulatively sequenced way.
• challenging all students through content which is ambitious in terms of breadth and depth.
• providing flexibility within our curriculum to respond to developing needs and interests, for example through our Year 8 & 9 Enrichment programme and through our Year 9 mini options.
• recognising the fundamental importance of literacy in enabling students to be successful in all subjects, including the provision of intensive catch-up in reading for students who require it in Year 7, creating a ‘literacy-rich’ environment, and implementing a range of approaches across the curriculum for the development of students’ extended writing, vocabulary acquisition and reading.
• providing regular opportunities across the curriculum for students to develop their independent learning, thinking and retrieval skills so that they become highly effective learners.
• providing regular opportunities for students to develop their awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the wider world and human creativity and achievement, including their understanding of different cultures and ethnicities.
• providing a range of opportunities for students to develop links with their local, national and international communities through a wide-ranging extra-curricular programme.
• providing a wealth of opportunities for all students to become active, reflective partners in their own learning (for example through progress review activities, assessment and feedback, student voice activities)
• providing regular opportunities for students to develop their personal, social and emotional learning including opportunities to safely explore and develop their own ideas and attitudes, and opportunities to support them in making good decisions.
• providing students with a vision for achievements further into the future, beyond school, through a comprehensive and cohesive high-quality careers education programme.

Our curriculum intent reflects the vision and mission of our school:

School Vision:

All students from within the local community will thrive and progress to fulfilling adult lives. Our curriculum gives them a strong sense of themselves, their community and their place in the world in which they live. We combine high standards of attainment with experiences and opportunities that develop the whole child within a happy environment which supports their wellbeing.

School Mission:

To maximise the attainment and progress of all students to enhance their life chances

To ensure that all students develop into well-rounded individuals who make a positive contribution to the community and society as a whole

To develop the essential foundations which secure the wellbeing, self-esteem, individual understanding and core skills which underpin each student’s learning and development