Curriculum
We place emphasis on good teaching in a broad and balanced curriculum, underpinned by an effective approach to the social, moral, spiritual and cultural development of children and young people, to help to prepare them for life in modern Britain.
If you require more information about any aspect of our curriculum, please contact the relevant faculty leader.
Our Curriculum Statement
Curriculum
Curriculum Statement
The Curriculum at Colonel Frank Seely Academy is built around three strong overarching themes; inspire, challenge and succeed. We believe every young person has the right to be inspired and challenged in their learning, which will ultimately lead to success. Underpinning this ethos are the 4 cornerstones that the Colonel Frank Seely Academy is built on:
- Having the highest expectations
- Valuing and celebrating academic achievement
- Inspiring teaching for all our young people
- Widening student experiences
Holding strong to these principles, we have developed our Curriculum in order to provide students with a broad, stimulating learning experience, where they feel secure about taking risks and are encouraged to excel in everything they do. We are an academy where success is both expected and accepted and where students can thrive and share their successes with their peers. Our Curriculum is one of opportunity and aspiration.
Building a successful curriculum begins as soon as our students arrive in Year 7. Whilst it is important to pass exams and to gain qualifications, at Colonel Frank Seely Academy we firmly believe in developing the whole child. Education is not just about what happens in the classroom. At Colonel Frank Seely Academy we work tirelessly to develop students into well-rounded, active and informed citizens.
Each day, we promote and expect outstanding behaviour and attitudes from all our students in order for them to be successful in their lives ahead in an increasingly competitive global society. We encourage and promote STAR principles throughout their learning. Sit up straight, Track the speaker, Active Listening and to show Respect to others, our environment and ourselves. It is our view that children are naturally inquisitive and have a thirst for knowledge that needs to be quenched from their first day at Colonel Frank Seely Academy.
Curriculum Aims
The key principles that underpin our curriculum are:
- Students have access to a broad, balanced and planned curriculum, with strong teaching and learning at its heart.
- Students develop skills for life such as reading, oracy, and memory and retrieval skills. These are embedded at an early stage and focused on throughout, enabling students to fully access the wider curriculum and opportunities in their lives ahead.
- We nurture and develop individual character and confidence by offering an extensive range of learning opportunities for students both in and out of the classroom.
- We provide rich cultural experiences and develop the moral, creative and physical development of students.
Broad, balanced and planned curriculum, with strong teaching at its heart.
Teaching and Learning is at the heart of our Curriculum. This is coupled with a broad and balanced subject offer and an expectation that our students have the highest standards for themselves. We have undertaken significant pieces of work using expertise from our feeder schools, Trust primary colleagues and within the school itself, to ensure our Curriculum successfully bridges the gap from key stage two to three. All lessons are planned and sequenced carefully, providing opportunities to secure and demonstrate retained knowledge and retrieve previous learning to ensure knowledge and understanding is embedded. Teaching and Learning fundamentals are geared towards supporting our disadvantaged learners, through setting of high expectations, developing oracy skills, assessing prior learning, DIRT tasks and low-stakes quizzing.
The majority of students have very defined ideas about the subjects that they favour most and in Year 9, they are guided through the Options process, supported by information videos and evenings. In Key Stage 4, courses are carefully planned to ensure that content is revisited thoroughly, and this prepares students to succeed in their examinations. To provide students with greater choice, we have further expanded the breadth of the curriculum. These skills and experiences help to develop character and supports our ambition to develop well-rounded young people, who have an understanding and appreciation of the wider world, outside the community in which they live.
In Years 12 and 13, we continue to broaden our offer and utilise the expertise of other Trust centres to provide the students with a rich variety of subjects which will enable them to study and succeed at the highest levels. We provide the students with a carefully planned and delivered tutorial and enrichment programme alongside their academic subjects. This fully supports them in making informed decisions about the next stage in their lives, whether that be university, further training or employment.
Students develop skills for life; reading, oracy, and memory and retrieval skills
Reading is at the heart of the school. All students in Years 7 and 8 receive a specific reading programme, ‘Accelerated Reader’. Some students receive additional support through literacy packages and mentoring intervention. All students take part in Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) time as part of the tutorial programme. Students in Years 7-9 have at least one lesson per day in which they read their current book or resource for at least 15 minutes.
Memory and retrieval skills are developed through the effective use of spaced learning and interleaving at regular intervals across the Curriculum. This provides the necessary skills for our young people to be successful.
Oracy is a key theme that is interwoven throughout the Curriculum. At Colonel Frank Seely Academy, we recognise the importance of speaking and listening in helping our students prepare for life beyond school. We know from research that employers consider verbal communication and the ability to work with others, the most important of skills with regard to employability, yet these are the most lacking in their applicants. Our students are challenged to develop their Oracy skills and use a wide range of subject-specific vocabulary, which in turn will help them write with a greater level of formality. Students take part in oracy-based tutor activities throughout the week and take an active part in oracy assemblies.
Development of student’s character alongside moral, creative and physical development through an extensive range of learning opportunities for students both in and out of the classroom
Through our Curriculum, we aim to nurture students who enjoy learning, who can make a positive contribution to society and who can develop the 7 CFSA Character traits, which ultimately will lead to success:
- Independence,
- Ambition
- Collaboration
- Creativity
- Leadership
- Respect
- Resilience
Co-curricular trips, Educational Visits, and our CEIAG offer, ensure students experience and achieve not only academic success, but also develop as well-rounded individuals who are prepared for life outside the academy. The aim of this is to enrich student lives and improve wellbeing through engagement with learning opportunities outside of their lessons. Students taking on specific leadership roles and an involvement in the broader life of the school and the community will only lead to a greater development of their character. It is vital that we develop outward-looking students who want to contribute to the community they live in.
CFSA Cocurricular Programme student experiences may include:
- School trips, visits and residential experiences 
- Performing Arts events
- Sports teams
- The Trust Games events
- Lunchtime or after-school clubs and societies
- Duke of Edinburgh award scheme
- Involvement in school charity links
- Positions of responsibility and leadership are available to students, such as Sports Leaders, Language Ambassadors, Performing Arts Captains, etc.
- Inter-house activities and competitions
- Targeted assemblies and guest-speakers
- School memorials and acts of remembrance
- Careers guidance and World of Work Week
- Studying the CFSA Baccalaureate (Years 7&8)
We place huge importance on Co-curricular and personal development within the ethos of our academy, ensuring the right balance between academic outcomes and development of the whole individual. As adults, we do all we can to encourage and celebrate participation in as wide a range of opportunities and these are recorded and celebrated through our Character Pledges.
Curriculum Implementation and Organisation
The Curriculum for Years 7,8 and 8 offers the maximum breadth possible at Key Stage 3, allowing students to experience a range of subjects and to prepare for their GCSEs. All students in Key Stage 3 will experience the subjects below:
|
Core Subjects |
Ebacc Subjects |
Foundation Subjects |
|
English |
History |
Accelerated Reader |
Key Stage 4:
In year 9, with guidance and support, students at Colonel Frank Seely will make their option choices in readiness to follow a more focussed curriculum during years 10 & 11. At Colonel Frank Seely we operate a pathway system. This is a highly successful strategy, popular with parents and students and has led to improved progress and attainment over time.
We have two pathways, with students being placed on either the Ebacc or Tailored Pathway. Built into the Tailored Pathway for students who face challenges in their learning is a foundation learning option where students will develop knowledge and skills to further support and enhance their other option choices. (ASDAN)
|
Core Subjects (Compulsory Study for all) |
Ebacc Pathway | Tailored pathway |
|
English Language |
Geography |
i-Media |
Curriculum Pathways: GCSE
The English Baccalaureate Pathway
We believe that, for a significant proportion of students, the addition of a Modern Foreign Language and either Geography or History to the core offer is entirely appropriate and necessary in order to provide them with a balanced but challenging experience at Key Stage 4. For this reason, we have developed an Ebacc Pathway of choices for students so that as many of them as possible are able to study the full suite of Ebacc subjects in Key Stage 4.
The Tailored Pathway
We also acknowledge that for some, the full Ebacc is not appropriate because their skills and interests lie in other areas. As an Academy we want to support the students’ curriculum by removing the ability to study a language alongside the more practical and creative subjects. We believe it is appropriate to encourage students to choose subjects which play to their particular strengths and skills.
In addition to the core curriculum, all students at Colonel Frank Seely Academy also study core religious and personal studies. This covers key content for the study of religion, citizenship and personal, social and health education. This is a non-examined course for the welfare and development of students.
Impact
We believe that our CFSA Curriculum will:
- Have a sequence of learning that builds on previous knowledge and supports achieving next steps.
- Deliver qualifications that have currency for life.
- Prepare students for the next stage of their lives and how to make informed choices for their futures.
- Raise the ambition and aspirations of staff, students and their parents.
- Develop well-rounded, increasingly confident, ambitious young people who understand their roles in society and have respect and tolerance for all.
- Develop a strong suite of skills for life that enable students to be competitive in a global society.
- Enrich students with a wide range of opportunities and experiences that gives them a thirst for wanting to know and experience more.
Year 9 Options
At Colonel Frank Seely Academy, students make their GCSE Options choices in Year 9. We offer lots of support to students and parents in making this important decision, such as:
Year 9 Options Booklet:
We give each student a comprehensive guide to the Options process, the subjects they can study and how to choose their options. You can view a PDF of it by clicking HERE.
Options Videos:
Each Head of Subject has created a video to give you more information about their particular subject area. These videos cover Frequently Asked Questions such as:
- Why study this subject?
- What does the course involve?
- What skills will I learn?
- Where could this subject take me?
These videos are shown to students at tutor time in January of their Options year. Parents can also watch these videos with their child to support them in making the decision on our YouTube channel.
Options Evening:
We hold an Options Evening in the week leading up to the Options Form submission. This is usually held just before Easter. It is an opportunity for parents and students to meet with Heads of Subject and ask any individual questions which you might want to answer before making any final Options choices. Please check the school calendar for details.
Subject choices online tool:
You could also use this online tool to discover jobs that might suit you based on your subject choices.
Click HERE and enter up to six school subjects.
Reading
At Colonel Frank Seely Academy, we recognise that the development of a student’s fluency, confidence and enjoyment of reading is a key ingredient in their future success, both academically and emotionally.
Why encourage reading?
Of the many benefits, here are a few examples: Research by the National Literacy Trust (2017) has found that young people who enjoy reading are more likely to do better than their peers who do not enjoy it. ‘Children who read books often at 10 and more than once a week at 16 gain higher results in exams in maths and English than those who do not read regularly’. One of the reasons for this is the high average reading age of examination papers that students will all have to be able to access in their GCSE examinations.
In addition, children who enjoy reading are three times more likely to have good mental wellbeing than those who do not. There is also a range of research that has proven links to future economic wellbeing for those who have a solid foundation in regular reading and access to books in early life.
How do we help?
Here at CFSA we run a range of strategies to help students. Our school library is very well resourced and has recently been reorganised in an exciting way with books categorised into genres. This enables our young people to find the type of books that appeal to them and can inspire them to borrow more books. The library is open at break and lunchtimes and a number of clubs are on offer to encourage students to spend more time in the library. Homework club runs every day in the library until 4.15pm and students are welcome to come in and read and choose books to borrow at that time. Our librarian, Ms Tinney is very friendly and happy to make recommendations to students. She is currently inviting a number of Year 9 and 10 students in pairs to meet with her to discuss the types of books they might like to borrow and encourage them to read more.
All students in years 7, 8 and 9 visit the library fortnightly with their English teacher to choose books and have some dedicated reading time. We also run the Accelerated Reader programme, which has quizzes for every book read and students are able to earn house point and win prizes to read reward regular reading.
Each day we run Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) for 15 minutes where everyone in years 7 to 9 and their teachers have some quality reading time. There is also dedicated tutor time for DEAR on a weekly basis, and this will sometimes involve group reading of an interesting article or extract from fiction linked to the weekly assembly theme. This not only develops fluency and skills, but also sparks interesting collaborative debate.
Encouraging boys to read is one of our core priorities as data has shown us that boys are falling below girls in terms of average reading ages. We have adopted a number of strategies to further engage boys’ enjoyment by reading. For example, we recently welcomed best-selling author and former SAS hero Chris Ryan to speak to year 9 students.
How can you help at home?
- Please take an interest in what your son or daughter is reading.
- Ask them to talk to you about what they have read each day.
- Check that they have their reading book ready to bring to school.
- If you see that they have been reading the same book for a long time, check with them if they need to change it.
- If your child is in year 7 or 8, check their reading record. It is an expectation that students bring these to school every day as part of their daily equipment.
- Try to ensure that there is plenty of reading material available in the home, including newspapers and other non-fiction. Your local library is free to use, well resourced and will have some extended opening hours to fit in with busy working lives.
Please also bear in mind that reading a paper book or using a Kindle encourages relaxation far more than a television screen or other technology intense activity e.g. using social media or playing computer games. Therefore, switching off the screens in the hours before bedtime and reading instead each day will really help your child’s mental and emotional well-being.
If you have any further questions about reading and how you can best support your child, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Evans or Mrs Cross who is our Reading and Literacy Co-ordinator.
Click HERE to go to the Accelerated Reader website.
Inspired Readers Challenge
Our Inspired Readers initiative is designed to promote the joys and benefits of reading to all of our students, whilst simultaneously improving their writing, vocabulary and comprehension skills.
We have searched through the best contemporary and classic young adult literature to provide a recommended reading list for each year group. The books have been selected to give students a window into other people’s worlds, promote discussion and build reading resilience.
From contemporary classics like Harry Potter, His Dark Materials and the Hunger Games Trilogy, to universal favourites like To Kill a Mockingbird, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the programme features acclaimed titles dating back to Grimm’s Fairy Tales and includes ground-breaking literature from the 19th to the 21st century.
All the books have been selected with the age of students in mind, both in terms of their reading ability and the main themes explored.
Click HERE to access the recommended reading lists for each year group.
Curriculum Maps:
Navigate our curriculum maps by clicking below:
English
Science
Humanities
Modern Foreign Languages
Performing Arts
Physical Education
Religious and Personal Studies
Social Sciences
Technology
Remote Learning Provision
Our remote learning is provided by EdClass. Click HERE to log in.