Curriculum overview

Purpose of the Curriculum
The late Nelson Mandela argued that, education is "the great engine of personal development” and "the most powerful weapon” which can be used to “change the world”. Here at Ark Blake Academy, these are the aims of our curriculum. Every child deserves equity of challenge, opportunity and access; our knowledge-rich curriculum provides an excellent academic experience which enables all students to take personal responsibility and seize their inherent greatness.

Four Facets
Ark Blake Academy’s Curriculum focuses on "Four Facets" of learning and development – knowledge, domain-centric skills, character and health – so that our students leave us knowledgeable and skilled, as well as values-driven, content and healthy.
 

1. Powerful knowledge – This enables students to think, understand ideas and content beyond their own experience, widening their horizons, and equipping them to engage with intellectual conversation and contribute meaningfully to society.
2. Domain-centric skills – We focus on teaching skills within specific subject disciplines, such that our students can become proficient as mathematicians, scientists, writers, linguists, historians, geographers, athletes, artists, musicians and philosophers. Alongside this we explicitly teach transferrable skills such as listening, note-taking, debating, conducting research, giving presentations and managing extended projects, as all these set students up for future professional success.
3. Character – Our students need to leave school as fully contributing citizens who seek social justice, make wise choices and thrive alongside others. Our Blake Values are woven through the curriculum so as to strengthen all our students' characters at every opportunity.
4. Health – Alongside any academic teaching, educating students about physical, emotional and mental health is paramount to students achieving their potential and thriving in society.

Our curriculum design is led by the following principles:

Powerful knowledge – We draw on the most important, advanced and influential knowledge in each subject discipline, resulting in a curriculum which holds its own alongside the best schools in the country, and prepares for entrance to the best universities.

Domain-centric skills – We explicitly teach specific skills in each subject discipline, so that students can apply their knowledge to processes and tasks with increasing automaticity and expertise.

Learning for mastery – Students will improve with each and every lesson, irrespective of their starting point, learning the value of practice, hard work and resilience in achieving success, so that they can apply this approach to anything in life.

Disciplinary literacy – The ability to read, write, listen and speak with precision and confidence is crucial for deepening mastery of content. Disciplinary literacy sits at the heart of our curriculum, encouraging our students to communicate with excellence.

Sequential & coherent planning – Our curriculum is informed by university study and expertise, with an incremental, orderly and progressive approach to learning which ideally prepares our students for later life. 

Depth and breadth – We support our students to incrementally build deep expertise in identified core knowledge, skills and concepts, which in turn enables them to thrive across the full set of curriculum topics. 

Rigour – Our curriculum is ambitious, challenging, and designed to push each student to their capacity. We hold the highest expectations of all our learners and encourage them to relentlessly quest for more in their learning and achievement.

At Ark Blake Academy we believe that independence is key to academic success. Students should feel motivated to further develop their learning outside of the classroom. As well as the extensive enrichment offer available to our students, they will also be set homework.

Homework is expected to:

• Enforce the importance of working digitally and independently.
• Provide extra opportunities to further explore their studies, which are linked to their learning in class.
• Develop skills of personal organisation, time management, revision, and study skills.
• Encourage an ethos of high achievement and self-motivation towards academic progress.
• Celebrate success through the assembly program, H/W stars and reward vouchers.  

As part of our Digital Strategy at Ark Blake we set all homework online. This allows us to make use of a multitude of online platforms, all of which are accessible through assignments set on MS Teams. All platforms differ in content, though provide tailored tasks and immediate feedback to our students.

Some of the most frequently used platforms are Seneca, Sparx and Carousel. Guides for these platforms can be found below in the ‘support’ section.

A suggested timetable:

• To manage student workload and develop good habits, we suggest students aim to complete one piece of homework each evening.
   
• All work will be available to students each Monday morning and due on the following Sunday evening.
   
• Core subjects will set homework weekly; other subjects will set homework on a fortnightly rotation.
   
• Students are expected to log on to MS Teams to view their outstanding homework; it is considered their digital planner.

* Please note, at Key Stage 3, homework is not set in Performing Arts or PE, we encourage students to participate in an extra curricula club to extend their studies in these areas.

We regularly carry out both formative and summative assessments to check the progress of our pupils, so that we can respond to their needs and offer an education that is flexible and responsive. Through regular assessment, teachers can differentiate their approach for each pupil, providing scaffolding, support and stretching accordingly.

27th November - 17th December - Year 7-10 Assessments

15th January - 29th January - Year 9 CATs Assessments

4th March -  18th March - Year 7-10 Assessments

22th April –  3rd May - Year 9 CATs Assessments Summer window

10th June - 1st July- Year 7-9 End of Year Exams

10th June – 1st July - NGRT reading assessment Year 7–10

17th June - 8th July - Year 10 End of Year Exams

All work and platforms are accessible via MS Teams, or click the hyperlinks below.

Students can log onto their ‘digital planner’ using their Chromebook and @arkblake.org log in details; then go to the “Year 9 Homework” MS Team tile.

HELP with Chromebooks and Log in

There is no way for the student to contact IT without being able to login. If students are able to login, they have access to SpArky SPArk - SPArky (sharepoint.com) which provides them guides and helps them log tickets about their devices. 

If a Chromebook is damaged, a ticket needs to be logged the device serial and IT can take a look at the device.