At Leigh Academy Hundred of Hoo it is our responsibility to ensure that every pupil, regardless of their starting point, has the opportunity to Aspire Achieve and Excel. From EYFS to KS5 we provide our young people with a curriculum that opens doors to any future they choose. Through developing pupils’ cultural capital it enables social mobility and equality of access and allows them to be the “best version of themselves”. We achieve this by offering a breadth of subjects and skills, across all key stages, which are both relevant, challenging and contextualised both locally and globally.
All pupils have access to a carefully constructed spiral curriculum where teachers not only plan vertically within a subject area but make clear cross curricular links between subjects. This ensures pupils apply their knowledge and skills across a range of themes and between disciplines including links to Literacy, Numeracy, PSHRE and fundamental British values. Overall, our broad and balanced curriculum provides rich opportunities at all key stages, to develop a range of skills, depth of knowledge and opportunities to explore career pathways through their lines of inquiry, and schemes of work.
At Leigh Academy Hundred of Hoo, our curriculum is knowledge based which empowers students to develop an understanding and mastery of the subjects they study and fosters a lifelong interest in learning. We exceed the content and skills of the National curriculum, which for our Primary pupils, is delivered through the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) framework via six transdisciplinary themes through EYFS to KS2. Leaders maximise the use of the Academy’s all-through status by offering our Primary pupils access to subject specialists in a bespoke ‘Cross-Phase Curriculum’.
Our KS3 pupils continue this journey through the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) through both disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning. Key Stage 3 and 4 continue to exceed the requirements of the National Curriculum as we continuously strive to add further breadth to the curriculum. Pupils access the English Baccalaureate alongside a wide range of other subjects. Our Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 curricula are reviewed annually and carefully consider local labour market information, students’ desired next steps and students’ interests.
The academy introduced a brand new T Level in education in 2024, an ambitious and vocationally-linked post-16 qualification that ultimately leads students to employment or university.
With such breadth our curriculum exceeds the needs of our pupils who can explore a variety of career pathways through studying a broad range of subjects.
The principles and skills of the IB are not just limited to KS1-3 but are embedded throughout our curriculum for all years. All of our pupils develop the core skills for learning through explicit teaching of the IBs approaches to learning (ATLs). These ATLs are necessary to support pupils in learning the necessary skills to be lifelong learners and therefore be successful at the next stages of education and employment. The IB Learner Profile characteristics are also developed throughout the Academy as these attributes are vital for pupils to become successful adults who contribute positively to modern society. Throughout both phases, the curriculum strives to ensure pupils become independent and resilient learners, who are highly motivated to meet their full potential and live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives as internationally-minded young people.
“Across the school, teachers are experts at their subjects. They provide very clear explanations of the material and ask probing questions to both check and deepen understanding. Teachers are especially adept at identifying the misconceptions that pupils have and addressing them.” – Ofsted Report – 2024
Each year, through open and transparent professional dialogues, senior and middle leaders and teachers review the curriculum on offer to ensure it meets and exceeds the emerging needs of each cohort. Leaders are ambitious and aspire for the quality of education received at the academy to be truly outstanding so that all of our pupils, regardless of starting point, can leave us as globally minded individuals ready to successfully embark on their next steps.
We believe that pupils deserve a curriculum that enhances their life chances and enables social mobility and equality of access. There is a real breadth of courses being accessed across all key stages, ensuring the needs of all pupils are met so they can access their first choice next steps. This includes pupils having access to the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program through the traditional English Baccalaureate alongside a wide range of other subjects. Teachers not only plan vertically within a subject but make clear cross-curricular links between subjects to ensure pupils apply their knowledge and skills across a range of topics and between disciplines including links to Literacy, Numeracy, PSHRE and fundamental British values. This creates a balanced curriculum which provides rich opportunities for pupils to develop a range of skills, depth of knowledge and opportunities to explore career pathways through schemes of work.
Pupils develop the core skills identified in the IB Learner Profile which are necessary to support their progression and success in the next stages of education and to be successful adults who contribute positively to modern society. The curriculum strives to ensure pupils become independent and resilient learners, who are highly motivated to meet their full potential and live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives as internationally minded young people.
“Students in sixth form get targeted support with a range of life skills. Pupils with SEND also get additional help and support with preparing for the future. There is an excellent curriculum for PSHE and fore relationships, sex and health education (RSHE). Pupils get age-appropriate advice that responds to local needs and issues as they arise.” – Ofsted Report – 2018
The curriculum at The Hundred of Hoo is knowledge based which empowers students to develop an understanding and mastery of the subjects they study and fosters a lifelong interest in learning. It is fully inclusive meaning that it is accessible to all students and ensures they reach their full potential. Key Stages 3 and 4 follows the National Curriculum as a minimum but, as an Academy, we retain the option to offer alternatives as and when appropriate. For example Key stage 3 uses the MYP framework to further develop pupils skills alongside their knowledge.
The implementation of the curriculum is the way in which the intended subject content and skills are delivered and taught. In order for implementation of the curriculum to be highly effective, and never less than effective, teachers must demonstrate expert knowledge of both their subject and pedagogy. Equally, teachers plan high quality sequences of learning that support pupils to be suitably challenged and enable them to think, articulate, write and problem solve fluently. In addition pupils are taught to develop inquiring minds and master lifelong approaches to learning skills.
Ofsted Inspection Handbook
Highly effective implementation of the curriculum will include teachers incorporating the following into their practice (see section 2.3):
- regular opportunities for students to engage with retrieval tasks that support learning to be embedded in the long-term memory
- direct instruction alongside clear modelling with dual coding which focuses on reducing cognitive load to effectively share expert knowledge, introduce novel content and approaches to learning skills and explain clear processes
- astute and adaptive questioning which is probing and thought provoking, developing all pupils prior understanding and new learning and developing curiosity for lifelong learning
- deliberate practice within lessons that is guided and well structured, ensuring pupils are able to independently problem-solve, fluently apply their knowledge to questions which have interleaved concepts and master approaches to learning
- provide regular feedback that supports pupils in addressing misconceptions and becoming highly reflective learners who can engage with success criteria to self assess and make progress in their work
- regular opportunities embedded to develop pupils reading skills
- effective and appropriate implementation of digital technology to enhance the learning experience.
At Leigh Academy Hundred of Hoo pupils develop detailed knowledge and skills across our robust, rich and carefully-constructed curriculum and, as a result, not only do they achieve well, they excel in what they do. Our GCSE and A level results in recent years have been the best in the Academy’s history; this is reflective of the learning that pupils have undertaken throughout their time at the academy and of the expertise with which our teachers deliver this curriculum.
The MYP prepares our pupils to be lifelong learners who have the ability to adapt in a rapidly changing society. In Key Stage 3 the MYP assessment focuses on tasks created and marked by classroom teachers who are well-equipped to make judgments about student achievement. These tasks are rigorous and embrace a variety of assessment strategies. MYP teachers assess the prescribed subject-group objectives using the assessment criteria for each subject group in each year of the programme.
Combining the development of IB learners and excellent academic achievement with our careers learning programme we ensure our pupils are ready for their next stage of education, employment or training. They have the knowledge and skills they need alongside the qualifications that allow them to go on to destinations that meet their interests and aspirations.
This was introduced in September 2018 following our last Ofsted, where we made a decision to make certain that our processes surrounding data collection and analysis continue to be highly effective, viable and an efficient use of resources; the change was welcomed by leaders and the interviews continue to be highly successful.