Sir William Robertson Academy’s aim is for all of our pupils to Aspire to be the best that they can be, and this core principle drives our vision for our carefully planned and structured curriculum. Children come first at our school and this is a principle which guides all of our Trust’s schools. We embrace the quotation from the pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart, ‘No Borders, Just Horizons’ as a message of boundless optimism and opportunity for our pupils if they embrace all that our school has to offer.
Our first priority is to ensure that all of our pupils are safe, secure and happy within our school community, and are equipped with the vital skills needed to move confidently into adulthood, within a rapidly changing and technologically complex world. We seek to foster our pupils’ resilience and self-belief, and we value programmes such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award (which we deliver at Bronze, Silver and Gold level) to build character, skills and the value of service to our wider community.
Our broad and balanced curriculum is based upon the National Curriculum and is designed to be challenging, ambitious and accessible for all of our pupils, whilst also responding to the local and national agenda (including placing the English Baccalaureate at the heart of the curriculum for those pupils for whom it is judged to be appropriate). We place great value on the importance of carefully selected subject knowledge as a basis for developing competence and an informed understanding of the world. We value the qualifications that our pupils achieve, but we also want to ensure that we expand the knowledge and skills that pupils possess beyond those needed to pass external examinations.
We believe in the breadth of learning; the right of students to study maths, literature, history, geography, biology, chemistry, physics, art, design and technology, music, drama, religious education, languages, computing, and PE. We believe in developing their literacy and their physical and artistic skills and talents alongside building empathy within a social and moral societal framework. Our curriculum actively promotes spiritual, moral, social, cultural and physical development, alongside creativity and academic work. Our curriculum encourages students to develop transferable knowledge and to make connections between subjects.
Quality First Teaching is established as the school’s central priority as the medium through which to develop pupils’ knowledge, with the curriculum as the progression model. We are a proudly inclusive school community which respects and values diversity. We are committed to increasing the size of pupils’ vocabulary – particularly their academic vocabulary – because vocabulary is crucial for comprehension and best developed through exposure to challenging – but age-appropriate – texts. Our school Library is well-resourced, readily accessible and at the heart of our school.
The curriculum subjects form the basis of the knowledge and skills that all pupils are entitled to learn. We believe that when we teach this knowledge, the cultural capital of pupils grows (supported by a comprehensive programme of visits and enrichment activities) and we get to the key purpose of education -to help students become part of an educated and productive community of lifelong learners, thinkers, builders, designers, innovators and future educators. The intent of our curriculum is therefore to maintain breadth and depth until the end of Year 9 and to bring in choice, supported by effective careers education information advice and guidance for GCSE, BTEC, NCFE and A Level study. Further information about our Curriculum and Curriculum Maps for each subject can be viewed within the Curriculum section of our website.
Mark Guest
Headteacher