Pickwick Academy Trust Curriculum Statement 

Through working alongside our schools we strive to develop a range of opportunities and immersive experiences for all our pupils and families. We encourage leaders and teachers to build on the National Curriculum to provide an ambitious, rich and diverse curriculum in our schools. Our aspiration is for every pupil to develop the know of (knowledge), know how (skills) and dispositions needed to be successful, curious citizens. Through experiencing the curriculum by being Geographers, Scientists, Musicians for example, we not only enable them to move confidently into the next phase of education, but also help them to build foundations for life.  

The belief that a school’s curriculum should reflect the local communities to enhance and enrich learning is shared across all our settings. Collaboration across our Trust helps each of our schools to create a bespoke, locally focused curriculum that inspires our pupils with people, places and stories that our children can relate to.

We encourage our staff to continue to hone, develop and refine their understanding of the pedagogy that lies behind their curriculum, recognising how children learn and the different stages in their cognitive development, so that they can scaffold the curriculum appropriately, ensuring access for all. We strive to support our schools to plan their curriculum carefully in a coherent and sequenced way, showing progression of skills and knowledge. We believe that, by encouraging pupils to become more active in their learning, they are able to know and remember more. Our enquiry-led approach to curriculum helps to promote adaptability and encourages our children to make connections across and between subjects. Our aim is to ensure that creativity and challenge are woven through our enquiry questions which are planned to stretch thinking, build active engagement in learning and stimulate curiosity.  

Through a curriculum that is both engaging and relevant, that promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural and physical development of our pupils, we are working hard with our families and communities to help to prepare pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life in our society. PHSE is promoted and taught in all our schools, including ways in which children can keep themselves safe and internet safety and we ensure our schools teach Relationships and Sex Education following government guidelines.

We recognise pupil’s self-awareness, and awareness of others, develops as they mature and that this has a significant impact on their ability to relate to and learn about the world we live in. We work with our schools to develop interesting and appropriate experiences to help pupils to become self-aware individuals, enabling them to learn to make connections and begin to empathise with those ‘big’ themes such as tolerance, responsibility and culture around the world. We encourage all our schools to be Unicef Rights Respecting Schools.

Through working with our Curriculum leaders and learning from each other, we enable all staff to become confident subject leaders who are able to champion their subject, have the knowledge and skills needed to ensure their subjects are planned and taught effectively, to monitor the impact of their subject on pupils’ learning and to continue to develop and improve practice. We encourage collaboration between subject leaders across the Trust, sharing research, processes and good practice to influence the development of the curriculum.

In summary, we want to inspire curiosity, aspiration, independence and relevance for all our learners.