Curriculum

What do we mean by curriculum?

The curriculum is often used to describe everything that is taught at school. At Matthew Arnold, we see curriculum as wider, including all the educational experiences that a child will have during their time at school: tutor time, assemblies, trips and visits and extra curricular experiences. The curriculum is “everything children do, see, hear or feel in their setting, both planned and unplanned” (QCA, 2000)*

Our aim at MAS is ‘Success for everyone’ 

Our aim is to ensure that all make good progress through equitable access to a range of knowledge, skills and experiences. We look to achieve this through our carefully designed curriculum - the experience of each student in their time at MAS.

Poet and school inspector, Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) said in his book Culture and Anarchy,  ‘we should teach the best that has been thought and known’. Not afraid to work alongside the challenges of that statement - demanding we consider: whose thinking? whose knowledge? - we take our responsibility as guardians of the curriculum seriously. We see this as the way to embody our school values and support each person to become a kind and responsible young adult, embracing learning, confident and proud of who they are, making safe and healthy choices and ready, when they leave us, to make a positive contribution to their communities.

Our school values drive how all can thrive and enjoy learning and life at MAS and beyond it:

Ambition

• We teach meaningful knowledge which enables students to play a full part in life and understand the world in which they live. 
• Come prepared for challenge; both as an individual and with others
• Have high expectations of yourself and others
• Take an active part in a rich range of experiences in our time together as a school community 
• Feel confident and ready to eventually enter the world of work, having been given excellent opportunities and a comprehensive and carefully planned careers education 

 Kindness

• Commit to our restorative and relational approach which develops the relationships that are needed for a community to thrive
• Be tolerant and encouraging of each other and celebrate differences as a richness of our community
• Actively engage in school life and demonstrate  tolerance and kindness in perceptible ways both around site, in lessons and as active citizens

 Inclusion

• Everyone is welcome, everyone included. 
• Quality first teaching is at the heart of everything we do as a school: learning is planned and tasks and activities are modelled to ensure access and success for all; reading is valued and explicitly taught 
• Explicit and intentional teaching of the literacy and numeracy needed to access the curriculum
• We don’t assume prior knowledge and grow knowledge and skills over time through careful sequencing and practice
• Our classrooms and site are inclusive and welcoming for all
• Transition points are planned and supported to ensure that this is a time for progress, not gaps, and that everyone is ready to meet the demands of new challenges

Collaboration

• Work with others in a way that builds everyone’s knowledge and skills
• Take an active part in school life: lessons, around site, all its opportunities and working with a range of people in doing so; know that we will make mistakes and be ready to embrace and learn from these 
• Believe that we have much to learn from each other
• Commit to speaking out when things are not right, we need help or can help others

You can find more details about what is taught in each subject by clicking through to individual subjects from the menu on the right.

Below you will find overviews of how the subjects are organised by key stage, guides to each key stage and our how we assess and report learning.

Every Autumn/Winter term, we invite families in to share what we're doing at school in our 'Family Curriculum Information' events. Presentations from previous events can be seen below. Dates for this year, 2024, are as follows:

Mrs Parish tparish@maschool.org.uk 

Deputy Headteacher, Curriculum  

Information Evenings 

Curriculum Organisation 

Curriculum Statement

KS3 Curriculum content 

KS4 Curriculum content  

KS5 Curriculum Content