Curriculum

At Millfield Lead Academy we build on the L.E.A.D. principles and take into account the particular needs of children who attend our school.

Through the curriculum children are encouraged to:
• Enquire and investigate to deepen their knowledge.
• Debate, discuss and argue concepts or ideas
• Embrace opportunities that take them beyond their experiences.

At Millfield LEAD Academy we fundamentally believe that all children, including those with additional needs, are entitled to and receive a broad and balanced academic and social curriculum. Through our core values, both staff and pupils, develop a set of practices that ensure they are ready for the next stage of their education or career. The desire of the pupils to ‘find a gap, fill a gap’ through self-regulation and the development of their understanding of metacognition ensures above average rates of progress. Pupils take responsibility for their learning and through the highly skilled staff team lessons and learning experiences are adapted to ensure all learners maximise their potential. Teaching staff increase the amount of variance in lessons to decrease the variance in outcomes.

Intent, Implementation and Impact

Intent

Our curriculum is delivered through the discrete teaching of subjects which follow the National curriculum and is tailored to meet the needs of our pupils. Our individual subject overview maps are progressive and sequential, developing pupils’ skills and knowledge in tandem. Pupils learn about both disciplinary and substantive knowledge to ensure they know and understand the ‘what’ and the ‘how’.

Implementation

Learning is a change to long term memory and only through changing the long term memory can we confidently say that something has been learnt. Subject specific pedagogy is essential and the approach to the teaching of history differs from that used to teach writing or maths. There is a focus on pupils working hard through appropriate tasks that aim to develop and refine their neural pathways.

Impact

Millfield LEAD Academy recognise that ‘success’ will look different for all pupils and that this should not solely be measured in relation to English and Maths outcomes at Year 6. If the intent and implementation of our curriculum have been successfully achieved, pupils will be ready for the next stage of their education. In addition, they will be caring, tolerant and respectful individuals. While we acknowledge that many of these characteristics cannot be specifically measured or assessed we do assess the impact of our curriculum in a variety of ways including: pupil attainment and progress data, attendance data, pupil books, pupil voice and discussions, pupil contribution and attitudes, termly LEAD QA visits, pupil interactions and behaviour, parent, staff and pupil surveys.