The curriculum we offer in year 7 and 8 at Biddenham is a modern and exciting connected curriculum.

Different subject areas are linked together around a particular theme for each term. These topics give our students a rich and diverse first-hand experience that will support their learning context in the real world.

A connected curriculum has already been very successful in primary schools for many years. We understand the importance for students to make connections between subjects and using these to build on the skills learned in each lesson. We hope this will stop the compartmentalisation of subjects which can often be seen as a barrier when they embark on their GCSE journey.

We pride ourselves on providing a curriculum that supports the transition from primary to secondary school, by building on knowledge in subject specific areas. Our lessons are delivered by subject specialists and enable learners to reflect on their learning through the themed topics. Each topic will last for a full term.

Here at Biddenham we are keen to continue to provide opportunities for learners to become independent; this will be a key feature of the year 7 curriculum where students will have access to fantastic ICT facilities. All learners will receive their own chromebook when they join the school.

A key feature of our curriculum is our commitment to developing learners’ skills so that they are GCSE ready. We do this by offering opportunities for students to experience lessons in subject specific locations, i.e., Science will take place in the science labs and PE will use the fantastic facilities already a feature of the school. We also provide learners with discrete Oracy and Project Based Learning lessons to enrich students to take ownership over their learning to enable them to be world ready.

By providing a curriculum in this way, students are prepared to make GCSE choices in year 9.

All students are taught by subject specialist teachers who are able to deliver the national curriculum content and bring the learning alive through a literacy-lead topic focus, so students are able to see the reasons behind the learning making it purposeful and useful for further studies.