Curriculum Rationale

 As a member of Northern Ambition Academies Trust, our central purpose is to ensure that all students achieve the highest standards expected of them and we aim to provide a curriculum which is ambitious, enriched and engaging.

At Airedale Academy, we have a broad and balanced curriculum in place which is constructed to meet the needs of our learners and to address the potential barriers to learning that some of our students may face. Our curriculum offer is adapted to meet individual needs, as and when this is appropriate, and ensures that our students have been exposed to a broad range of subjects and qualifications throughout their 5 year journey with us, enabling them to be ambitious and brave and ready for their next step of education or training at Post-16.

We follow a 3 year Key Stage 3 (Years 7,8 and 9), which is closely matched to the National Curriculum, and then a 2 year Key Stage 4 (Years 10 and 11). At the end of Year 9, students opt for the subjects which they will study in Key Stage 4, and they will complete a range of GCSE and vocational qualifications at the end of Year 11. We offer a wide range of both academic and vocational KS4 qualifications, ranging from Performing Arts to Health and Social Care and Business Studies. Our students are offered a pathway which is closely matched to their prior attainment, current progress in Year 9 and their ambitions for the future; as such, our curriculum offer is very much shaped around the needs of each individual child.

Throughout KS3, students follow a core curriculum of English, Mathematics and Science. In addition, they study a breadth of foundation subjects, including: History, Geography, MFL, ICT, Art and PE. Students are taught Technology and the Performing Arts on a rotation around the disciplines of each of these two faculties.

Throughout their academy life, our students will be exposed to opportunities which will enable them to reflect and to discuss and respectfully question aspects of citizenship, British Values and religion. In addition, all of our students have a weekly lesson of Student Wellbeing. During these lessons, students will be taught all aspects of the statutory framework for Relationships and Sex Education.  Student Wellbeing ensures that our students are equipped to become the happy, healthy and respectful British citizens of the future, who know how to keep themselves and others safe from potential harm.

Our Trust Curriculum Expectations

Inspired

Inquisitive

Challenged

Ambitious

Nurtured