Our knowledge-rich curriculum is designed to foster a love of learning for all our students and to engender a passion for further study. It is carefully sequenced and designed to ensure students’ knowledge and skills are developed over time, and we carefully consider cross curricular links when making sequencing decisions. For example, key graph skills are taught through the Science curriculum, just before they learn the same skill in Maths, in order to provide opportunities for consolidation. We revisit prior knowledge throughout the sequence of study and provide systematic opportunities for retrieval practice through regular low stakes testing to ensure knowledge and skills are cemented in our students’ long term memories.
We are committed to ensuring all students, including those with SEND and disadvantaged, have equity of access to the same powerful knowledge. All students, no matter their academic ability, access the same ambitious curriculum – however, whilst our curriculum intent remains equal in its ambition for all, our implementation is adapted for students who require additional scaffolding and support. We achieve this through introducing new information in small steps, with our consistent “Teach, Check, Practice” structure to lessons – we expect to see more expert modelling, guided-modelling and complex knowledge components and skill composites broken down further in those students’ books that require this support. As leaders, we regularly quality assure this and provide our teachers with regular feedback, training and support to ensure that all of our students’ needs are met. See the “Implementation” section for further details on “The Lowry Lesson” and our approach to CPD.
Our curriculum is reading and vocabulary rich: as well as a dedicated form-time reading programme, where all students read most mornings with their form tutor, in all subjects, we offer regular reading beyond the curriculum opportunities, where teachers complete guided reciprocal-reading of non-fiction extracts with students. The choice of texts are related to the subject, but extend beyond the taught curriculum, to develop both a love of reading and spark an intellectual thirst for knowledge of the subject. For example, in Mathematics, our Year 8 students read an article about Alan Turing, enabling them to make links between the Mathematics curriculum and the Computer Science curriculum. Disciplinary literacy is imperative in our curriculum, and our subject leaders ensure that vocabulary is mapped into schemes of learning according to progression, and this vocabulary is explicitly taught every lesson, in every subject. Our teachers are trained in reciprocal reading approaches, and continuously work on developing students’ writing ability according to the subject – we work hard to teach our students explicitly what it means to write, for example, like a Scientist, Historian, or Geographer. See “Reading and Literacy” for more information on this.
We have an impressive reading catch-up programme, where we regularly assess students’ reading ability, identify specific, phonological, fluency and comprehension gaps, and place them on the relevant “intervention wave”. Following short, sharp and highly effective interventions, students are re-tested every six weeks and move up through the waves programme accordingly. Please see “Reading Intervention Waves Programme” for more information on this.
As a member of United Learning, our curriculum development has been supported by a large number of subject experts across the group. Whilst subject support and resourcing is excellent, it is not mandatory – we are proud of our Lowry curriculum, and how we continually adapt it for our Salford context. The core academic curriculum is underpinned by the ‘Framework for Excellence’ that is at the heart of all we do. It sets out six core principles that we believe are vital to an excellent education for all students within our group, including those at The Lowry Academy.
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Entitlement: All students have the right to learn what is in the United Learning curriculum.
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Coherence: Taking the National Curriculum as its starting point, our curriculum is carefully sequenced so that powerful knowledge builds term by term and year by year. We make meaningful connections within subjects and between subjects.
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Mastery: We ensure that foundational knowledge, skills and concepts are secure before moving on. Students revisit prior learning and apply their understanding in new contexts.
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Adaptability: The core content – the 'what' – of the curriculum is stable, but we bring it to life in our local context, and teachers adapt lessons – the 'how' – to meet the needs of their own classes.
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Representation: All students see themselves in our curriculum, and our curriculum takes all students beyond their immediate experience.
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Education with Character: Our curriculum is intended to spark curiosity and to nourish both the head and heart. It includes the taught subject timetable as well as spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, our co-curricular provision and the ethos and ‘hidden curriculum’ of the school.
You will find further information for each subject via the links to their individual pages. Should you have any further questions please contact Mrs Aylward, Vice Principal – Quality of Education (ask.lowry@lowryacademy.org.uk).