Curriculum Vision & Intent
The Community College aims to be an exciting and stimulating place to learn, one which treats all students as individuals, challenges and actively supports them, and provides for them with the widest range of educational opportunities possible. It is a safe and tolerant society, one which operates on the basis of mutual respect, where there are high expectations of conduct and a high regard for moral courage and teamwork. It is a place that supports and is supported by its local community, seeks to develop students understanding of the wider world and where creativity, adventure and new ideas are encouraged.
Our values of “to succeed, to care, to inspire” underpin the intent of the curriculum we deliver as we strive to provide an education that prepares our young people for the future and enables them to make informed choices about the options available to them in our rural situation.
It is driven by:
- a need to counter low aspirations due to the actual and perceived limitations in choices and opportunities in the locality;
- to broaden horizons through exposure to the wider world by increasing awareness of potential opportunities locally, nationally and internationally; and
- to develop a resilient approach to academic and personal development due to the increasing levels of student anxiety and mental health issues.
We believe that the best way to prepare our young people for the future is to persistently encourage high aspirations, achieve outstanding results and develop in them the necessary skills and attributes to be successful. We do this by setting challenging academic targets for students and staff and maintaining high expectations of both performance and behaviour throughout the year.
The College has a broad range of student capabilities, ranging from High Prior Attainment to Low Prior Attainment and significant Special Educational Needs. We aim to provide a curriculum that supports all of our young people to have the opportunity to access experiences and skills from academic, creative and vocational subject areas so that they can make effective choices at KS4 and effectively access the next stages of education, employment or training that are available in the region and beyond.
Curriculum Implementation
The KS4 curriculum covers all the Core subject areas well and enables students to access the EBacc if they choose to do so. A range of non-EBacc subjects are also available, but the range is limited by staff numbers and expertise. All students, including SEN students, are supported to access the curriculum through differentiation, inclusive teaching approaches and additional support where required.
The KS3 curriculum covers the Core subjects’ areas and all the key areas of the EBacc, along with the creative and vocational subject areas. This is to ensure that all students have experienced the range of subjects and developed a range of skill sets as a foundation for the examination courses in KS4.
Options choices in Year 9 are personalised for each cohort through a “straw poll” approach to ensure that the majority of students can access the subjects they feel are important to them. The option choice structures encourage students to choose the most effective selection of subjects that support choices in later life.
Numerous opportunities are built into the school day and year to broaden our young people’s experiences beyond the curriculum. These include a programme of careers and Post-16 presentations and visits, Enrichment and Aspirations Friday timetabled into the normal two week timetable, Coaching and IAG. This time is used creatively to further enhance student examination skills in Y11 to support improved achievement and potential student choice at Post 16.
Curriculum Impact
The impact of the curriculum we deliver is evident in the effective academic performance of the students at the college, the increase in student numbers and the community opinion of the college.
- P8 +0.1 (2023); +0.40 (2019); +0.39 (2018)
- A8 4.7 (2023); 5.5 (2023); 5.3 (2021); 5.1 (2020); 5.2 (2019); 5.1 (2018)
- PP / Non-PP P8 Gap in 2023 -0.3
- PP / Non-PP A8 Gap in 2023 -1.3; -1.0 (2022); -0.8 (2021); -1.2 (2020); -1.3 (2019)
- Gender P8 Gap in 2023 -0.2
- Gender A8 Gap in 2023 -0.6; -0.5 (2022); -0.7 (2021); -0.8 (2020); -0.23 (2019)
- Consistent monitoring programme followed by Governors
- NEET numbers are very low; only one NEET student in last two years. The majority of students access further education, training or employment.
- Consistently positive feedback from parental questionnaires.
- Gradually increasing student numbers due to parental choice; PAN of 540, current numbers on roll 524. 30%+ increase in student numbers since 2018.
Curriculum Overview
All students are placed in a coaching group, where they will remain from Year 7 through to Year 11, enabling continuity of support. Each group consists of approximately 15 students, with three or four students taken from each year group. The Learning Coach is the first point of contact for any student or parent, helping Year 7 students to successfully settle into College, through to assisting them as Year 11 students to manage revision and final preparation for public examinations.
The College curriculum meets the requirements of the National Curriculum, with students following a broad and balanced programme of subjects, organised in a two week timetable of fifty one hour lessons.
In Year 7, many lessons are delivered as a mixed teaching group, with some setting occurring where required. Students are also encouraged to become familiar with the College Library during the first term. In Years 8 and 9, more subjects are delivered in ability bands, enabling learning to be better tailored to the needs of individual students, challenging the more able and providing additional support where required.
In Year 9, students make their subject choices in preparation for Key Stage 4, and will be informed and guided through this structured process. This will start in January with assemblies about new subjects that are available and students will provide broad choices through the “straw poll”. This information is then used to tailor the option blocks to ensure that as many students as possible are able to access the courses they wish to study. This is a carefully supported and personalised process.
Further detail about the subjects studied in each year and important dates for parents can be found in the curriculum booklet for the year group and by contacting the college on admin@ccbcshropshire.com
Curriculum Booklet Year 7 2025-26
Curriculum Booklet Year 8 2025-26
Curriculum Booklet Year 9 2025-26