Our Curriculum Implementation

The curriculum is delivered through a two week 50 period timetable and is divided into two broad stages:

• Key Stage 3: Year 7 to Year 9
• Key Stage 4: Year 10 and Year 11

The vast majority of our students will then progress to further studies at Bridgwater College or to a local Sixth Form Centre in Taunton, such as Richard Huish College.
Students make progress by learning and remembering in a more complex way as they journey through the curriculum. Thus, at Pyrland School, we have ensured that each key stage not only builds on the former but also allows our students to build knowledge needed for their future learning, too.

Our teachers have thought carefully about the order that learning should follow by looking at the national curriculum and Ofsted’s subject research and review series as well as consulting with their professional organisations. Our subject leaders regularly meet in teams across MNSP Trust to work together to plan sensible sequencing of learning so that students can fully grasp subject concepts by placing components of topics in a logical order. In this way, students can build secure foundations of knowledge and use these to further place new pieces of knowledge on top of another, enabling them to learn more and remember more.

We ensure that we teach our students how to recall information through a range of reinforcement techniques that help pupils retain knowledge they are taught and unpackage learning so that all pupils can achieve the learning goal set. Lessons are delivered in a way that lowers the cognitive load for students, meaning that our SEND students can access the full range of the curriculum offer.

Low-stakes quizzes, and Do Now tasks at the start of each lesson, help teachers understand how much our students have learnt and retained. Our formal assessments then help teachers to determine how well students can use their knowledge in different situations. At KS4 we do not teach students to test. We help them to prepare for the demands of examinations by ensuring they know and can remember more and have the skills and confidence to apply their learning to new situations.
For further information about our Curriculum offer, contact Lorna Jones.

Key Stage 3 Curriculum Information

Our Key Stage 3 curriculum is intended to exceed the KS3 National Curriculum, whilst providing a smooth transition between the knowledge and skills covered in KS2 with those required at KS4.

We want our curriculum to be academically aspirational, implemented in an environment that inspires enjoyment and commitment to learning as well as developing students’ confidence to learn and resilience to overcome challenges and setbacks. Our curriculum provides our students with access to STEM subjects and extra-curricular activities that empowers them to be confident to succeed. Lessons in Drama, Music, Art and PE complement classroom-based subjects and provide Key Stage 3 students with a varied diet of learning experiences. As some of our students come to us not having yet met national standards at KS2, and others having exceeded expectations, our curriculum is also focused on identifying and closing gaps in knowledge of some students from KS2 whilst deepening others’ knowledge and passion for each subject, old and new.

Subjects at KS3 are allocated the following curriculum time:

Key Stage 4 Curriculum Information

The Key Stage 4 curriculum is intended to support each student to achieve their personal best in meaningful qualifications by the end of Year 11, whilst supporting their social, moral, spiritual and cultural development through an extensive tutorial, PSHE, PE and extra-curricular offer.

Emphasis is placed on a strong academic core, and our students are encouraged to study the English Baccalaureate suite of qualifications, which enables them to access academic A Level courses and admission to the full range of further education providers, including the most competitive universities, post-18.

But we have also designed our curriculum offer so that students are able to keep a wide variety of other education and employment options open post-16. As such, our English Baccalaureate offer is complemented by a range of vocational courses such as Business and Hospitality & Catering.

Subjects at KS4 are allocated the following curriculum time:

Students in Year 9 are asked to choose 3 subjects that they would like to pursue in KS4, alongside the core subjects , shown in the table above. Students are directed to chose at least one subject from the EBACC suite of qualifications (Geography, History, Computer Science, French or the Separate Sciences). These and other subjects available are shown below: