Our curriculum is designed to match the aspirations of our community, developing a love of subjects and learning while providing a transformative experience through a broad, ambitious and knowledge-rich curriculum. This ties closely to our mission: to ensure all pupils are well educated, have the opportunity to attend university, and can lead happy and fulfilled lives.
We believe that what pupils learn is fundamental to their future success. Our academic, rigorous and challenging curriculum defines the purpose of our school and the journey we want pupils to take.
The curriculum is carefully sequenced so that knowledge and skills build logically, increasing in depth and complexity over time. Teachers understand the learning journey within lessons, across key stages and beyond the academy. We systematically check for understanding and respond to gaps so that all pupils learn more, remember more and can do more.
We believe knowledge empowers. It gives pupils the confidence to learn more, think critically and creatively, participate fully in society and understand and interpret the world around them. Knowledge is a matter of social justice: it enables our pupils to ‘hold their own’ and compete when they leave Paddington.
Our ambitious curriculum is the entitlement of every pupil. High-quality teaching is our most effective means of ensuring that all pupils, including those with SEND, can access the same curriculum; outstanding teaching for pupils with SEND is outstanding teaching for all.
We are proud of our pupils’ consistently strong academic outcomes, but qualifications are milestones rather than the destination. Exams exist in service of the curriculum, sampling only a small proportion of what pupils have learned. Excellent GCSE and A-level outcomes follow from a strong curriculum because they reflect the depth of pupils’ knowledge and learning.
We are proud of our students and their outstanding academic outcomes year after year – but we know that qualifications are milestones on our students’ journey and not the destination. Exams exist in service to our curriculum and not the other way round; exams merely check understanding of a small sample of our curriculum. Our curriculum leads to our pupils’ excellent GCSE and A-level results, because these outcomes are a reflection of our pupils’ knowledge and what our pupils have learned.