Curriculum intent

At Grace Academy Coventry we place powerful knowledge at the core of our intent, our goal being to deliver a knowledge-based curriculum across all subjects. This powerful knowledge is purposefully sequenced with opportunities to revisit misconceptions and address them through explicit curriculum time and through marking and feedback.

Our key curriculum aims/intentions are to:

• Place significant emphasis upon the “powerful (substantive) knowledge” required to fully understand each subject or curriculum area. It is then sequenced in a logical, coherent fashion which builds upon prior learning. The interconnected nature of this carefully sequenced powerful knowledge will then develop the disciplinary skills required to apply this knowledge effectively. This then allows students to make sense of the unknown/unfamiliar, using sound reasoning from this vast bank of powerful knowledge they have acquired.
• Provide frequent opportunities for students to recall and retrieve this knowledge, ensuring it is retained in the long-term memory.
• Develop students’ general, and also subject-based, literacy and numeracy. Specifically, students use ambitious subject-specific terminology and phraseology when speaking and writing, leading to better outcomes. Doing this through our four pillars of literacy: oracy, reading, writing and interventions. In addition to this, Numeracy strategies fill any knowledge gaps and develop student proficiency across all subjects.

This can be distilled into the following five elements, which are referred to as “The Grace Way (Curriculum)”:

• Powerful Knowledge: Curricula are structured to ensure lessons focus rigorously on core, foundational knowledge. This essential content is vital for a deep understanding of both the immediate topic and wider interconnected concepts, and must be delivered and assessed effectively.
• Explicit Endpoints: Clearly defined by middle leaders at the curriculum design stage, these precise endpoints ensure teachers know exactly what students must achieve, understand, and produce by the end of a unit.
• Literacy, Numeracy, and Oracy: Curricula proactively integrate meaningful opportunities to develop literacy and numeracy, balancing subject-specific vocabulary with generic skills. Crucially, curriculum planning must explicitly identify and embed structured opportunities for high-quality oracy within lessons.
• Application of Knowledge: Students are provided with regular, deliberate opportunities to apply their acquired knowledge. Where appropriate, curriculum delivery explicitly maps and leverages cross-curricular links and connections to prior learning.
• Extended Independent Work: Curricula must include planned, sustained periods of independent study. These segments are designed to foster deep, rich understanding by providing students with the time and space to engage in "hard thinking" and autonomous application of knowledge.

In addition, we also aim to:

• Ensure equal access to learning for all pupils, with high expectations for every pupil and appropriate levels of challenge and support.
• Promote a positive attitude towards learning.
• Equip pupils with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.
• Develop pupils’ independent learning skills and resilience, to equip them for further/higher education and employment