A School where every child really matters!

We believe that the core purpose of our school is to engage the minds of all learners who attend in order to broaden their future by providing the opportunity to maximise life chances.

We offer everything needed to succeed, a curriculum that responds to the needs of each and every individual. Learning experiences that are diverse, flexible, rich, experiential and active. Dynamic personalised teaching and learning, high standards, high expectations and great challenges.

Our Vision:

“To enable the young people of Seaham to achieve the highest possible outcomes which they can use to continue their learning and make a valuable contribution to the global society in which we all now live. They should feel safe, secure, be free from prejudice and be able to develop a mutual respect for all others. Students should be ready to take on the challenges of the twenty-first century and leave school with hope for their future. They should have the confidence to take on new opportunities and know where to turn when a helping hand is required. When they leave, their minds have been engaged, their horizons have been broadened and they should have valued their educational experience.”

Context

Seaham High School is committed to doing our very best for our young people and the town of Seaham. We reach out to support everyone through developing their 6Rs and incorporate the 6Rs throughout our curriculum.

 

Through developing the 6Rs, the school aims create the support and environment for our young people to be the best that they can be.

Our goal is to improve the life chances of all of our young people, working in partnership with parents, carers, employers and the wider community. We also have a newly formed Parent Council that provides a vehicle for strong and effective partnership with our parents and carers.

The school is fully committed to meeting the needs of all young people and to providing a wide range of opportunities for all members of our school community. Supporting learning and learners are core responsibilities of all members of staff.

Curriculum

• Offers opportunities for students to achieve success, including GCSE and Vocational qualifications.
• Is coherent, progressive and follows national curriculum guidelines.
• Provides deep, sustained and valuable learning for all students.
• Provides opportunities to develop high levels of literacy and numeracy across all curricular areas.
• Promotes opportunities across the curriculum for the development of student health and well being.
• Recognises the importance of digital literacy and provides opportunities for the development of the skills students need to function in a technological world.
• Provides a range of courses which challenge, engage and motivate students.
• Promotes learning across a wide range of contexts and experiences.

Our aim, through our curriculum is to develop young people:

• Who are confident, prepared to take calculated risks, can cope with change and view failure as part of the learning process (Risk Taker).
• Who feel included in their community with an active desire to contribute politically, socially, culturally and economically, with an understanding of ‘British Values’ in modern day Britain. (Responsible).
• Who have high expectations of self and an ambitious vision for their future (Respectful).
• Who have a ferocious work ethic that results in them achieving, and exceeding, their academic potential (Reflective & Risk taker).
• Who are respectful, tolerant and empathetic towards the values and beliefs of others (Respectful).
• Who are happy and have a desire to pursue a healthy, active lifestyle (Responsible).
• Who are self-aware and know their own strengths through reviewing and evaluating their progress (Responsive).
• Who have a range of transferrable skills for learning life and work including: communication; collaboration; critical thinking and willingness to challenged accepted norms and creativity skills (Resilience & Reflective).
• Who are capable of making informed decisions and are aware of their rights and responsibilities (Responsible).

Curriculum Implementation

Our curriculum intent is delivered through a range of learning pathways (X, Y and B) that meet the needs of all learners. These pathways often include ‘blended’ learning experiences with a combination of academic and vocational learning to ensure students have the opportunity to develop across a broad range of different learning contexts.

The purpose of these experiences is to help children and young people to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.

Our curriculum aims to deliver both excellence in terms of ensuring young people acquire a broad range of skills and capacities at the highest levels, whilst also delivering equity so that every child and young person should thrive and have the best opportunity to succeed, regardless of their social circumstances or additional needs.

At Key Stage 3 students study a broad and balanced range of subject studied over a traditional 3 years. A strong core of compulsory academic subjects gives students the relevant skills and qualifications to successfully progress into post 16. This traditional core of English, Maths, Science, Humanities and Languages is complimented by an extensive range of options at KS4, including: the arts, sports, design and technology subjects and a range of vocational courses. Our 2 year KS4 provides sufficient time for the depth of study and understanding in all subjects.

Curriculum Construction and Principles 24–25

Subject (KS3)	Hours per fortnight in KS3	Subject (KS4)	Hours per fortnight in KS4	Notes
English	8	English Language	9	Mandatory for all students
		English Literature
Maths	8	Maths (Statistics)	8/9
Science	6	Combined Science	9
		Biology	14	Option
		Chemistry
		Physics
Geography	4	Geography	5	EBacc route.
History	4	History	5
MFL	3	Spanish	4/5
		Option 1		GCSE and Vocational courses
Art	3	Option 2
Design Technology	3	Option 3
Computer Science	2	Physical Education	2	Mandatory for all students
Performing Arts (music/Drama)	1	PSHE/BV (SMSC)	2/3
Physical Education	4
PSHE/BV (SMSC)	3
Nurture Curriculum* (Blue pathway)	13

*Nurture Curriculum runs alongside English, Maths, Science, Art, RE & PSHE to provide a bespoke personalised curriculum for our most vulnerable students. Nurture curriculum has full access to the National Curriculum.  Please see the Accessibility Plan in the Policies section.

Our curriculum is constructed based on the following principles:

• Students are placed into learning pathways to better meet the needs of individual students through a tailored curriculum. The blue pathway provides a nurture curriculum, which is project based learning with a literacy and numeracy focus.
• Acquiring subject specific knowledge is key for students to be able to solve complex problems. To know more and to be able to do more.
• Students need to practice the knowledge and skills they have learnt in lessons so that they can use them when they are needed. The vast majority of students will be working towards the English Baccalaureate in KS3 with annual increases in entry pattern. This has meant a gradual increase in MFL for all students.
• Care is taken to ensure that students encounter the prior knowledge needed to access the curriculum before it is needed in class. This is achieved through careful curriculum planning and increase in independent home learning.
• Development of language is the remit of all subjects. At KS4 English Language and English Literature are to be taught as separate GCSEs with increased time allowance from 2020 curriculum.
• All students should experience a careers education based on the Gatsby benchmarks that underpin a world class careers education. This is to be delivered through bespoke career intervention and PSHE/pastoral allocation.
• The British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect of those with different faiths and beliefs are taught explicitly and reinforced in the way in which the school operates.
• SMSC is embedded into pastoral and curriculum schemes through the schools 6R programme.
• The school’s ethos, values and vision is embedded throughout the curriculum and can be seen in all lessons.
• Kindness, integrity and pride is embedded throughout the curriculum.

Curriculum Impact

The impact of the school’s curriculum is measured through several means:

• Outcomes for students at GCSE in Y11.
• Progress and attainment data for current year groups
• Progress towards the Gatsby benchmarks.
• Destinations data.
• Attendance data.
• Behaviour logs
• Engagement in enrichment activities.
• Student voice
• Quality Assurance Cycle including Lesson Observations and work scrutiny.

How to contact curriculum leaders

Subject	Teacher	Email address
Assistant Headteacher (Curriculum)	Mr D. Langlands	lad@seahamhighschool.com
Art	Mrs A. Dixon	adi@seahamhighschool.com
Computer Science/ICT	Mrs H. Bateley	hbp@seahamhighschool.com
Design & Technology	Mr L. Holtby	hol@seahamhighschool.com
English	Mrs J. Hardy	hdj@seahamhighschool.com
Geography	Miss K. Murray	kmu@seahamhighschool.com
Health & Social Care	Mrs C. Sayer	saa@seahamhighschool.com
History	Mr B. Kirtley	kib@seahamhighschool.com
Maths	Mrs R. Mahoney	rmm@seahamhighschool.com
Music	Mr M. McGuire	mom@seahamhighschool.com
Nurture Curriculum	Mrs B. Brown	brb@seahamhighschool.com
Performing Arts	Miss V. Mason	mav@seahamhighschool.com
Physical Education	Mr K. King	kin@seahamhighschool.com
Religious Studies & SMSC	Mr B. Dunn	dub@seahamhighschool.com
Science	Mr S. Hays	sah@seahamhighschool.com
Spanish (MFL)	Miss J. Pyke	pyj@seahamhighschool.com

 

Cultural Capital

Cultural capital is defined as the accumulation of knowledge, behaviours, and skills that a student can draw upon and which demonstrates their cultural awareness, knowledge and competence; it is one of the key ingredients a student will draw upon to be successful in society, their career and the world of work. At SHS we work tirelessly to build our student aspirations and expose them to a range of experiences to help them achieve goals and become successful.

We recognise that for students to aspire and be successful academically and in the wider areas of their lives, they need to be given rich and sustained opportunities to develop their cultural capital. We do this in many ways, for example, through our curriculum, extra-curricular activities, trips and visits and careers activities.

We recognise that there are six key areas of development that are interrelated and contribute to building a student’s cultural capital:

1. Personal Development
2. Social Development, including political and current affairs awareness
3. Physical Development
4. Spiritual Development
5. Moral Development
6. Cultural development

Nothing can be more important for our children’s education than ensuring they are supported to be the best they can be within our ever changing, diverse and eclectic society that ensures everyone has an equal opportunity to live, learn, and achieve.

Subject Examples

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT  Careers and Information, advice and guidance provision;  Personal Finance Education;  Employability skills,   PSHE curriculum;  The school’s wider pastoral framework;  Transition support and induction;  Work to develop confidence e.g. public speaking clubs and interview skills workshops;  Activities focused on building self-esteem;  Mental Health & well-being provision - Personalised Learning Zone;  Form Time curriculum;  Homework club Antibullying accreditation

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT  Ambassadors PHSE curriculum;  Form time curriculum;  Charity work and fundraising activities;  Student Voice – Student debate & voting;  Nurture Group Access;  Healthy Schools’ Accreditation;  Duke of Edinburgh Access to counselling;  Year group competitions; Sport competitions;

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT  Physical Education curriculum;  Healthy Eating policies and catering provision;  Anti-bullying and safeguarding policies and strategies;  The health, drugs, alcohol, smoking and  sex and relationships and elements of the PHSE/SMSC curriculum; Extra-curricular provision;  Extra curricular activities available for unstructured time, including lunch and break times;  Activity-based residentials;  Food preparation and nutrition curriculum;

SPIRITUAL  The Religious Education/SMSC Curriculum;  Support for the expression of individual faiths;  School-linking activities – locally, nationally and internationally;  The Assembly programme:  Assemblies and outreach;

MORAL  The Religious Education/SMSC Curriculum;  Behaviour Management policies;  Contributions to local, national and international charitable projects;  Form time curriculum;

CULTURAL  Duke of Edinburgh LGBTQAI+ Meetings & Group Access to the Arts;  Access to the languages and cultures of other countries through the curriculum and trips and visits;  Promotion of racial equality and community cohesion through the school’s ethos & assemblies;  Co-operative values;  Assembly programme;  Form time curriculum;

Please see links below for our KS4 Offer and curriculum map.