Curriculum

Balshaw’s Whole School Curriculum Vision:

The breadth and balance of the Balshaw’s curriculum provides students of all abilities with a fully rounded education delivering academic rigour, high standards and qualifications of worth and credibility
Tailored pathways allow all students to develop their own thirst for knowledge to support academic achievement on their path to excellence
Our Balshaw’s curriculum helps to develop, cherish and encourage our students to achieve their full potential as well-rounded citizens of the world

Curriculum Intent:

The Curriculum design at Balshaw’s has always been based around providing the most appropriate, inclusive and balanced curriculum for all students that is as rich, broad and inspiring as possible, in order to provide students with opportunities to widen their horizons in each subject they study. We aim to assist all students regardless of their ability, gender, ethnicity or social background to achieve their full potential in a range of highly regarded qualifications. Our curriculum does not and has not ever been changed to be optimised for performance measures or league tables. It is always based on delivering the curriculum that provides the greatest breadth, depth and challenge to enable students to have full command of the key knowledge and skills essential for each subject.

All subjects cover the National Curriculum as a minimum, but implicit in the way that the Bashaw’s Curriculum is implemented is the desire to make subject content relevant beyond students’ time at school and have meaningful context of their future lives. It is carefully sequenced and provides a solid foundation to enable our students to achieve the best possible educational outcomes for future progression into the adult world and inspire a lifelong love of learning.

The Balshaw’s ‘hidden’ curriculum impacts upon the richness and quality of our students’ lived experience of the taught curriculum. The intent is designed to provide students with opportunities to take their curriculum beyond the classroom to develop and deepen their confidence, independence and creative thinking. Our Christian vision, ethos and values play a huge part in this through their interaction within the Balshaw’s family which fosters the personal development of all children’s individual character, health and wellbeing preparing them to make a valuable contribution to the wider modern world. The experiences that our students have access to through leadership responsibility, club membership and participation in a wide range of extra-curricular activities allows students to develop existing talents whilst also discovering new ones to enrich and personalise their own curriculum.

You can find our Curriculum policy on the School Policy webpage here

Curriculum Implementation:

Our main driver for curriculum implementation is ensuring that students are exposed to high quality learning experiences and engagement in lessons with a large element of choice and need for independent thinking skills. One of the most outstanding features of the Balshaw’s curriculum is its breadth of subjects that all students are able to access leading to the widest range of pathways. It enables students to achieve the highest levels of academic success and maximise their potential. All students have access to all elements of the curriculum outlined below:

Key Stage Age Year groups	3	4
	11 - 14	14 - 16
	7 - 9	10 - 11
National Curriculum Core Subjects
English EBacc	ü	ü
Maths EBacc	ü	ü
Science (both trilogy and separate at KS4) EBacc	ü	ü
National Curriculum Foundation Subjects
Art and Design (Fine Art at KS4)	ü	ü	*
Music	ü	ü
Computing EBacc	ü	ü
Design and Technology	ü	ü	*
Languages (French and Spanish) EBacc	ü	ü	*
Geography EBacc	ü	ü	*
History EBacc	ü	ü
Physical Education (PE)	ü	ü
Citizenship (PSHE Curriculum and across subjects)	ü	ü
National Curriculum Additional Subjects
Religious Education (RE)	ü	ü
Sex and Relationships (SRE)	ü	ü
Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE)	ü	ü
Non-National Curriculum Subjects
Film Studies		ü
Drama	ü (Yr 7)	ü
Business		ü
Child Development (OCR Cambridge Nationals)		ü (Yr 11)
Sports Science (OCR Cambridge Nationals)		ü (Yr 11)
* Pupils should be able to, and can, study all four of these areas

The allocation of time within the curriculum (which is scheduled over a two week timetable) is below:

	Year 7		Year 8		Year 9		Year 10/11
	No. of classes	No. of periods	No. of classes	No. of periods	No. of classes	No. of periods	No. of classes	No. of periods
English	7	8	7	8	7	7	16	8
Maths	8	7	8	8	8	7	16	7
Science	7	5	7	6	7	6	15	10 (15 Separate Sciences)
History	7	3	7	3	7	4	10	5
Geography	7	3	7	3	7	4	8	5
MFL	8	4	8	4	8	5	8	5
RE	7	3	7	3	7	3	16	2 (+5 for GCSE Full)
PE (Statutory)	8	4	8	4	8	3	16	2
GCSE PE	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	5
Music	7	2	7	1	7	1	1	5
D&T / Food Nutrition	8	3	8	3	8	3	11	5
Drama	7	2	7	1	-	-	2	5
Computing	7	3	7	3	7	3	3	5
Art	7	2	7	2	7	3	4	5
PSHE	8	3	8	3	8	3	8	3
Film Studies	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	5
Child Development	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	5
Business	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	5

Each department has its own approach to implementing its curriculum within the framework of intent for the whole school as described above.

KS3 Implementation:

Almost all students follow a broad and balanced curriculum of:

13 subjects in Year 7
12 subjects in Year 8 and 9

We aim to keep as many students on this broad pathway as possible before making option choices at the end of Year 9. There is a nurture path for an identified group of students in Years 7 – 9. The nurture pathway is delivered when other students study MFL in order to support the development of literacy and numeracy which in turn can impact upon improved confidence and well-being.

KS4 Implementation:

At Key Stage 4, students choose options in 9 blocks and receive CEIAG to support them in making appropriate option choices.

A diagrammatic representation of these pathways is below:

The Most Able Pathway = 9½ GCSEs

Including MFL and potentially Separate Sciences.

Approximately 55%+ of students will be on this pathway. This is an Ebacc pathway, but it is important to note that this pathway was here prior to it ever being an Ebacc pathway.

Typical Pathway = 9 ½ GCSEs

Including BTEC or Cambridge National vocational based qualifications.

Most other students will follow this typical pathway.

Supported Pathways = 6 – 8 GCSEs/Btec

Supported Pathways are more bespoke and are personalised as required.
To meet more appropriately the needs of some students, they may be withdrawn from subjects to support their progression. Alternative
provision is put in place, sometimes using approved external providers,
to provide additional supported study to support positive outcomes and increase curriculum engagement.

Curriculum Impact:

The overall impact of our curriculum offer is to help to raise students’ aspirations and equip them with the knowledge, confidence and skills to flourish in their future careers whilst making a positive contribution academically and physically to society. Students of all abilities are fully prepared for the next stage of their education or training. Apart from the positive progress measures that students achieve, securing places to their onward destinations is highly important and all our students continue in education, employment, or training from the September after they finish at Balshaw’s. Our students leave with a pride in our school and a set of values and skills that provides the foundation from which they develop into self-assured, responsible and resilient young adults with a strong moral compass.

Students keep returning to Balshaw’s decades after they have finished studying, because to study at Balshaw’s is to become a Balshavian.

Curriculum Diagram

	Year 7	Year 8	Year 9	Year 10	Year 11
1	English	English	English	English	English
2
3
4
5
6
7
8			PSHE
9	Maths	Maths	Maths	Maths	Maths
10
11
12
13
14
15
16	PSHE	PSHE	Science	PSHE	PSHE
17	Science	Science		Combined Science (Trilogy)	Combined Science (Trilogy)
18
19
20
21
22	Design & Technology		Design & Technology
23		Design & Technology
24
25	French/Spanish		French/Spanish
26		French/Spanish
27				Option 1: History or Geography	Design & Technology or Separate Sciences
28
29	History
30			History
31		History
32	Geography			Option 2: Business, Computer Science, Drama, Film Studies, Fine Art, GCSE PE, History, Religious Studies (full course GCSE)	Option 1: History or Geography
33
34		Geography	Geography
35	Religious Studies
36
37		Religious Studies		Option 3: Business, Fine Art, Food Preparation & Nutrition, French, GCSE PE, Spanish	Option 2: BTEC Music, Business, Computer Science, Drama, Film Studies, Fine Art, GCSE PE, History, Religious Studies (full course GCSE)
38	Art		Religious Studies
39
40	Drama	Art
41			Art
42	Music	Drama		Option 4: Business, DT Graphics, DT Resistant Materials, Food Preparation & Nutrition, Religious Studies (full GCSE), Separate Sciences	Option 3: Business, Child Development, Fine Art, French, Spanish, Sports Science, Construction L2 (Preston College)
43		Music
44	Computing	Computing	Music
45			Computing
46
47	PE	PE		Religious Studies (short course GCSE)	Religious Studies (short course GCSE)
48			PE
49				PE	PE
50

Department Information

You can access the information about the Departments using the links below or via in the menu on the left:

Please contact us if you have any questions about our Curriculum. You can find our contact details on our Contact Us page here.

You can find our School Prospectus documents here.

You can find details about Admissions here.

Balshaw’s Whole School Curriculum Vision:

The breadth and balance of the Balshaw’s curriculum provides students of all abilities with a fully rounded education delivering academic rigour, high standards and qualifications of worth and credibility

Tailored pathways allow all students to develop their own thirst for knowledge to support academic achievement on their path to excellence

Our Balshaw’s curriculum helps to develop, cherish and encourage our students to achieve their full potential as well-rounded citizens of the world