What Is Our Curriculum Approach at Ark Kings?

In all phases, and in all subject disciplines, the same principles underpin the curriculum design. The following are key features of the curriculum at Ark Kings:

Knowledge-engaged

We see our curriculum as a balance between knowledge and skills. We make the curriculum relevant and meaningful to children and allow children to put knowledge into context. We do this by securing foundational knowledge in our students before application.

Broad and balanced

Our students are entitled to a broad, balanced and rich curriculum. Our curriculum content is ambitious and challenging. We support all of our students to rise to the challenge of the curriculum, which sets them up for the next phase of their education or employment.

How Is Our Curriculum Tailored to Our Community?

Our curriculum has been designed to meet the needs of the community of students we serve.

• We promote vocabulary and prioritise exposing our students to a wealth of vocabulary in different contexts.
• We promote the identification of our students as global citizens – aspirational, respectful, values driven.
• We provide our students with the cultural capital they need go on to be successful in the next phase of their education and beyond.

How Does Our Curriculum Prepare Students for Future Success?

At Ark Kings Academy, we take seriously our responsibility to prepare our students well for the next phase of their education and later life. When pupils enter our Nursery, they are immersed in a curriculum that develops independence and promotes a love of reading. Children then develop core knowledge and skills in reading, writing and mathematics as they move through Reception to the end of Key Stage 1. Pupils access a broad curriculum of subjects, very much underpinned by reading, writing and mathematics.

As children embark on their Key Stage 2 phase of their education, they are equipped to access a wider curriculum of subjects. The curriculum in the primary phase gives pupils the subject-specific foundations they require in Key Stage 3. It is here where pupils start to grapple with subject-specific concepts and develop skills necessary for a range of contexts.

In the secondary phase, we recognise that in a fast-changing world our students will need to have a range of skills in order to respond with flexibility to new opportunities and challenges throughout their career. For this reason, we avoid early student choice of subjects. This ensures our students have a wide range of options for post-16 education, training or employment.

Students make choices over which subjects they will specialise in towards the end of Year 9. Most students will choose to study for GCSEs, with courses beginning at the start of Year 10.

Further Information

For more information about our curriculum at Ark Kings Academy, please contact: