What is our ethos and what are our values?

At Redmoor, we believe that our  curriculum should be aspirational for all, fully preparing our students for academic success, personal development and understanding of the cultural context around them. To us, this means  that lessons should be challenging and motivational, full of knowledge and the foundations to develop skills necessary for success. Equally, it is important that our students develop all aspects of their character and not just the academic side. We therefore offer a range of enrichment activities to complement our curriculum and a sharp focus on our Redmoor DNA, the individual characteristics and traits that make individuals successful. Weaved together, all of these elements help to develop our students into well rounded, knowledgeable and successful young adults.

The Curriculum

To enable students to fulfill academic and personal potential, our curriculum has been carefully constructed by middle leaders and senior leaders to offer students a real breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding. The redesigning of our curriculum began in March 2018. All subjects are taught in year 7, 8, and 9 as we believe that it is important that students fully benefit from a wide range of subjects and a foundation of knowledge before they embark on GCSEs in year 10 and 11. Our knowledge rich curriculum means that students are taught the fundamental knowledge to be successful in a way that enables them to retain and apply key information. Knowledge organisers are used to summarise key points and help students practice, revise and retrieve key information. Our mixed ability groupings ensure curriculum equity, as all students are taught the same demanding content with different strategies implemented so all can access the best learning and flourish. By using the best educational research, teachers support all learners. At Redmoor, you will find our students making excellent progress, whilst also enjoying engaging, creative and knowledge based lessons.   

Curriculum Journeys:

English

Maths

Science

Art and Design

Business

Drama

French

Geography

Health and Social Care

History

ICT

Literacy

Media

Music

Morals and Ethics

Travel and Tourism

PE

Our Core Timetable

Redmoor operates a two week timetable cycle. There are 25 periods in a week each lasting 60 minutes. This arrangement is the same for all year groups.

Literacy

At Redmoor Academy we see literacy as being of vital importance to the academic progress and good self-esteem of our students. Competency in literacy is the single biggest factor leading to academic success and future prosperity.

All teachers in each curriculum area, place a high value on reading, oracy, accuracy in written work and vocabulary, especially in preparation for GCSE. Furthermore, we also encourage students to read for information and, equally importantly, for pleasure. 

All students in Year 7 and 8 at Redmoor have a weekly lesson dedicated to improving their literacy skills. Students extend their vocabulary, learn the etymology of words and practise their reading and oracy skills for a range of purposes. Students’ reading for pleasure is closely monitored and teachers take time to encourage and guide pupils towards more varied and challenging fiction choices and reward pupils for reading widely.

In addition to this, selected students from Year 9 also have the opportunity to improve their literacy skills in small group sessions. These are carefully tailored to the individual needs of the students and are designed to prepare them for the literacy challenges of GCSE.

 All students at Redmoor have a KS3 or KS4 suggested reading list. It is a very comprehensive list of recommended fiction for teenagers and includes books from many genres to suit all tastes. It is regularly re-published to ensure it reflects the latest books. It contains a simple guide to the complexity or suitability of the books for different types of readers. Details of this can be found in the Library information section of the website.

Many students at Redmoor also become part of a book club group for several weeks of the year. Book Club sessions are designed to inspire the students to develop a love of reading through the sharing texts in a relaxed environment with an adult to guide them. 

High Achieving Students

At Redmoor we provide a curriculum that challenges all students to help them reach their full potential. Through this, students develop vital skills that they need both in and outside of the classroom such as resilience, independence and confidence. High achieving students are identified at Redmoor not only through their prior attainment but also their ability and potential identified by teaching staff. Within lessons teachers ensure these identified students are stretched through the use of our knowledge organisers and implementing Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction. All Key Stage 3 students can challenge themselves at home by using the Acceleration Through Depth page of their knowledge organiser. This has a number of tasks designed for each subject that will deepen students’ learning. 

Our high achieving Key Stage 3 students have the opportunity to apply for a position within ‘Redmoor’s Brilliant Club’. This club is partnered with The Brilliant Club, a charity whose aim is to increase the number of pupils from underrepresented backgrounds progressing to highly-selective universities. Through this partnership we run  ‘The Scholars Programme’. This is an opportunity for high achieving students to gain the knowledge, skills and ambition needed to help them secure places at top universities. Successful students work with a PhD tutor, someone studying for their third degree and who is a world class researcher. Students attend six university-style tutorials with their PhD tutor studying a ‘super-curricular’ topic related to the PhD tutor’s area of expertise. The Scholars Programme is designed to give students a university experience and includes two trips to highly selective universities. 

Key Stage 4 students who have been identified as high achievers have the opportunity to take their learning further in both English and Math. High achievers are able to attend Beyond English. This is a seminar style P6 lesson that develops their critical thinking skills. Students discuss resources such as articles and journals that give them a deeper understanding of the wider contextual knowledge related to their GCSE texts. All KS4 high achieving students have one lesson a week of Further Maths. This is a great opportunity during their curriculum that provides that step between GCSE and A-Level Maths, helping students to develop their understanding of mathematical concepts and problem solving skills.

Spiritual, Moral, Social & Cultural Development

We embed SMSC across all of the curriculum and in everything we do at Redmoor from trips and visits to speakers in school and discussion in our PSHCE and curriculum lessons. We observe specific spiritual and cultural dates within our assembly and form time programme. All students have a tutor session every week where they have an SMSC session that includes current events particularly relevant to the UK and the wider world incorporating a thought of the week. 

Enrichment Curriculum 

Teaching life-skills and character has always been one of the key objectives of education, but sometimes these skills are forgotten about amid the quantitative measures of academic performance.

Redmoors enrichment programme is an essential part of promoting employability, academic attainment and teaching young people the skills they need to make good choices. These skills will have benefits well beyond the classroom.

Tim Peake once tweeted “Character is important – a CV may get you the interview, but character will get you the job.”

At Redmoor, we aim to have a range of enrichment opportunities that will promote the life-skills needed for everyday life, develop “soft skills” that employers and universities look for, while also giving students the opportunity to find out more about their interests and passions.

The Redmoor Enrichment Week (REC) in June gives the students a choice of a wide range of experiences from cookery in France, climbing the Three Peaks, learning to horse ride, making a bug hotel to glass blowing and many more. The students are engaged in a week-long set activities that encourage them to make new friends, challenge themselves and gain a variety of new skills.

Along REC, the school provides a range of activities after school and during lunch time. These include sports such as netball, football, rugby and athletics. We also have a wide range of music based clubs include steel pans, rock band and the choir, Young Voices. Budding engineers can join VEX, the robotics club; whilst the Eco club provides other opportunities for environment-minded students.

During our PSHCE lessons and tutor time each week, the students get to take part in house competitions which may include a new skill set such as paper chain making, or learning essential first aid such as CPR.

Enrichment at Redmoor includes many things that students can choose to do beyond their academic pursuits and the normal requirements of life.