Our Vision Statement
“If they have wings, why make them walk?”
We want to inspire and motivate all children to have a wonderful desire to learn and grow as individuals and as a collective. To empower and support them to become life-long learners who are prepared to take risks, learn with growing independence and develop skills that enable them to fly high academically, socially, emotionally and physically.
We want our pupils to thrive as a result of our ambition for them to succeed beyond their own expectations and through the identification and removal of their barriers to learning and achievement.
Through the delivery of irresistible learning opportunities and rich experience, we strive to give children the ability and confidence to work and speak as experts; progressively building transferable knowledge and understanding that is memorable, broad and empowering. This, alongside the relentless drive for high quality outcomes and progress, underpinned by excellence and pride, exemplifies our ambition for our pupils.
We expect pupils to behave as responsible good citizens and role models, supporting them to understand the choices and behaviours that will enable them to make positive decisions. We do this within a culture of mutual respect for all within our community, encouraging kindness, tolerance and care for others.
We measure our success in our ability to support pupils to have the skills, knowledge, personal qualities and drive to be successful within the next stages of their life and beyond and to make a positive contribution to life in modern Britain.
Our Curriculum for Our Context
Waddington All Saints Academy has approximately 375 pupils on roll, serving a mixed catchment, half from the local villages and the other half from service families, as a result military life remains highly significant to our context and offer. We work to sustain strong links with the local community and RAF Waddington.
The contextual implications of the proportion of pupils from service families includes higher than average mobility, with pupils joining from the education systems of other areas and countries and pupils often leave or join mid-year. Our curriculum is based upon the National Curriculum, because this gives pupils the greatest chance of curriculum cohesion and progression when moving between schools. Mobility has the potential to impact upon all pupils at our academy, so our curriculum and systems also support pupils to develop character and resilience, to ensure that their educational chances and success will not be limited or negatively impacted upon by challenges and change. Consequently, they are well prepared for the next stages of their learning and education.
While there is cultural diversity within our academy, 92% of pupils are from a White British Background, and for 3% of pupils, English is not their first language. We currently have 14% of pupils with SEND, which includes 15 pupils with an EHCP. In addition, 13% of our pupils are in receipt of Pupil Premium.
Alongside mobility, there is an identified contextual need to ensure:
– Opportunity to develop awareness and understanding of diversity and culture are woven through the curriculum and;
– Adaptations of learning are effective in supporting all pupils to be able to access learning and make progress.
Our Curriculum Rationale
At All Saints Academy, our curriculum has the aim of engendering a deep sense of wonder about the world and a fundamental desire to learn and keep learning; enabling, inspiring and motivating all children to grow and develop as individuals and a collective. To support us in this, we have designed a coherent and relevant curriculum that enables all children to develop the skills and access ‘powerful knowledge’ that will enable every individual to reach their full potential and be successful as citizens in their future. We want to empower children to be prepared to take risks, learn with growing independence and develop skills that enable them to fly high academically, socially and physically.
To achieve this aim, we have designed a curriculum that will:
- Enable children to acquire powerful, coherent and cumulative knowledge alongside progressively developing skills and understanding.
- Progressively build upon a strong foundation of prior learning over time, preparing them well for the next stage of learning; providing opportunities for pupils to practise what they know to deepen their understanding, to build upon and make links to prior knowledge, making good progress from their starting points.
- Have reading at its heart, woven through learning across the curriculum. Ensuring that children have access to quality, inspirational reading material in order to develop a keen interest in the written word, which will stay with them throughout life.
- Inspire children to take on ‘the mantle of expert’ and be successful individuals: authors, mathematicians, historians, musicians, artists, sportspeople, scientists, innovators, positive citizens;
- Make learning irresistible and enable them to be successful not only within school but also within the wider community.
- Empower pupils to have the skills, understanding and knowledge to keep themselves safe within the context of well-being, safeguarding and online.
- Promote the core values of the academy, within the broader context of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance, with particular regard to the current Equalities Act.
Curriculum Enrichment
- Visits and experiences are carefully planned to provide curriculum enrichment and develop cultural capital to enhance the quality and breadth of learning experience. All year 6 have the chance to take part in a residential visit
- Valuing extra-curricular provision to support the development of talents, skills and interests, both in and out of school. This includes a rich and varied extra-curricular offer, which includes activities such as: School Council, dance, football, netball, board games, drama, yoga, craft, environmental club, mindfulness and cookery.