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Curriculum Overview
Vision and Ethos
Our aim is that students are happy and successful - both during and beyond their school years. Our values inform who we are, our actions and priorities. The values that underpin our school are:
- Ambition
- Belonging
- Determination
- Equity
- Kindness
- Respect
Enabling everyone to thrive - acting with kindness, determination and respect
LPGS is a caring, ambitious and diverse school and this is reflected in our curriculum - both in terms of the subject offer and also the content delivered within those subjects.
To get an overview of our curriculum please view our curriculum maps.
Year 8 Curriculum Mapyear 9 Curriculum Mapyear 10 Curriculum Map year 11 Curriculum MapYear 12 Curriculum Map Year 13 Curriculum Map
21st Century Learning and Curriculum
Success in the 21st Century requires knowing about learning and how it works. Students must develop strong critical thinking, interpersonal and communication skills in order to succeed in an increasingly fluid, interconnected and complex world. 21st Century Learning means that students master content while producing, synthesising and evaluating information from a wide variety of subjects and sources. We are using Bloom’s taxonomy to develop higher order thinking skills and Guy Claxton’s models of learning to enable our students to develop learning attributes of reflectiveness, reciprocity, resourcefulness and resilience. Our curriculum prepares our students for places at top universities, as well as for the challenges of career and personal success in the 21st century. We offer all the traditional academic subjects the current government classes as part of the ‘English Baccalaureate’, as well as Expressive and Creative Arts. In addition, we are developing a special focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in order to promote students’ achievement in these subjects and to prepare them for the challenges of life in our scientific and technological society.
All our students will develop a sense of themselves as global citizens, participating in cosmopolitan democracy and discovering how they can help preserve our ecosystem and build a better world. They are encouraged to have a say in the life of the school and to contribute to the wider society, developing a sense of agency and of their own rights and responsibilities.
As part of our mission for all to be conscientious and informed citizens they will all study a modern foreign language from German, French and Spanish. We believe knowledge of another language and literature is the most important way to begin to know a country and people. The study of a foreign language:
- Sensitises students to world cultures, simultaneously making them aware of their own culture within that context;
- Introduces students to the differences in structure, grammar, and syntax that distinguish two languages, and to the intimate links between language and cultural meaning; and
- Contributes to the development of students’ critical, analytical, and writing skills.
Expressive and Creative Arts at the Core of the Curriculum and Co-Curriculum
Expressive and Creative Arts are central to our curriculum. By engaging in experiences within the expressive arts, students learn to recognise and show feelings and emotions, both their own and those of others. Performing and expressive arts help develop their sense of identity at all levels – personal, social and cultural. They learn to appreciate and value local, national and global culture.
Extra-curricular and the Co-Curriculum
Learning outside the classroom and beyond the school timetable is indispensable for developing the whole person. We provide our students with a wide range of experiences including outdoor education and a variety of fitness and sporting activities, including cycling, to enable them to enjoy and value healthy living. We also provide activities designed to promote expression, confidence and creativity. These include our emphasis on Expressive and Performing Arts. We want our school and its facilities to become a hub for the community in its recreational and leisure pursuits.
Anytime, Anywhere Learning
We are expanding our use of electronic resources, including hand-held devices, interactive whiteboards, iPads and personal computers to enable students to learn in ways suited to the new technologically literate generation. We will provide a blended learning environment combining e-learning and traditional methods. This will enable more self-paced and differentiated learning. Students and teachers will be able to engage in audio and video conferencing with children in other classrooms and around the world. The school will minimise the use of paper and maximise multisensory learning and differentiation.
Community
We want our school to be at the very centre of our community and to play an important part in fostering a stronger community spirit in the locality. As well as our local community we also want our students to understand and be part of our national and global communities. We want them to think globally and act locally; embracing, valuing, respecting, and celebrating difference.
Democracy
Our stakeholders’ views and input is vital to improving our school. We are a listening school and are using student voice to drive improvement. We continually strive to enable parents, carers and other stakeholders to influence our development.
Inclusion
Our school is inclusive and welcomes students of all backgrounds and abilities on a non-selective basis. Everyone – children, parents, carers, teaching and non-teaching staff – will feel included and want to be involved in all aspects of school life.
Transparency
We are committed to open, transparent leadership and decision-making in a culture that offers no excuses.
To find out more about the curriculum we are following please contact the appropriate Head of Faculty. Contact details can be found by clicking the link below.
