Academic Rigour

Our Trust schools sign up to our clear curriculum design and delivery principles in the pursuit of very strong academic and personal outcomes.

“The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.”

John F. Kennedy

In society, knowledge is power.   And some knowledge – what we call powerful knowledge – is far more important to society than others.  Our students are entitled to know the ‘best that has been thought and said’ to give them the best chance in life.  Only then can they enter wider society and the work-place with greater confidence, able to understand and interpret regional, national and world events.  Without that ‘powerful’ knowledge they are disempowered and they will spend the rest of their lives relying on and being answerable to those who have it.

This knowledge goes beyond what they need for their day-to-day lives.  It is knowledge that frees them from and moves them beyond their daily experience.

For this reason, the Tame River Trust Schools’ Curriculum is built on the very best of the national curriculum and more.  It is designed and delivered by subject specialists, and checked by regional or national subject experts in each discipline.  We refuse to dumb-down content.  For example, our Trust Power of Language Strategy and our curriculum-content design focus on subject-specific content and grammar at an appropriately high level.  When we teach and develop skills and understanding, we only do so in the context of subject content.  Subject knowledge, skills and understanding are taught in the following domains:  the linguistic; the mathematical; the scientific; the human & social; the technological; the aesthetic and creative; and, the physical. Sitting alongside these domains, we teach and promote the development of Character, Culture and Life Skills.

Our curriculum and co-curriculum (beyond the classroom) are broad, deep and diverse, to reflect and learn from the diversity of cultural knowledge in our community, nation and beyond.

In both Key Stages, our curriculum is designed to close gaps, provide early intervention and to enable our students to be word and number rich.  Each student is prepared for the rigour of national examinations by studying approved and challenging national qualifications so that we can improve their life-chances.