Content of the Hayesfield Curriculum
The links on this page provide detail on the curriculum content for each year group. The booklets provide an overview of each subject, a summary of the topics covered and an explanation of how each subject is assessed. The content of the curriculum builds upon the transition work done from Year 6, all the way through to the end of Year 13 and beyond. The content of the curriculum is engaging, challenging and supportive.
Curriculum Aims
The Hayesfield curriculum provides creative challenges which allow students to develop a passion for self-motivated learning. Students are provided with the necessary qualifications, skills and knowledge to thrive in global community.
The Hayesfield curriculum is designed to be:
- creative and supportive
- meaningful and contemporary
- rigorous, challenging and questioning
- personalised, motivating and empowering
- collaborative and interdisciplinary
- supportive of a local, national and international dimension
Employability
‘In an increasingly competitive employment market, employers are looking beyond simple academic achievement when considering applicants for a job or internship’
CBI, 2015
Hayesfield Girls’ School and Mixed Sixth Form place a strong emphasis on employability-focused education, to enable our students to successfully enter their choice of work, further education or higher education for continued progression.
Our curriculum and support systems are designed to put students and their future at the centre of everything we do. We believe that employability is a combination of maximising achievement within the formal curriculum, specific guidance related to career paths, and also the overall development of young people with the personal skills and qualities, enabling them all to compete in the global marketplace.
A link through to our Employability section is below:
The Hayesfield Curriculum Policy contains an overview of the vision,structure and rationale f the curriculum.
The document below is the current Curriculum Policy for Hayesfield.
British Values
National Context:
All maintained schools must meet the requirements set out in section 78 of the Education Act 2002 and promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of their pupils. Through ensuring pupils’ SMSC development, schools can also demonstrate they are actively promoting fundamental British values.
Meeting requirements for collective worship, establishing a strong school ethos supported by effective relationships throughout the school, and providing relevant activities beyond the classroom are all ways of ensuring pupils’ SMSC development.
Pupils must be encouraged to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance.
It is expected that pupils should understand that while different people may hold different views about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, all people living in England are subject to its law. The school’s ethos and teaching, which schools should make parents aware of, should support the rule of English civil and criminal law and schools should not teach anything that undermines it. If schools teach about religious law, particular care should be taken to explore the relationship between state and religious law. Pupils should be made aware of the difference between the law of the land and religious law.
At Hayesfield we have a comprehensive programme for promoting British Values, in line with the national guidance above. This includes a dedicated Ignite day for all students, with each year group focussing on depth on one particular British Value, with all being covered for each year group on a rolling programme. In addition, each year group has focussed assemblies on each of the British Values.
Links through to the British Value pages of our website are included below:
The Wider Curriculum
The curriculum is more than the subjects taught within lessons, it includes the experiences, opportunities and guidance students are provided with. At Hayesfield, students can access and partake in an enormous range of opportunities, across every year group and encompassing every subject. Examples of wider curriculum opportunities for Hayesfield students include our extensive Period 6 programme, Master Class and Ignite Days.
Period 6 (LEAP)
The Hayesfield Period 6 provision includes opportunities for all of our students to ‘Extend’ their learning in subjects they are studying, to ‘Enrich’ their life experiences by trying activities which may be new to them and for them to access ‘Support’ in a subject area, or with a certain skill, in order that they achieve their Personal Best.
Period 6 options run from 3.15 to 4.15pm, with most activities concentrated on a Monday, Wednesday or a Thursday. We want all our students to be able to achieve their academic and personal best and the Period 6 programme is an integral part of that. Students sign up for 2 Period 6 activities a week and we can credit activities that students do outside of school, as one of their Period 6 allocations.
Students are able to sign up for new activities each term and activities run on both sites and across all year groups (allowing students to remain on the site they finish that day, if they wish). Added to the activities we run a Homework club on both sites afternoon and twice a week at the Southside Community Centre. This allows an outreach programme of support for students in the Twerton and Whiteway areas.
Examples of typical programmes can be found here.
The complete Period 6 programme is available through the link below:
These Period 6 activities vary each term and the latest offer is regularly updated on the school website (search for ‘Period 6’).
In addition to the extensive Period 6 programme, as part of Hayesfield’s wider curriculum offer, the school also runs Masterclass and Ignite programmes.
Masterclass sessions currently include our two award winning choirs, cycling , cheer-leading, film directing and the opportunity to try a wide range of Olympic sports. The Masterclass sessions run Period 5, each Friday, for Year 7 and provide a unique opportunity for students to personalise their own curriculum, develop a new skill or to have time to excel in a particular interest.
Ignite Days
All students also participate in 3 ‘Ignite‘ cross-curricular days a year. These Ignite days spark the imagination in students and bring learning outside of their normal class environment. Examples of Ignite days include a careers and employability fair, working alongside University staff, exploring a new culture and examining British citizenship.
An example of the Ignite days ran in 2015-2016 is included below:
Ignite Days Vision Overview 2015 2106
The Achievement First Curriculum
The Achievement First Curriculum is an example of how the Hayesfield Curriculum can be personalised to provide additional support where required. Students who join Hayesfield in Year 7, with a significant need for additional literacy support will follow the Achievement First Curriculum. This pathway enables students to engage in all lessons apart from languages in the first instance. A language will be taken once students have gained sufficient confidence and skills in their literacy. Additional information regarding the Achievement First Curriculum can be found within the Year 7 and 8 curriculum booklets, via the links on this page.
The Score 100 Curriculum
Score 100 is a numeracy-based curriculum for students who are working below age-related expectations in Maths or for those who have a specific difficulty with Maths that will affect their ability to access the secondary school curriculum. It is designed to equip students with the numeracy skills they need to be confident and successful at Secondary School. The curriculum time in Technology and Computing is used to provide the extra time needed to secure rapid progress. It is a challenging course that aims to fast track students to level 5 by the end of Year 7 so that they can enter the full curriculum as normal in Year 8. If students make significant progress within the year, it is possible for them to graduate into the Technology and Computing curriculum time during Year 7.
If you would like to find out more information about the Curriculum Offer at Hayesfield Girls’ School, please contact the Acting Deputy Headteacher, Mr Phil White, by emailing information@hayesfield.com
