Curriculum

Our curriculum is delivered by our subject specialists to challenge all students, to ensure learning is at the heart of our lessons and to enable our students to meet and exceed their expected grades so that all students have the opportunity for a successful and rewarding future.

We are dedicated to delivering a curriculum with breadth and depth that allows all of our students to be able to achieve the following:

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT

• to provide opportunities for students’ personal, moral and spiritual development
• to ensure students achieve their personal best academically

PREPARED FOR LIFE

• to motivate & inspire which leads to a lasting curiosity for learning and development
• to prepare students for further and higher education, whether academic or vocational
• to inform students to make reasoned choices for a suitable career

PROMOTE COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

• to ensure students are prepared for life in modern Britain
• to offer a range of extra-curricular opportunities to develop student’s cultural capital and an appreciation of subjects beyond its examination content
• to work with the community to promote local, national and global awareness

At The Palmer Catholic Academy we implement a two week timetable, with three 100 minute lessons per day.  The importance of this time is to ensure that the following occur regularly:

• lessons are planned and sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before and towards defined end-points
• well planned and targeted questioning to challenge misperceptions and deepen understanding
• adapting and framing content so that it is accessible to every student
• challenge so that students over time develop their learning skills, self-assessment skills and resilience
• regular testing and progress checks to assess, inform and improve through our DIRT policy
• educating our students so they understand that education widens their career choices
• activities to develop strong literacy, numeracy and creative skills

KEY STAGE 3 [KS3] - YEAR 7, 8 & 9

Our KS3 curriculum aims to ensure that we recognise and build on the learning already taken place and ensure that our students maximise their progress and learning potential. We want to challenge and motivate all our students and encourage them to become active learners to prepare them for the demands of the GCSE and A-Level curriculum.

Careful attention is paid to the sequence of when knowledge is taught and subject leaders work actively to review this aspect regularly so that our students are well placed to access future GCSE exams and content.  A selection of students receive additional targeted support to close the gap between them and their peers.

All students study a broad and balanced range of subjects. A strong core of compulsory subjects gives students the relevant skills to successfully progress onto Level 2 qualifications. The traditional core of English, Maths, Science, Humanities and Languages is complemented by an extensive range of subjects, including:  Art, PE, Photography, Drama, Catering, Music and Computer Science. Students study two modern foreign languages, French and Spanish.

KEY STAGE 4 [KS4] - YEAR 10 & 11

The aim of our curriculum at KS4 is to equip our students with the skills and qualifications necessary for them to fulfil their full potential.

Our curriculum offers flexibility and choice within a guided structure. In response to government curriculum changes, the options are fewer than in previous years but allow more time to enable study in greater depth and breadth.

As a Catholic academy, it is vitally important that all pupils study GCSE Religious Education.  We believe that the curriculum should allow for personalised choices. We strive to design a broad and balanced curriculum model during KS4. We offer subjects that allow for a range of Post-16 pathways. 

The impact of the school’s curriculum is measured through several means: outcomes for students at GCSE in Y11 and Year 13

• progress and attainment data for current year groups
• destinations data (Post-16 and Post-18)
• NEET data
• attendance and punctuality data
• behaviour and merits
• engagement in enrichment activities
• progress towards the Gatsby benchmarks

Talents are nurtured, not only in the classroom, but through the broad range of extra-curricular opportunities. These opportunities enable personal and social development, develop citizenship and community work.

These include:

• Local and international trips, e.g. Lourdes pilgrimage, ski trip to America & History department's Normandy trip
• Residential and day retreats
• Duke of Edinburgh Award's scheme
• The Duke of York ‘Inspiring Digital Enterprise’ Award
• Fundraising events
• Charity and community events
• Supporting others through peer mentoring and student leadership
• Representing the school through sports teams
• Sports Leadership Awards scheme
• STEM days
• Career activities
• Ten:Ten workshops - RSE
• Mentoring programmes, e.g. The West Ham Foundation and Box Up Crime

Literacy Vision and Strategy

At Palmer Catholic Academy, we believe that literacy is the foundation of all learning. Our vision is deeply integrated with our academy mantras and spiritual ethos: "To the glory of God and in service of all". We are committed to developing students into articulate, confident, and industrious citizens by prioritising disciplinary literacy, high-quality oracy, and inclusive intervention across every subject area.

Oracy: The Heart of Our Vision

We recognise that oracy, the ability to articulate ideas clearly and confidently, is a powerful tool for social mobility and academic success. 

At Palmer Catholic Academy, we have embedded the Voice 21 Oracy Framework to ensure that every child finds their voice. Our teaching and learning strategies focus on the four key strands of the Voice 21 framework to develop well-rounded communicators.

The SHAPE Strategy

To operationalise oracy in every single classroom, we deploy the SHAPE framework, which provides our students with transparent, daily expectations for high-quality academic talk.

Speak in full sentences: Students must answer questions in full, grammatically correct sentences rather than short fragments.

Hands away from face: This requirement ensures clear diction, vocal projection, and a professional presence when addressing a room.

Articulate clearly: Every student aims to speak clearly while choosing their words with intent and academic precision.

Project your voice: This guides individuals to use a strong, confident voice that comfortably reaches everyone in the room.

Eye Contact: Speakers are expected to engage actively and directly with their listeners throughout discussions.

Strategic Priorities: Disciplinary Literacy

Our strategy carefully balances overarching, school-wide reading initiatives with highly specialised disciplinary literacy, ensuring students are explicitly taught the unique language and codes of each distinct academic field.

DEAR (Drop Everything And Read): We run whole-class reading sessions systematically across the school to actively foster a community of readers.

Subject Vocabulary: Teachers provide explicit instruction on Tier 2 high-frequency academic words alongside Tier 3 domain-specific terminology.

Library: The library operates as a central hub, promoting a lifelong love of reading through dynamic, student-led initiatives.

Expert Modelling: Class instructors act as genuine subject experts, intentionally modelling the specific writing, analytical, and thinking processes unique to their discipline.

Inclusion and Intervention: Closing the Gap

We are dedicated to ensuring that no child is left behind in their education. Our targeted, data-informed interventions are designed specifically to bridge any gaps between current reading ability and the robust demands of the National Curriculum.

Literacy and Phonics Catch-Up

For students who join us with gaps in their foundational phonic knowledge, we rapidly implement the Read Write Inc. Fresh Start programme. This targeted intervention ensures that older students gain the vital decoding skills and personal confidence needed to read complex texts with accuracy and speed. Alongside this, we apply a consistent approach to developing core comprehension skills, focusing on vocabulary building, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval, and sequencing or summarising.

Support for EAL Learners

We utilise advanced digital platforms like Lexia to accelerate language acquisition for students where English is an Additional Language.

We provide specialised intervention groups led by trained, expert staff to help EAL learners quickly acquire the academic language necessary to access and succeed within the full breadth of the National Curriculum.

Parental Partnership

We highly encourage parents to actively reinforce these literacy and communication skills at home. By intentionally using the SHAPE strategy during daily conversations and encouraging students to discuss their learning in full sentences, parents play a vital role in bridging the gap between everyday spoken text and academic language.

“Developing literacy to the glory of God and in service of all”.