The curriculum model that we feel best suits our students and allows them to reach their full potential follows a three year Key Stage 3 followed by a two year Key Stage 4.
RIAB continuously improves our curriculum through teacher feedback and the development of best practices, this allows us to gather data on what is actually being taught and what students are actually learning, teachers are able to stay organised and have a framework for daily lesson planning. We create curriculum maps for each subject and grade level.
Our curriculum maps allow us:
- To review the curriculum to check for redundancies, inconsistencies, misalignments, weaknesses, and gaps
- Identifies what students have learned, allowing teachers to focus on building on previous knowledge
- Teachers gain a more thorough understanding of the curriculum by associating learning goals to the standards, resulting in improved practice
- Enables a better understanding of how we can build on what our students already know while minimizing gaps and repetition in the district wide curriculum
- Provides a review of assessment methods
- Teachers gain greater insight into curriculum structures, student progress throughout the discipline, and awareness of curricular content
- Teachers feel more comfortable contributing to the curriculum taught in their classroom, reducing their reliance on textbooks
- Documents the relationships between the required components of the curriculum and the intended student learning outcomes.
We will continue with this and will continue to review its impact on the outcomes of our learners.
Below are the curriculum maps for all subjects and key stages at RIAB School for 2020-21:
Curriculum Maps
It is the English Department’s vision that all RIAB pupils will explore, analyse and celebrate language in its many forms and come to appreciate its power, effectiveness and beauty. Gaining knowledge and skills in the study of English empowers young people with the means by which they can explore and enjoy other worlds and lives and understand and respect those who live a different life to themselves. Through the introduction of a variety of texts and their forms, RIAB students will become creative risk-takers who are confident writers using these skills to read texts both for pleasure and analytically, be confident in their spoken communication and keen to develop their language skills beyond school and into their adult lives. The life-changing possibilities of using language with accuracy and purpose will be a thread which runs through the teaching from year 7 to 11 and across subjects. Confidence, purpose and respect underpins everything we do.
Students at RIAB who study GCSE Geography will study a range of topics which look at the natural world and how it works, and the human interactions with this natural world. They will develop an understanding of key social, environmental and economic issues including development, the economic changes in the UK, poverty, resources, the major ecosystems in the world and natural hazards that impact human development. Throughout the course our students will develop the ability to be critical thinkers, asking questions about their role in the world and how humans’ impact on the world in which we live. They will develop the skills to analyse and interpret information available to them and discuss, assess and evaluate with a high degree of advanced thinking.
Science is taught to students of all ages and abilities who come to RIAB with very different starting points and experiences. The science department aims to engage students in asking questions about the world around them and how it works. We aim to equip students with skills which will help them investigate new ideas and explore concepts which will deepen their understanding about themselves and their environment and provide them with practical skills to overcome challenges they may face in the future. By the end of the course students should have a key understanding of the three areas of Biology, Physics and Chemistry. They will be able to apply scientific ideas and models to help them explain phenomena and events. Their skills will include being able to consider advantages and drawbacks of scientific and technological developments as well as appreciating that people have ideas and opinions that may differ to theirs.
RE at RIAB is taught at KS3 & KS4, its purpose is to be an academic study of the two largest and most influential religions in the world: Christianity and Islam. We study the context in which these faiths were formed, track their development over time and examine their impact on the world today, with a specific focus on British society and values. We intend to engage students in their study through seeing how these issues affect them and their world, whether they are religious or not. Ultimately, the study of religion is the study of humanity, its history, values and cultures. By the end of the course students should confidently know and understand the key beliefs of these faiths, be able to identify and explain the teachings and sources of wisdom that underpin them and be able to describe and explain practices carried out within and around these faiths. Additionally, students will develop the ability to critically analyse claims related to these beliefs, teachings and practices, presenting a range of potentially opposing views and forming convincing critical judgements in a respectful and academic way.
At RIAB, we’re passionate about the benefits that learning a language can bring. We believe in languages as a skill for life and is something students should enjoy and find rewarding. In today’s increasingly interconnected and interdependent world, proficiency in other languages is a vital skill that offers an opportunity to engage with the world in a more immediate and meaningful way whether in your local area or thousands of miles away while better preparing our students to compete and succeed in the global economy. It helps our students to see life beyond their local area.
The mission of the Physical Education department is to enable pupils to develop knowledge and understanding of the factors that underpin physical activity and sport and use this to improve performance. We aim to develop their understanding of how the physiological and psychological state affects performance in physical activity, sport and how this contributes to make a healthy, fit and educated pupil who can make informed lifestyle and well-being choices. We strive to deliver activities to allow pupils to perform effectively in different physical activities by developing skills and techniques and selecting and using tactics, strategies and/or compositional ideas. This inevitably will lead to developing their ability to analyse and evaluate to improve performance. We also want pupils to understand the key socio-cultural influences that can affect people’s involvement in physical activity and sport.
It’s no exaggeration to say the world runs on computers. They are everywhere: in homes, schools and offices, but not just in the way you think. It is the aim of the ICT department to guide pupils into developing technical skills such as codes and algorithms but mainly about a person should be responsible on using technology safely. Computers control aeroplanes, chemical plants, send rockets to space and make sure our cars run efficiently. Our pupils show great interest in game design, web design, app development or any other form of coding and programming. Pupils develop wider range of skills such as creativity, patience and develop a great deal of logic as they tackle complicated challenging tasks.