Academically Ambitious

Our curriculum teaches knowledge that captures the best that has been thought, said, composed and designed across time and culture. Our understanding of ‘the best’ knowledge is broad and inclusive: our curriculum aims for the development of traditionally identified cultural capital as well as striving for the inclusion of knowledge that provides a wider world-view and empowers students to consider experiences that extend beyond their own.

Our curriculum imparts powerful knowledge  in that: it facilitates specialisation within subsequent key stages; it has been curated by experts in their field; it is domain and discipline specific; disciplinary literature is at the centre of its delivery; it is coherently planned and conceptually iterative to acquire both breadth and depth.

A progression model

Our curriculum is thoughtfully organised to introduce knowledge progressively and reinforce its retention. Knowledge is taught, consolidated, applied, reviewed and recapped each lesson with use of carefully crafted workbooks; foundational knowledge is secured prior to introduction of further depth or complexity.

Knowledge is also secured prior to utilising disciplinary skills.

Written for Long-Term Memory

Our curriculum is carefully mapped to allow for retrieval of prior, relevant knowledge to contextualise new content. Core knowledge is repeatedly consolidated and applied from lesson to lesson and, in line with the belief that ‘memory is the residue of thought’, our curriculum plans for ample opportunities in which students can think about the subject content through relevant questioning, application and analysis. Frequent formative quizzing and assessments are woven into curriculum plans at pertinent opportunities for retrieval and addressing misconceptions. Lessons are not taught discretely but instead play a role in contributing to the wider tapestry of the subject curriculum.

Character Driven

Our curriculum allows all students to leave our school grounded in humanitas: kind, cultured, educated, courteous and active. Humanitas is achieved through the moral illumination derived from scholarly curiosity; it comes from a deep and broad knowledge of the history and geography of Britain and the world. It comes with mathematical proficiency and a critical scientific lens. It comes with an informed appreciation of the culture and languages of other societies, and a love of art, music, dance and drama.  It comes with a celebration of the contribution of genders and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people to all aspects of life and academia. One of the School’s most prestigious pupils, Jacob Bronowski, claimed that “knowledge is our destiny”. We see knowledge as a facility for freedom of choice but, importantly, also development of morality. This means that our students leave Central Foundation Boys School:

• Kind in their interactions with others, informed by their strong respect and understanding of cultures and societies represented in the community and in the wider world;
• Cultured in their appreciation, experience and knowledge of language, music, drama, literature and art, including an understanding of the origins of these art forms and the contributions of non-western and minority societies;
• Courteous to others and decent in conduct;
• Active in their participation in the community and in bringing about an improvement to society.