The Royal Harbour
Academy
Curriculum
At The Royal Harbour Academy, we are a proud community dedicated to fostering success, high aspirations, and a global outlook. Our curriculum is the heartbeat of this vision, purposefully designed to empower every student to lead a brilliant life and, ultimately, change the world.
By grounding our teaching in our core values of being Ready, Honourable, and Aspirational, we provide a rigorous yet supportive academic framework. We challenge our students to think beyond the classroom, blending high-level learning with the character-building required to thrive in a global society. Here, education is about more than results; it is about cultivating the ambition to turn aspirations into reality.
Whole School Intent
What is the intent of RHA?
At the heart of The Royal Harbour Academy is the knowledge that we give every young person the best possible opportunity to be happy, knowledgeable, resilient learners, who are inspired by the local and global community.
All Royal Harbour Academy students will go on to change the world and lead brilliant lives.
Why is this our intent?
At the Royal Harbour Academy, we care and want to make a difference because of our strong moral purpose. Our students deserve the best from adults who value every student.
How do we deliver the intent?
Designed by subject specialists our curriculum, which is creative and challenging, offers a breadth of academic and cultural opportunities. As teams we regularly evaluate the relevance and impact of learning and teaching, ensuring that lessons are engaging and innovative. The cohesion of the curriculum builds on prior knowledge and understanding to allow for progress.
Year 7 & 8
The lower site curriculum is unique from most other secondary schools to ensure that the transition from primary to secondary is well supported with a focus on literacy and numeracy. Your son or daughter will have 2 core teachers. 1 teacher will deliver English, history, philosophy and ethics and 1 teacher will deliver maths, science and geography. One of the core teachers will be your child's form tutor. This means the core teachers will really get to know your son or daughter and build a strong relationship with them ensuring your child makes great progress. Specialist teachers will also deliver design technology, art, food studies, computing, Spanish, music, drama, dance and PE throughout the week.
RHA has a close working partnership with local primary school leaders and our curriculum is regularly checked to ensure it is challenging and builds on the skills from KS2. To ensure we continue to improve the literacy skills of our students we use Talk 4 Writing which is a structured approach to writing and this is embedded across all lessons. Students are able to carefully plan and write precisely in great detail about any taught subject topic and this prepares them well for GCSE success.
We also place great value on reading with timetabled guided reading lessons to improve general reading and comprehension skills. A mastery approach is used for the maths curriculum so that the core building blocks of knowledge are secure before moving on to new content meaning that students are not left behind and that we constantly stretch and challenge students to make real substantive progress.
Year 9
Our learning ethos is underpinned by the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme. This provides a framework for grading progress but more importantly to undertake an enquiry led approach to learning that enriches the experience in the classroom and helps develop the learner attributes such as confidence for a successful and fun educational experience.
The Year 9 curriculum has been designed in a bespoke way that continues to encompass and embed the skills learnt at the Lower Site whilst also transforming and furthering these skills to merge with those required for success at Key Stage 4. This includes the use of the Talk for Writing strategy and guided reading being utilised throughout the Year 9 curriculum ensuring that literacy skills remain a key focus in all subject areas, as the year progresses these skills begin to be reshaped and reformed to better suit and support the Key Stage 4 curriculum and preparing our students for responding to examination style questions. This not only aids the way in which the students are able to transition seamlessly from the Lower Site to the Upper Site but also piques their interest in new topics and engages them from the outset as the lessons are tailored to be familiar to them – meaning the only major change they have to adapt to is their physical surroundings.
In Year 9 there are 3 class groups that follow a similar model to the Lower Site by having one core teacher for the English and humanities subjects. These groups are for those students that require additional support to improve their reading ages. This model allows that core teacher to have a good amount of curriculum time with those students to build strong relationships and strengthen their literacy skills.
Year 10 & 11
Our aim is that all students acquire the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in their public examinations, but more importantly, develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the world around them in order to prepare them for opportunities in later life.
In Years 10 and 11, all students study Maths, English Literature, English Language and Combined Science Trilogy and one EBacc subject, plus three options from a broad range of 11 subjects. In addition, all students also study a Core PE and Citizenship programme. We strongly recommend that students study a Modern Foreign Language and Geography or History to ensure broad and balanced option choices that follow the English Baccalaureate. Throughout, students will receive help and advice concerning the opportunities available to them post-16. We have high aspirations and expectations for all students and we will make appropriate and reasonable provision for an individual’s needs within the resources available.
GCSE study begins in Year 10 with students studying towards a minimum of 8 GCSEs after they have selected their options in Year 9. Cultural Capital continues to play a key part in our KS4 experience to ensure that students have access to an enriched and exciting curriculum that includes trips, working with external businesses and exploratory learning such as experiments and field studies. We know that students do better if they enjoy and are passionate about the subject they study.
Literacy remains a focus with the Talk for Writing strategy embedded in the appropriate subjects whereby essay writing is an essential component. Students will have specific career sessions so that they all have a clear pathway by Year 11 for their post 16 destination whether that be sixth form, college or an apprenticeship. Predicted GCSE grades are used in reporting progress and several parent evenings and support events are set up to ensure every student knows what they need to do to be successful.
Additional revision and support classes are also held before and after school at various times of the year to provide more specialist teaching time for particular subjects as appropriate. It is an exciting and challenging curriculum that is offered at RHA and our students make great progress leading to secure education, training and employment.
Year 12 & 13
The very essence of the IBCP encourages our students to develop crucial skills that will enable them to enter adulthood as confident, well-rounded and independent people. At The Royal Harbour Academy Sixth Form, we have taken the IB learner profile and the principles of learning to create a curriculum that is tailored to the students in front of us making it a unique experience for each year group.
The teachers we have in our Sixth Form are experts in their subject fields and have taught the IBCP for many years. Whilst imparting their expert knowledge, they also provide students with opportunities to lead discussions, activities and lessons placing them at the centre of the learning experience.
Students study two IBDP Courses, two vocational courses, and the IB Core. Students develop the academic strength, international perspective and research skills required for the best start at post 18, whether it be university, employment, apprenticeship or other high education opportunities.
Leaders have ... developed an innovative approach for lower-school pupils. A single teacher delivers grouped national curriculum subjects. This allows more emphasis to be put on improving literacy and numeracy.
Ofsted
2020
The curriculum is planned to ensure we create a positive and supportive environment for all students, without exception. We have an inclusive curriculum that removes barriers to learning and participation, provides a learning experience that is appropriate to students needs, and promotes high standards and the fulfilment of potential for all our students.
Our curriculum is routinely reviewed to fully comply with the Equality Act 2010, and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014.