The Trinity Curriculum

Driver subject facts – Our curriculum

1. We have created a knowledge-engaged curriculum that ensures children are given the opportunity to procedurally engage with the declarative knowledge they have accumulated.  Our curriculum is a progress model in which powerful knowledge is built upon over time.
2. Our intent has been strategically mapped through strong curriculum collaboration between and in phases to ensure that high expectations are at the heart of the curriculum and that the content of the National Curriculum is delivered. 
3. Our subject intent clearly outlines specific vocabulary to be explicitly taught and acquired at set milestones to ensure that there is equitable access to the curriculum for all. This vocabulary equips children to confidently talk about, write & read about material & resources to demonstrate high levels of understanding. Direct Vocabulary Instruction is an integral part of schemes of learning.
4. Our curriculum is character enhancing through the careful mapping of our intent for SMSC (Spiritual, Moral and Cultural Development); FBV (Fundamental British Values); and character enhancing experiences.  
5. The impact of our Curriculum and Trinity Charter is that we build upon each pupil’s unique cultural and social capital whilst offering life enhancing experiences to further develop this. We recognize the need to augment the curriculum with specific knowledge and vocabulary pertaining to our locality and demographic.  The local context for our cohorts of pupils is important.
6. Our curriculum is also designed to ensure we are creating Trinitarians who will develop an understanding of the importance of being citizens who are socially aware and seek to lessen inequality & injustice through their contribution to society. This is built into the curriculum through topics that have been strategically covered within the intent planning.
7. The implementation of our curriculum, through the Trinity Standard, is influenced by research within education and cognitive science, including: Cognitive Load Theory; Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction; and the gradual release model to ensure that all lessons are planned to enable transference of learning to long term memory. 
8. In the Primary Phase, our wider curriculum is taught through themes with clearly defined driver subjects. Each topic is assigned a driver subject of either History, Geography or Design Technology, which is taught in half term blocks. 
9. In the Primary Phase, Science, Computing, RE, Art, PE, music and Spanish are taught stand alone, with links to wider learning made where applicable. They follow a thematic approach across the phase and have their own progress model.
10. In the Secondary Phase Yr. 9 is a transition year to KS4 which ensures that, as a small school, we can offer a broad range of option subjects and that the depth of knowledge necessary for a higher grade in Yr. 11 can be achieved by more pupils due to the rigorous subject grounding at Years 7 and 8.

Key vocabulary

The Trinity Curriculum

The Trinity Curriculum Vision

Trinity Curriculum from year R to year 11

At Trinity we have purposely and deliberately planned our curriculum from Reception to Yr 11 to take account of the school’s strategic intentions as laid out in the annual School Improvement Plan.

We firmly believe in achievement for all regardless of disadvantage or educational need through the vehicle of a coherently planned, sequenced and ambitious curriculum. Throughout their school career at Trinity, pupils will be exposed to a range of activities and experiences which develop their cultural capital. Trinity pupils engage with a rich personal development programme which extends well beyond the academic. Trinity supports pupils to develop in many diverse aspects of life, from preparation for the life of work through to becoming physically and mentally healthy active citizens who value education as a lifelong pursuit.

Our curriculum offer at Trinity is distinctive and unique due to the emphasis we place on our character curriculum through the Trinity Charter booklets, the focus we have on widening the educational opportunities offered to each cohort and the importance we attach to the EBacc being at the heart of our strong academic core. An ambitious and powerful curriculum intent from Reception seeks to address any social disadvantage which may affect our pupils. A rigorous approach to the teaching of reading at all phases underpins the carefully selected knowledge and skills which make up our curriculum content.

Our curriculum intent has been shaped by thorough and ongoing reviews of research-led educational thinking. We endorse the concept of the teacher as an expert in their field and CPD and training further strengthens this, in order to ensure effective systematic teaching produces learners who, achieve well, are confident and articulate and look forward to future success in their next steps. We see the need to enable our pupils to self-regulate as being crucial to their learning success & use meta-cognition strategies such as a highly organised classroom environment with structured & consistent rules to encourage pupils to be autonomous & foster independent practice – habits for and of learning which they can transfer into all aspects of their lives.

1. At Trinity we believe in a traditional academic curriculum, the intent of which is ambitious & powerful in content and consistently of a high quality in its implementation, resulting in the desired impact of excellent outcomes for pupils, regardless of their phase of education.
2. The curriculum at Trinity has been carefully planned and sequenced in order that the knowledge and skills developed equip pupils for future learning and employment.
3. Pupils study a rich curriculum and a wide range of subjects and choose the subjects they will continue to pursue to examination level after exposure to a high-quality diet of curriculum experiences throughout their time at Trinity.
4. At Trinity the teaching of reading and the importance attached to the use of text-based materials and resources means that pupils are encouraged to read widely and often, in order to cultivate a confidence and enjoyment in reading.
5. The curriculum at Trinity extends far beyond just the academic and through our Personal Development Days, Trinity Character Charter, PSHE and careers programmes, pupils are encouraged to develop themselves as independent, confident and healthy members of wider society.
6. From Yr R to Yr 11, the curriculum at Trinity is led by or planned in liaison with expert subject specialists who have carefully considered its content and have built structured programmes of study which are ambitious in their coverage and content.
7. At the heart of Key Stage 4 is the EBacc which a large majority of pupils study, reflecting the significance Trinity places on a broad range of subjects being the gateway to successful Post-16 education and training pathways.
8. The transfer of knowledge to long-term memory is key to success for pupils and individual subject curricula are designed to ensure that new knowledge & skills are built on what has been taught and learned before.
9. Trinity promotes the extensive personal development of individual pupils with a strong focus on cultural capital. Subject leaders identify through their programmes of study opportunities for enrichment and extra-curricular activities.
10. High quality Knowledge Organisers contained within subject Mastery booklets are compiled by subject leaders & are used to regularly test in order to develop and embed the skills of retrieval practice and long-term memory.