Challenge Partners 2020

“The quality of provision at Leighton Middle School is exceptional. Students benefit from learning from highly skilled teachers in an atmosphere that is unquestionably conducive to their development.”

Curriculum Intent

The overarching intent of our curriculum at Leighton Middle School is to: ‘Create a happy school where every member feels valued and able to achieve personal excellence.’ It is important to us that every child is happy and valued. We want to enable our children to achieve their fullest potential. We want our children to experience a wide and varied curriculum and develop a love of learning. We want our children to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding to become fully rounded and educated citizens: citizens who are not only prepared for future learning and employment, but are able to care for, empathise with and lead those around them. We want to enable our children to ‘make a difference’. We believe that, in addition to the wide academic curriculum that we deliver, our enrichment and ‘out of classroom’ opportunities help to develop fully rounded individuals.

Provision

From Year 5, pupils have the benefit of being taught in a secondary setting which offers a broad curriculum, specialist teachers, resources and rooms.

The curriculum is planned by specialists who take in to account the National Curriculum, pupils’ starting points as well as the context of the school. Each subject has a curriculum map which clarifies the learning journey from years 5 - 8.

A range of extra-curricular clubs are offered such as music and P.E as well as enrichment opportunities provided by every department. Pupils are happy and encouraged to strive for personal excellence; they are prepared for the next learning journey as well as future careers. Disadvantaged pupils make accelerated progress across their time at LMS and are positively discriminated to experience a range of opportunities to support their personal development and future career opportunities.

Subjects taught on a weekly basis and the number of lessons per week:

Curriculum Content

The termly overviews for each subject can be found here:

Learning Partners and Star Challenge

All lessons use Learning Partners to provide instant support and feedback. Learning Partners are selected carefully to ensure all pupils can learn to their best potential. Lessons regularly include Star Challenges: these are elements in the lesson in which pupils are encouraged to challenge themselves to complete additional tasks for example, including a particular grammatical feature in a piece of writing.

Support Strategies

Assemblies

Assemblies take place on at least a weekly basis and in a variety of formats over the school year including by: year group; key stage, house and whole school. All assemblies link to British Values, well-being and/or SMSC development. 

Example assembly themes:

Enrichment

There are many enrichment opportunities available at various points throughout the school year. Examples of clubs and activities include:

Personal Learning Days

There are two days each year in which all pupils come off of their usual timetable to participate in Personal Learning Days. The purpose is to provide pupils with memorable experiences which allow them develop their personal skills. Some examples of Personal Learning Days: 

Gifted and Talented

A small number of pupils are identified as Gifted and Talented within subject areas. In addition to high quality teaching within the classroom, including the opportunity to complete extension tasks and star challenges, these pupils have the opportunity to participate in subject specific enrichment activities. Where possible, pupils that are not identified as Gifted and Talented are also invited to take part e.g. the whole year group/disadvantaged pupils.

An example of additional opportunities include:

Leadership Opportunities/Personal Development

Throughout their time at Leighton Middle, pupils are encouraged to be leaders of learning. Examples of leadership opportunities:

Impact

Please find our outcomes for Year 6 and 8 here: www.leightonmiddle.org.uk/school-data

Disadvantaged Pupils: On entry to Leighton Middle School children in receipt of the Pupil Premium Grant are performing below age related expectations in Reading, Writing and Mathematics.  Mathematics GL entry data is always lower than English GL data.

Whilst at Leighton Middle School, pupils in receipt of PPG, make greater than expected progress in Reading, Writing and Mathematics in every year group thus diminishing the difference to end of year expectations in comparison with their own starting points.

Pupils with SEND: Over the last four years, on entry to the school, pupils with SEN are attaining well below age related expectations in Reading, Writing and Mathematics.

By the time children leave Leighton Middle School, attainment in Reading and Mathematics is one term behind age related expectations and 1 or 2 terms behind in Writing. Cumulative progress is always greater than expected in all 3 subjects.  This demonstrates accelerated progress towards meeting age related expectations.

Pupil Survey:

• Teachers help me to do my best (97%)
• My teachers give me work that challenges me (97%)
• My school encourages me to be independent and to take on responsibilities (97%)
• My school encourages me to respect people from other backgrounds and to treat everyone equally (99%)

Parent Survey:

• Amazing work during the pandemic. Organised and diligent. A strong team at LMS that care and are approachable. Thank you Mrs Vallance and the entire team. Please keep up the great work
• A very good school that has done our son well
• Impressed with the music department and lunchtime clubs on offer
• Very nice school academically & I saw lot of growth academically & personality wise in my child. Best middle school in Leighton Buzzard & now looking forward for my son joining the school in September 2021

School policies relating to Curriculum are available to view under 'About Us' - 'Policies'.  If you would like a hard copy of any of our policies please contact the School Office.