A

Speaking and listening

At Unity we are committed to supporting speaking and listening skills. We firmly believe that children need to 'Talk It' before they can 'Read It and Write It'! A range of strategies are used to promote improved oracy, vocabulary and communication skills.


Reading

At Unity Academy we value reading as a key life skill and are dedicated to ensuring the children will leave school as competent readers. The all-through nature of Unity dictates that the teaching of reading is divided into several approaches under an overarching vision that we want our children to develop fluent reading capabilities which allow them to read a range of academic texts and for pleasure. We take great pride in the fact that we nurture the love of reading in our children to offer the opportunity to immerse themselves in a variety of genre. Which can take them from a pirate ship to the top of Mount Everest! This is also evident in our choice of House names. The children take part in whole class guided reading and the literary canon following elements of reciprocal reading. For independent reading the children access the Accelerated Reader and Reading eggs programmes.


Phonics

Children receive daily phonics sessions in small groups. The synthetic phonic scheme that we use is Read, Write Inc and this enables our children to read with confidence and clarity. Children are regularly assessed so that we know children's next steps and can ensure they keep up with our teaching program. This leads into RWI comprehension and spelling sessions which develop on the children’s phonics skills.

Writing


We encourage the children to become confident writers and to be able to apply their skills to a range of non-fiction and fictional genres. We use arrange of strategies to support this including fantastic foundations (Jane Considine) Talk for writing. scaffolding and modelling and grammar specific lessons. The children have a progression for writing book of which they are very proud. This allows then to see their termly improvement.

KS3/4


Our secondary English curriculum is built around our shared belief that all children, irrespective of their starting point, ability or needs, deserve access to a ‘world class’ education. We believe that English is fundamental to our students’ success in and out of school and as such our curriculum is academically rigorous and unapologetically challenging. We set high scholastic targets, teaching to the top while ensuring all students receive the support they need to access demanding work.


Our English curriculum blends seamlessly with the skills and knowledge developed at KS1 and 2. The content of our curriculum is underpinned by the National Curriculum and aims to foster independent thinkers, analytical readers and writers who appreciate the power of words and utilise language to express their own points of view.


The design of our curriculum focuses on a mastery of knowledge and is structured to engage students in spiral and interweaved learning. This design ensures we promote the deepening of crucial knowledge and the refinement of core skills, moving our students from novices to experts and nurturing a love of English.

In following the national curriculum at KS3 and 4, we cover a range of canonical texts and writers including Shakespeare, Orwell, Plath, Shelley and Milton. The texts we study help our students learn from the past and consider how we can shape our present, while developing an empathy and understanding of the world around us. We encourage students to debate and discuss the relationships between texts and their contexts, holding critical conversations about political and social issues. We think it is essential that our students see themselves, and others, in the texts they read. Throughout their academic journey students study a varied range of texts that celebrate the diversity of voices within our world and help them to develop a stronger sense of self.


Throughout KS3 and 4 we explore a range of significant non-fiction texts, encouraging students to study closely the words of the often marginalised and consider how language has been used as an act of resilience and defiance throughout history. We study speeches, letters and articles from leading figures such as Emmeline Pankhurst, Harriet Tubman, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen and Gandhi.


Our KS3 curriculum is not narrowed by the demands of GCSE English, but ensures students develop the higher order 

thinking skills and conceptual knowledge needed to be successful at KS4 and beyond.


We strive to immerse our students in English, making sure they have the opportunity to watch live performances; engage in debate and enter their own writing in a range of local and national competitions. 

B

At Unity Academy, we recognise the vital importance of Mathematics in everyday life. Our aim is for all children to leave the school being able to think mathematically, to reason logically and to confidently solve problems in a range of contexts.

Our Mastery approach to mathematics provides pupils with the opportunity to become fluent in the fundamentals of maths. Our application of a concrete, pictorial and abstract approach ensures that pupils develop a secure understanding of key concepts that they can carry through their lives.

Our KS3 provision aims to enable students to engage with, explore, enjoy and succeed in Maths. The course ensures that students are equipped with the core skills needed to be successful at KS4. Our KS4 provision encourages students to apply the core skills and knowledge they have gained at KS3 mathematically to problem solving and functional questions. Once pupils have secured the core skills needed to be successful at GCSE and they are confident in applying them, they begin to learn the specific topics needed to achieve a grade 4 +.

Through a mathematically rich curriculum the children are encouraged to reason mathematically allowing them to gain in confidence and in resilience. Teaching develops the children's problem solving skills and their ability to make links between different areas of mathematics and links to the areas of the wider world

C

At Unity, we aim to provide a varied and practical science curriculum that is both aspirational and enjoyable. We help our students to understand the world we live in and prepare them for building life skills and future careers in science, technology, engineering and mechanics.

In primary,  we want our children to be naturally curious about the world around them. The science in our school is about developing children’s ideas and ways of working that enable them to make sense of the world in which they live. We want our children to develop an understanding of the uses and  importance of Science.

Scientific enquiry skills are embedded in each topic the children study and these topics are revisited and developed throughout their time at school. Topics, such as Plants, are taught in Key Stage One and studied again in further detail throughout Key Stage Two. Thus allowing the children to grow in their understanding, building upon their prior knowledge and increasing their enthusiasm for the topics whilst embedding this procedural knowledge into the long-term memory. 

Science teaching at Unity involves adapting and extending the curriculum to match all pupils’ needs to ensure they are challenged and achieve success, regardless of their starting point. Science is taught as discrete lessons and is strongly supported by our Forest School Programme.

We give children every opportunity to experiment, investigate and ask questions about science. Therefore, science is heavily practical based and in primary is also linked to Forest Schools, taking learning outdoors. By the end of KS2, we expect children to be confident in building scientific enquiry and asking ‘big’ questions. By the end of KS4, we endeavour for students to have achieved their potential in the subject and to have fostered an attitude of thought, curiosity and a desire for learning. Students will also have been provided with many highly positive, memorable experiences and rich opportunities for high quality learning.

D

Art is an important part of the curriculum as it encourages creativity and imagination. It also provides opportunities and skills to learn outside the classroom through the entitlement curriculum. Art education allows the children to express themselves and build resilience through challenging activities and the expectation of developing new skills. Students at Unity are given the opportunity to develop their knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the Art world. They are encouraged to develop the following skills:

E

At Unity Academy, Physical Education is a fundamental part of our broad and balanced curriculum. Children experience a wide range of sports and activities such as Gymnastics, Dance, Athletics, Games and Swimming. Within this, children learn sport specific skills, teamwork, the effects of exercise on the body and how to warm, cool down and keep safe.

We aim to ensure that children develop into thinking physical beings and doing physical beings which impact on the behavioural change to equip them for lifelong participation. We do this through using the concept of Head (thinking) Hands (doing) and Heart (behavioural change).

Children develop their leadership and coaching skills and give feedback to their peers on their performance.

Children in Year 4 take part in weekly Swimming lessons with an aim to be able to swim 25m and perform a safe self rescue by the end of KS2. This is an important life skill particularly for our children living in a seaside resort.

Children take part in competition within their house teams and experience winning and losing. We offer extra-curricular clubs at lunchtimes and after school. These are run by both school teaching staff and Blackpool Football Club Community Trust. We encourage the children to take part in School Games events. Last year we achieved a Silver award for School Games Mark for our commitment to School Sport.

F

At Unity Academy we believe cultural capital is at the heart of every RE lesson to help students understand and navigate a rapidly changing 21st Century world. RE lessons allow pupils to explore the similarities between different faiths through the use of artefacts, visitors and visits to religious communities. We encourage children to engage with religious festivals in order to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for differences. The children develop a personal resonance regardless of whether they have their own faith or not , and can apply it to their lives in a way that is meaningful to them and their lives in a modern society.

Learning about religion and developing your philosophical side will raise some of the basic questions about being human. What really matters? What is the purpose of my life? How do I show what I value?

Religious Education at Unity Academy helps students to acquire the skills and attitude needed to unpick these questions.


G

'The past is gone. History is is the study of how historians construct the past in the present’
History is about people – real people whose lives were sometimes exciting and sometimes frightening. Whatever their lives were about, there's a fascinating, and sometimes tragic, story behind them. As well as being exciting, studying history helps you to develop skills which can be used across the subjects you study.

At Unity Academy, history is a way for our students to explore our locality and how significant events have shaped who we are. During our lessons, the students have chances to develop their research skills using primary and secondary sources and artefacts. We aim to provide school trips and historical visitors for all year groups to allow them to explore further using the ‘hands on’ experience.

In Primary our teaching of History will  help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world to build respect, appreciation, and pride for their country. We aim for it to inspire pupils’ curiosity about the past to develop their understanding of key events. Children will ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. Through the teaching of History we endeavour to teach pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, including those of the present, the process of change, the diversity of societies and beliefs, whilst celebrating these differences.

In Secondary our students develop an understanding of key events in history and how they have shaped the world we live in today. They study a diverse curriculum enabling them to build their knowledge of their own heritage. Central to this will be the opportunity to widen their understanding of our local history. Our students engage with the work of historians, examine historical scholarship and study the process of how history is constructed. This is achieved by accessing a wide variety of stimuli material, within and beyond the classroom.
In KS3 students study aspects of history from 1066 to the present including depth studies on the Norman Conquest, Tudors and Stuarts, the slave trade, the Industrial Revolution, the Holocaust and the events of the Twentieth century. They also study the theme of migration through time and a pre-1066 unit on the Anglo-Saxons. Students then have the option to study at GCSE.

H

The geography curriculum enables all students to develop an understanding of where they live and how this fits into the global picture: starting from an understanding of our home, our school, Blackpool, the British Isles, Europe and the Wider world. We include practical field work activities through our Forest school lessons in the school grounds which include creating and using maps, reading an ordnance survey map and developing their orienteering skills. In class we use a range of atlases, globes and digital mapping apps to investigate the human and physical makeup of the areas studied in each year group. The children take part in discussing environmental issues through their ‘Earth matters’ topics which include litter picking, debates about climate change, creating models to identify changes, hosting fair trade events and using technology to identify ways to lessen their carbon footprint.

Students will have the opportunity to complete a multitude of field trips to really experience first hand both human and physical geography. By taking students to places such as Liverpool, St Annes, Cleveleys and more the students are shown how geography influences them outside of the classroom.

To build on the knowledge learnt lower down in the school, KS3 studies focus on polar regions, Thailand, India, physical features of the UK and more to help build a foundation of knowledge for students to progress. Students who choose to do so will be able to study GCSE Geography that will delve even further into human, physical and environmental geography for destinations across the globe.

I

At Unity Academy, French is taught throughout Key Stage 2 by a specialist language teacher. The children don’t just learn to speak a language; they develop a deeper understanding of the world and other cultures too. This is achieved through weekly sessions involving speaking, listening and building up vocabulary, ready to write. Lessons are exciting and interesting with all children participating. We at Unity believe that fostering a love of language learning at an early age prepares children for their future language learning in Secondary school.
In secondary school, students learn French throughout Year 7, 8 and 9 before taking their options at the end of Key Stage 3.  They continue to study the language through the medium of speaking, listening, reading and writing in readiness for the GCSE examination at the end of Year 11.

J

When it comes to food, the first thing people usually think about is hotels, cafes and restaurants but the catering industry is massive:

Contract catering - providing food in hospitals, prisons, schools and airline companies. The students who opt to study Hospitality in KS4 are provided with the knowledge, skills and experience to progress onto a college course for those interested in a career in catering and hospitality. In this course our students develop the knowledge and understanding related to a range of hospitality and catering providers. They learn about issues related to nutrition and food safety and how this affects successful hospitality and catering operations.   The practical side of the course develops food preparation and cooking skills as well as problem solving, organisation and time management. The skills covered include pastry making, bread making and shaping, making fresh pasta, meat and vegetable preparation.  To help with this, the students also learn how to follow a time plan to prepare, cook and present a wide range of dishes. The students have the opportunity to study areas such as: