Academy Information

The curriculum at Paddington Academy will be broad-based, offering all subjects within the National Curriculum, but also extending well beyond this, presented in an exciting and innovative way. As an Academy, we will be free to develop innovative and creative approaches to teaching and learning. No two children are alike. Each has different skills, talents and preferences and a combination of preferred learning styles. The Academy curriculum will seek to respond to every child, offering choice and flexibility to respond to a wide range of knowledge, skills and experiences.

Student Learning

Children will be grouped appropriately and every student will have an Individual Learning Programme designed to meet his or her needs. This programme will be monitored by a personal tutor and parents/carers will play an active role in supporting their child’s progress. Students who need to concentrate on a narrower range of subjects at any phase in their Academy career will be able to do so. Additional subjects can be added at a later stage.
The number of teachers seen will be kept to a minimum. This will help to ease the transition from primary to secondary phase. All students in Year 7 will undertake a Learning to Learn programme. This programme will be specially designed for the Academy and build on their previous experiences.
Units of work and programmes of study will be carefully planned to link across areas and enable students to progress at different rates. Modular assessments will take place regularly and students will have a say in the level at which they work. Needless to say, expectations will be high. Specialisation into chosen courses will begin in Year 9. Students may then progress to public examination level at any time over a three to four year period. In this way they take examinations when they are ready to do so, not when they reach a certain age.
All students at the Academy will enjoy theme days, work-related learning, competitions and a huge range of curricular and extra-curricular choices. When students enjoy learning, success is inevitable. We are determined that this will be the case and will keep our curriculum under continual review. Further details of the courses offered will be published later this year.

Subjects and courses

English, History, Geography, Religious, Education Sociology, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Bengali, Media, TV production, Music, Dance, Drama, Art, Physical Education, Design & Technology, Mathematics, Science, Business & Enterprise, Applied Science, Music, Technology, Performing Arts, Leisure & Tourism, Health & Social Care and Diploma in Digital Applications (DIDA).

The Curriculum

The curriculum is delivered through 3 one hundred minute sessions per day of 1 hour each in each academy day. There are main Learning Areas/curriculum clusters that, between them, deliver the whole curriculum. These are:

Humanities – History, Geography, Sociology, Travel & Tourism, languages
Arts and Technology – Drama, Art, Music, PE, Dance, Design and Technology
Science and Commerce – Science, Maths,
Business and Enterprise - Business, ICT
English

Tutorials

Each student at Paddington Academy will receive tutorials, led by a tutor.

Role of the Tutorial

To provide a vehicle for student voice.
To provide a high quality period of time on a daily basis for each student in the advocacy group and ensure that every student has the opportunity for individual communication every day.
Responsibility for the monitoring of academic progress of students in the group.
Ensuring that every student has an advocate session.
To liaise with College Leadership Team on communications regarding individuals progress
Regulate and monitor use of student planner and enforce code of conduct and expectations at all times.
To help the student make connections between learning knowledge, attributes and skills to transfer these across the curriculum.
Daily inspection to ensure that all expectations of uniform and equipment are met.
To act as the interface between the student and Paddington Academy and arbitrate in matters of dispute.
To be the first port of call for parental / carer contact.

We are very lucky because we have great facilities. The facilities for our four specialisms of Performing Arts, Media, Business and Social Enterprise are the best in the area. We have highly successful Maths, English and Science departments in addition to which the students receive a fantastic range of subjects - for example hair dressing, plumbing and engineering are just some of the latest additions.

It is our aim that all students leave us with the skills and attributes required to be lifelong learners and positive role models in their community and globally.

Every student at Paddington Academy is special and each an individual with individual needs. As a result, each deserves and gets an individual learning diet and pastoral care that suits them best. We are constantly improving and listen to the student voice. When we can do more, the students let us know and we address the issues.