Curriculum
Understanding Our CurriculumAt Chingford Foundation School, our curriculum is designed to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to succeed both academically and personally. Our aim is to deliver a broad, balanced, and ambitious secondary school curriculum that supports every student in achieving their full potential.
The Parent Curriculum Guides below provide an overview of what students study during Key Stage 3 (Years 7–9) and Key Stage 4 (Years 10–11), helping families understand how learning progresses across each stage.
Our curriculum is our priority and is rooted in our school values (CARE). The specific vision for Chingford Foundation School is to create a student-centred and challenging curriculum, in a safe, caring and respectful environment, that prepares students for their future.
The four key pillars that underpin our curriculum thinking and design are:
Inclusivity - striving to ensure our curriculum is diverse and meets the needs of all students.
Knowledge - striving for knowledge to be at the heart of our curriculum offer in its design and delivery.
Independence - striving to ensure students are supported on their journey to becoming independent learners through high expectations, guided teacher instruction and a promotion of achievement.
Empowerment - striving to ensure students gain a secure understanding of essential knowledge and develop their cultural capital to form their own opinions, critique different views and understand their role as a global citizen.
This builds directly on our enrichment opportunities as part of our 'Journey to Excellence':
- A distinct PSHE and character curriculum designed around our school values (CARE).
- A wide range of extra-curricular activities.
- A focus on career opportunities and advice.
We implement our curriculum by:
- Building on prior learning including what has been learnt at KS2.
- Mapping the knowledge and skills that will be covered in each subject.
- Ensuring the curriculum is well-sequenced for coherence.
- Having a high level of challenge that allows all students to progress.
- Using current educational research and thinking to ensure it best meets the needs of students.
- Striving to deploy staff who have excellent subject knowledge that is continuously developed and led by specialist subject leaders responsible for curriculum design and delivery.
- Ensuring information is ‘chunked’ to enable effective learning and retention and that assessments accurately identify that knowledge has been learnt and applied as well as informing future learning.
- Regularly quality assuring the curriculum to make sure it is implemented well.
Students study a broad, balanced and challenging curriculum. Subjects include English, Maths, Science, French, Spanish, Religious Studies, Geography, History, Design and Food Technology, Art, Music, PE, Drama, and PSHE. The KS3 curriculum is mapped to and exceeds the demands of the National Curriculum.
At ages 15–16 (KS4)Students study eight or nine GCSE subjects during Key Stage 4. Many subjects studied at Key Stage 3 continue into Years 10 and 11, alongside a range of additional GCSE subjects including Social Sciences, Media Studies, and Business Studies.
The Key Stage 4 curriculum is designed to provide both academic challenge and progression pathways, supporting students in preparing for further education, apprenticeships, or employment.
At ages 16–19 (KS5)There is a full academic range of subjects on offer, most of which provide progression routes or specialisation from GCSE courses including Sociology, Psychology, Economics, and Further Maths qualifications.
In addition, we have maintained core PE and PSHE once a week and expanded our provision to include Cambridge Technical and BTEC qualifications alongside traditional A-Level routes. This allows the majority of our Year 11 leavers to continue their education with us.
Bespoke PathwaysAlmost all students study our mainstream KS4 model. However, for a small number of students, especially within our SRP, we provide a curriculum that focuses on literacy and numeracy skills as well as functional and life skills, including work experience and off-site visits.
This enables pupils with barriers to learning to secure strong destinations post-16.
LiteracyWe support the development of literacy across the curriculum in a number of ways:
- An emphasis on Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary.
- The use of Accelerated Reader.
- Lexia literacy support for students who require additional support.
- Promotion of wider reading through the reading passport scheme, recommended reads, school challenges, and form time activities.
- Timetabled library lessons.
- Opportunities to celebrate and promote a love of reading through assemblies and events such as World Book Day.
Homework plays an important role in supporting students’ learning across the curriculum. It helps reinforce knowledge, practise key skills, and develop independence as learners.
Our Homework Policy outlines expectations for students, parents, and staff, including how homework is set, completed, and supported.
Home Stretch ProgrammeThe Home Stretch Programme provides opportunities for students who wish to extend their learning beyond the classroom. These materials support independent learning, deepen subject knowledge, and encourage academic ambition.
Students are encouraged to explore the resources below to challenge themselves and extend their learning.
Home Stretch Programme Booklets
