P4A is at the heart of the Maplewell curriculum. The curriculum has been developed to give pupils a well-rounded education, giving them skills they will need as they progress into adulthood. The pupils will have the opportunity to participate in impactful and experiential lessons with many skill-building activities that pupils will take with them into adult life.
The P4A curriculum has been tailored to students' needs and addresses what is relevant in young people's lives in today's ever-changing world.
INTENT, IMPLEMENTATION & IMPACT
Intent:
It is the goal within P4A to nurture, develop and build tolerance and understanding to ensure our young people acquire the essential education to lead healthy and fulfilled life.
We aim to develop young people to achieve a wealth of understanding and empower them to navigate the world we are living in. We want our students to leave Maplewell with detailed accounts of consent, safe relationships, equality and protected characteristics, as well as the knowledge of where they can seek help and support.
Implementation: Design, Pedagogy & Assessment
- Sequencing
In P4A, students follow a sequence of umbrella themes that carry topics that are delivered in a spiral sequence. The three main themes are:
- Healthy Lifestyles
- Relationships
- Living in the Wider World
These core themes are implemented in many ways to ensure our students are given the building blocks of information, which allow them to continue on our spiral curriculum within their core themes. For example: Healthy Lifestyles: – e.g. year 7-puberty, year 8-reproductive organs, year 9 consent, contraception STI’s Year 11- safe sex
- Building Blocks
Key strands and recurring themes are identified. The big ideas are explicitly taught to students and built on what Willingham calls 'The unifying ideas of each discipline".
- Retrieval Practice
Students are allowed to revisit content. Recapping and the targeted question are used at the start of lessons to review knowledge obtained and to enable keywords to be covered. Low-stakes quizzes and knowledge organisers also assist students.
- Adaptive teaching
In our lessons, we provide the opportunity for all pupils to experience success by maintaining high expectations for all and using teaching assistants effectively.
- Assessment & Feedback
A baseline assessment at the start of each term covers topics that are presented that term. - This is to establish what gaps there may be and what previous knowledge is embedded.
- Literacy & Numeracy
Disciplinary literacy techniques are used to explicitly develop students' Tier one and Tier two vocabulary.
Opportunities to develop Mathematical thinking are taken in some practical activities and in the language that is used.
- Linking Curriculum to Cultural Capital and SMSC
Opportunities are planned for within the curriculum, allowing students to advance their cultural and social capital and develop as individuals on a spiritual and moral level.
- Linking Curriculum to Careers
In P4A, students are required to develop ideas on their Road Maps at the start of the year. - This allows them to reflect on strengths and areas where they need help. Time is given for students to reflect on their potential career options/pathways.
IMPACT: Attainment, Progress, Knowledge, Skills & Destinations
The impact of our curriculum is for students to live healthy lives and understand healthy relationships, with their well-being being at the centre of the focus. The core themes (Healthy Lifestyles, Relationships and Living in the Wider World) play a huge part in empowering our young people with the choices they make and the lifestyle they may want to follow. Signposting is a crucial part of P4A, and we hope that our young people will be able to keep themselves and others safe by effectively recalling where they can obtain help and support
