Vision & Ethos

At Mayfield School, we support and challenge one another to be the best we can be. This will look differently to each one of us in our community, which is why we work tirelessly with every single student so they can benefit fully from the opportunities we have on offer. As part of their learning journey here we have an exciting curriculum with a broad range of subjects and qualifications alongside opportunities through enrichment, trips, visits and experiences which equip students with the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to succeed.

Our expectations of one another are high. We model respect, responsibility and professionalism to underpin our every word and action. At the same time, we strive to be independent, collaborative, creative and resilient learners. This is because we know that these attributes help us make the most of our time together and enable students to become happy, confident well-rounded individuals who can contribute actively and positively to the community we serve and to wider society.

At the end of their learning journey at Mayfield we want our students to be independent, passionate, curious and open-minded learners. So, it is our intention to provide a curriculum that gives our students memorable learning experiences and opportunities that allow them to develop academically and to thrive spiritually, socially, morally and culturally thereby preparing them to become positive global citizens and to contribute actively to the rapidly changing world they will become part of.

The curriculum we provide reflects the importance of providing rigour and challenge, building core knowledge and skills progressively from Year 7 to Year 13 whilst developing students’ literacy and oracy and providing maximum opportunity for Personal Development for all students:

• We offer a broad, balanced curriculum that develops the necessary skills to be successful. We do not ‘teach to the test’. Key knowledge and concepts are explored through the use of big questions and subject end-points in our planning to support students to understand what they are learning and why to instil a love of learning even when knowledge is difficult and new.
• We offer a curriculum that is sequenced in such a way that it progressively develops core knowledge and skills as part of a spiral curriculum. Staff and students can identify core knowledge and skills that can be used to deepen their knowledge and understanding within and across various subjects. Students are shown how to make links between previous learning and new knowledge and have opportunities to develop a deep knowledge across the curriculum.
• Potential misconceptions are identified as part of our curriculum planning and delivery so that they do not impact on learning. Assessment and feedback identify and address gaps in knowledge and understanding; feedback provided drives learning forward as students can identify what steps they need to take to close gaps.
• We recognise students’ individual needs and provide extensive support and challenge from Year 7 through to Year 13 so that all students can experience success and no student is left behind. We offer a wide variety of courses at appropriate levels to meet the needs of our students, preparing them for their own next steps. We identify students who need additional support via our Early Help forum and our graduated response ensures the right support is given to the right students at the right time to address barriers to learning that might impact on achievement and enjoyment.
• We develop students’ literacy and oracy skills so they can confidently articulate and link prior learning to current learning, at the same time as developing their social capital. Opportunities to develop literacy and oracy (through discussion, deliberation and debate) are explicitly planned for in curriculum maps and schemes of learning and therefore across the full range of the curriculum.
• We promote the Personal Development and Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural, Mental and Physical development of students so that they can contribute to society in a positive way. We value this so highly that each subject works on the delivery of British values, Diversity, Equality and inclusion and Personal, Social, Health Education to ensure a coherent whole-school approach to Personal Development and SMSC alongside our Personal Development curriculum explicitly delivered through Tutorial time, assemblies and daily form time.
• We provide high quality careers guidance and support from Year 7 upwards to support students’ decision making, to raise their aspirations and develop their thinking about their future.

Mayfield School's Curriculum Policy