The purpose of our curriculum is to provide an outstanding education of great breadth and richness for all our students. This dovetails with our motto ‘Aspiring to excellence together’.

At the heart of our curriculum is a love for the subjects we teach and their relevance to the world, along with a firm desire to use them as vehicles to develop essential 21st Century core skills and knowledge in our learners.

We structure our curriculum to ensure that it enables students to build on prior learning and so they are able to learn more, remember more and do more in each of their subjects year on year.

Opportunities for oracy, reading, writing, numeracy and study skills are weaved into the knowledge curriculum of each subject.

A clear emphasis on developing active and enquiring young people ensures they emerge as high achieving and effective learners, as well as serving them well in life. Our ongoing commitment to Personal Social Health and Citizenship Education (PSHCE) and student voice aims to develop character and produce well rounded young people, engaged citizens and leaders of the future.

Equality matters at Forest Hill and so we embrace an inclusive and diverse culture, challenge gender stereotypes and respect individuality.

Our curriculum has been developed to meet the needs of Forest Hill students and so has been designed with them specifically in mind. The underpinning principles are:

Breadth

Every student will have the opportunity (through choice where appropriate) to have access to the full range of our subject offer throughout the school.

At Key Stage 3 this means that every student will study a broad range of subjects, including all of the arts. This is borne out of our philosophy that the arts promote the development of communication and team-working skills in our young men. This both counters negative male stereotypes and builds self-esteem. These attributes then have a positive impact on progress across all subjects in the curriculum.

At Key Stage 4 it means that students can choose GCSE options from the full curriculum offer without being subject to unnecessary direction down pre-set progression routes.

At Key Stage 5 it means we offer an extensive range of A Level and vocational courses in order to support a wide variety of choice. We have a clear and longstanding commitment that every student is provided with the knowledge and skills, in a broad range of subjects, to progress successfully to the next stage of their lives.

Academic Ambition

Our curriculum teaches students the best of what has been thought, discovered and recorded in each discipline, and so instils in them a love of learning and high aspiration for their future.

Fitting with the principle of breadth, we are clear that this aspiration involves the building of cultural capital whenever possible, and that rich experiences outside of the classroom and school environment are an essential part of this.

To this end we ensure that there are a plethora of trips and other educational experiences across the years which add to the work which goes on in the classroom.

Academic Rigour

The well-resourced curriculum provides appropriate stretch and challenge for all abilities and skills. It is conceived, assembled and delivered by subject experts with a focus on ensuring the rigorous acquisition of the knowledge and skills required for success.

High quality assessment materials, and feedback to both students and parents, allow us to work in partnership to ensure academic success.

Engaged Citizens

We want our students to emerge from their Forest Hill chrysalis as positive citizens and future leaders. To that end we implement a PSHCE curriculum which informs students as young citizens and promotes the development of strong character traits such as tenacity, resilience, leadership and emotional intelligence.

Myriad opportunities to work in partnership exist in student leadership roles and group initiatives, such as charity projects and enterprises, to make our school community a great place to be.